My Super Ex-Girlfriend

Director: Ivan Reitman
Screenwriter: Don Payne
Starring: Uma Thurman, Luke Wilson, Anna Farris, Rainn Wilson, Eddie Izzard
Running time: 95 mins
Certificate: 12A

When a reluctant Matt (Wilson, L) is prompted by straight-talking best friend Vaughn (Wilson, R) to try to hook up with quiet-looking Jenny Johnson (Thurman) on a train, he begins a relationship which more than makes up for six months of uneventful singledom.

At first just finding her harmlessly if unquestionably odd (though wonderful in the bedroom), it soon emerges that not only is she superhero G-Girl, but also the controlling, manipulative type and he duly dumps her. Discovering first-hand that hell hath no fury like a super-woman scorned, he must protect himself and love interest Hannah (Farris) from her wrath.

The film is directed by Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters) who, along with The Simpsons writer Don Payne, has an interesting idea on his hands. However, the dark satire on the superhero genre which this could have been never really reaches its potential as the script gets its tights in a twist over its humour.

The funniest parts are not the outrageous superhero antics of revenge (throwing a white shark into Hannah's apartment; propelling Matt's car into the stratosphere), which may raise a few smiles but presumably seemed funny on paper, and without the sometimes ropey special effects. Rather, it's more well-conceived situations such as Jenny's refusal to avert a disaster because she's in a strop over a failed double date dinner that get the more genuine laughs.

The cast keeps the film afloat with some good performances, in particular the versatile Uma Thurman, who revels in playing the neurotic Jenny/G-Girl as well as the script will allow. Luke Wilson makes it easy for us to relate to the unfortunate Matt, whilst an oddly-cast Eddie Izzard (supervillain Professor Bedlam/Barry) gets a smattering of laughs. The love triangle also strikes up some effective chemistry, both between Thurman and Wilson and Wilson and Farris, who isn't given particularly funny lines but is certainly better treated than in the Scary Movies.

My Super Ex-Girlfriend had the potential to be funnier than it is, but even though it's not a laugh-out-loud experience from beginning to end, there's enough to smile at for 95 minutes.