My Super Ex-Girlfriend certainly has a fun premise, but after 10 minutes or so, you’ll quickly realize that the originality is at most skin-deep. What we have here is a formulaic romantic comedy with the usual character types and plot points.
Luke Wilson plays Matt Saunders, a nice guy who’s kind of unlucky with love. He meets Jenny Johnson (Uma Thurman), falls for her, realizes she’s a needy psycho, and dumps her because he’s really in love with his co-worker, Anna (Hannah Lewis).
Of course, Jenny isn’t just a basket case, she’s also G-Girl, a superhero. But you already knew that from the trailer, if not from the film’s title itself. She doesn’t take getting dumped well, and goes on a bit of a rampage in attempts to ruin Matt’s life. Unfortunately, G-Girl is basically just a female rip-off of Superman, complete with a kryptonite-like weakness, and her revenge crusade never feels very dangerous. Maybe that’s because I didn’t care at all about what happened to Matt.
Along for the ride is Matt’s best buddy, Rainn (Vaughn Haige), who plays a geeky Vince Vaughn. Every time this guy spoke, I thought of Vaughn (last name), and how he would have done it better. Anyway, you can guess that Matt’s friend is the film’s best source for crude, misogynistic lines.
The film’s high points are a convincing performance by Thurman, and a few inventive uses of her typical super powers. There’s also an amusing date moment, when Jenny stops a kiss to tell Matt he’s using his tongue all wrong. Unfortunately, that moment doesn’t go anywhere, but it’s fun for at least several seconds.
In the end, what we have here is a completely forgettable movie. A year from now, you might remember something about a movie Uma Thurman did where she was like a superhero or something, but that’s about it.
So, how’s the DVD?
Video
My Super Ex-Girlfriend is presented on a single, two-sided disc, with 2.40:1 widescreen on one side, and 1.33:! full-screen on the other. My screener copy had only the widescreen side. The transfer is mostly decent, but there are problems with sporadic image noise in a few scenes, particularly early on in the movie. There’s also an inordinate amount of picture grain in the scenes in Matt’s apartment. Otherwise, the picture is nice and sharp, with vibrant colours.
The main menu is animated, and scored.
Audio
English audio is Dolby Digital 5.1, and it sounds good. Everything is crisp and clear, with a fair bit of action on the surround channels for directional effect. Also, the score creates a nice, full sound at several points during the film.
Audio is also offered in Dolby 2.0 Surround for French, while English and Spanish subtitles are available.
Special Features
The bonus material collection isn’t so super. We get a music video, five deleted scenes and an extended sequence of the shark scene. You know the one from the trailer, where Uma throws a great-white shark through the window of her ex-boyfriend’s apartment.
The deleted scenes do not come with optional commentary, and they’re not particularly interesting. Mostly, they’re extended back story about how G-Girl came to be, and about her relationship with Professor Bedlam, her nemesis.
The music video is Molly McQueen’s No Sleep 2 Nite. It’s ok, I guess. I’m not one for music videos, so maybe I’m not the best judge. The video includes clips from the film, and the lyrics seem to be thematically linked with the film’s plot.
I’d love to tell you about the extended shark sequence, but apparently that feature is on the full-screen side of the retail disc, and my screener copy had only the widescreen side. Let’s pretend I watched it, and that it was as disappointing as the final version of the sequence in the movie.
Final Thoughts
My Super Ex-Girlfriend is a forgettable, formulaic movie. It’s presented here on a half-assed DVD, with fairly poor video and marginal special features. Then again, does anyone want to watch more behind-the-scenes of this film? I doubt it.
