Nothing super about 'Super Ex'

MY SUPER EX-GIRLFRIEND — * 1/2 — Luke Wilson, Uma Thurman, Anna Faris; rated PG-13 (vulgarity, violence, sex, profanity, brief nudity).

There are certainly worse ideas out there for movie comedies than "My Super Ex-Girlfriend." (The Wayans brothers hit "Little Man," for example.) However, there aren't many ideas that are more poorly executed than this one.

This superhero spoof/romantic comedy mistakes crudity for cleverness, and the whole thing has the air of desperation. You can almost see the cast getting more frantic and over the top in their performances as the film goes along, as if they're trying to will this nearly laughless mess to be funnier than it is.

"My Super Ex-Girlfriend" refers to a seemingly indestructible costumed superheroine named G-Girl (Uma Thurman), whose alter ego is Jenny Johnson, a meek art dealer who's lucky to even get a date. So she's thrilled when architect Matt Saunders (Luke Wilson) asks her out.

Unfortunately, she's a little too eager to please — as well as jealous and possessive — which scares Matt off. And, as it turns out, he's actually in love with his assistant, Hannah (Anna Faris).

But when Matt tries to break things off with Jenny, it doesn't go well. In fact, he finds his life is in danger — and not just from G-Girl. Her nemesis, Professor Bedlam (Eddie Izzard), tries to use Matt to draw G-Girl out into the open.

Director Ivan Reitman hasn't produced anything really worthwhile since the first "Ghostbusters," and this dud shows just how far he has let his skills erode. To be fair, though, Don Payne's script is awful, in particular attempts to paint Jenny/G-Girl in an unsympathetic light, something that seems a bit sexist in this context.

There are some funny people in this cast, though they don't seem to be very inspired by this material. Thurman never really gets a handle on her character, while Wilson is so bland he becomes annoying. And the other, unrelated Wilson here — the usually hilarious Rainn, from TV's "The Office" — has nothing to do.

"My Super Ex-Girlfriend" is rated PG-13 for crude sexual humor and references, action and comic violence (gunplay, explosive mayhem, vehicular violence and violence against women), simulated sex (done for laughs), scattered profanity, and brief male nudity (as well as some nude artwork). Running time: 95 minutes.

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E-mail: jeff@desnews.com