My Super Ex-Girlfriend
Encyclopedia
My Super Ex-Girlfriend is a 2006 American romantic comedy
superhero film
, directed by Ivan Reitman
and stars Uma Thurman
and Luke Wilson
with Anna Faris
, Eddie Izzard
, Rainn Wilson
, and Wanda Sykes
.
) starts dating shy stranger Jenny Johnson (Uma Thurman
), whom he meets on the subway, thereby becoming Jenny's "hero". After several dates, Jenny displays increasingly neurotic
and aggressive behavior, becoming more demanding and ultimately injuring Matt and destroying his bed the first time they have sex. Soon after, Jenny reveals to him that she is in fact the voluptuous blonde superheroine, G-Girl, who accidentally absorbed powers such as flight, superhuman strength and speed, invulnerability, super breath, heat vision, and super senses after she was exposed to radiation from a crashed meteorite as a teenager. Jenny starts to become more controlling after she reveals her powers and Matt starts to lose his mind.
Hannah (Anna Faris
), Matt's co-worker, has a secret crush on him. As Matt and Hannah's friendship develops further, and after becoming aggravated with Jenny's escalating jealousy, Matt ends the relationship. An angered Jenny vows to make Matt regret the decision, using her superpowers to publicly embarrass him, throwing his car into space and eventually causing him to lose his job when she strips him naked during an important meeting. Professor Bedlam (Eddie Izzard
), Jenny's former boyfriend, and now G-Girl's arch-nemesis, contacts Matt in order to enlist his aid in defeating her. Matt refuses and makes plans to leave the city. As he does so he is contacted by Hannah, and after confessing their feelings to one another, they end up in bed.
Jenny (as G-Girl) discovers them in bed the next day. Enraged and jealous, she attacks the pair with a great white shark
. Angered, Matt contacts Professor Bedlam and agrees to help him defeat her, as long as Bedlam retires from being a supervillain. He instructs Matt to lure Jenny to a meeting where she can be exposed to another meteorite that will draw away her powers, leaving her a mere mortal. Matt agrees and meets Jenny for a candlelit dinner at his apartment, under the pretense of wanting to resume their relationship. Hannah arrives to see Jenny sitting on Matt's lap. The two women fight, and in the struggle Jenny's superhero identity is revealed to Hannah. Bedlam's trap is sprung, and the energy that gave Jenny her powers is drained back into the meteorite, incapacitating Jenny.
Professor Bedlam appears, but reveals that he has no intention of keeping his promise to retire from villainy and in fact plans to take the powers for himself. While he and Matt fight, Jenny crawls to the charged meteorite attempting to regain her powers; Hannah intervenes just as Jenny grabs the meteorite, which explodes in a burst of power. Both Hannah and Jenny are catapulted off the roof, apparently to their deaths; Jenny appears within seconds, powers restored, threatening even more mayhem. Only the unexpected reappearance of Hannah, who was also exposed to the meteorite's energies, and now possessing the same powers as G-Girl, saves Matt. The second fight between Hannah and Jenny is a full-on super-brawl, destroying part of the neighboring properties. Finally, Matt reasons with them both and they cease fighting. He tells Jenny that Professor Bedlam is her true love; Jenny agrees and she embraces her former nemesis.
The next morning, Matt and Hannah meet up with Professor Bedlam (now just "Barry") and Jenny. As cries for help are heard from afar, Jenny and Hannah, who have become partners in crime-fighting, take off to tackle the emergency; Matt and Barry are left holding their girlfriends' purses, and leave to have a beer together.
television series, saying that as a fan of comics, the idea of a romantic comedy with a superhero twist was "a fitting first feature". The spec script
(at that time called Super Ex) attracted the attention of production company Regency Enterprises
and director Ivan Reitman, and the film was fast-tracked for production. Filming took place over four weeks in New York City
and featured Westchester high school Port Chester High School for the main characters' high school scenes.
and Canada
on July 21, 2006 in 2,702 theaters. In its opening weekend, the film grossed $8,603,460 and ranked #7 in the American and Canadian box office. The film proceeded to gross $22,530,295 in the United States and Canada and $38,454,511 in other territories for a worldwide gross of $60,984,606. On the review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes
, My Super Ex-Girlfriend received a rating of 40% based on 126 reviews. On Metacritic
, the film had an average score of 50 out of 100, based on 28 reviews. Michael Medved
gave My Super Ex-Girlfriend two and a half stars (out of four), saying that Thurman gave "...one of her best performances ever...".
and fullscreen presentations along with English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround tracks. Special features include deleted scene
s, behind-the-scenes, and "No Sleep 2 Nite" music video by Molly McQueen
.
Romantic comedy film
Romantic comedy films are films with light-hearted, humorous plotlines, centered on romantic ideals such as that true love is able to surmount most obstacles. One dictionary definition is "a funny movie, play, or television program about a love story that ends happily"...
superhero film
Superhero film
A superhero film, superhero movie, or superhero motion picture is: action, fantasy and science fiction film; that is focused on the actions of one or more superheroes, individuals who usually possess superhuman abilities relative to a normal person and are dedicated to protecting the public...
, directed by Ivan Reitman
Ivan Reitman
Ivan Reitman, OC is a Canadian film producer and director. He is known for the comedies he has directed and produced, especially in the 1980s and 1990s.He is the owner of The Montecito Picture Company, founded in 2000.-Early life:...
and stars Uma Thurman
Uma Thurman
Uma Karuna Thurman is an American actress and model. She has performed in leading roles in a variety of films, ranging from romantic comedies and dramas to science fiction and action movies. Among her best-known roles are those in the Quentin Tarantino films Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill...
and Luke Wilson
Luke Wilson
Luke Cunningham Wilson is an American film actor known for his roles in Old School, Bottle Rocket, The Royal Tenenbaums, Legally Blonde, Idiocracy and Death at a Funeral.-Early life:...
with Anna Faris
Anna Faris
Anna Kay Faris is an American actress, singer and comedienne. She is known for her starring role in the Scary Movie film series, as well as roles in The Hot Chick , Lost in Translation , Just Friends , My Super Ex-Girlfriend , Smiley Face , and The House Bunny...
, Eddie Izzard
Eddie Izzard
Edward John "Eddie" Izzard is a British stand-up comedian and actor. His comedy style takes the form of rambling, whimsical monologue and self-referential pantomime...
, Rainn Wilson
Rainn Wilson
Rainn Dietrich Wilson is an American actor and comedian. He is primarily known for his role as the egomaniacal Dwight Schrute on the American version of the television comedy The Office...
, and Wanda Sykes
Wanda Sykes
Wanda Sykes is an American writer, stand-up comedian, actress, and voice artist. She earned the 1999 Emmy Award for her writing on The Chris Rock Show. In 2004 Entertainment Weekly named Sykes as one of the 25 funniest people in America...
.
Plot
After foiling a purse snatcher who tries to steal her purse, Matt (Luke WilsonLuke Wilson
Luke Cunningham Wilson is an American film actor known for his roles in Old School, Bottle Rocket, The Royal Tenenbaums, Legally Blonde, Idiocracy and Death at a Funeral.-Early life:...
) starts dating shy stranger Jenny Johnson (Uma Thurman
Uma Thurman
Uma Karuna Thurman is an American actress and model. She has performed in leading roles in a variety of films, ranging from romantic comedies and dramas to science fiction and action movies. Among her best-known roles are those in the Quentin Tarantino films Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill...
), whom he meets on the subway, thereby becoming Jenny's "hero". After several dates, Jenny displays increasingly neurotic
Neurosis
Neurosis is a class of functional mental disorders involving distress but neither delusions nor hallucinations, whereby behavior is not outside socially acceptable norms. It is also known as psychoneurosis or neurotic disorder, and thus those suffering from it are said to be neurotic...
and aggressive behavior, becoming more demanding and ultimately injuring Matt and destroying his bed the first time they have sex. Soon after, Jenny reveals to him that she is in fact the voluptuous blonde superheroine, G-Girl, who accidentally absorbed powers such as flight, superhuman strength and speed, invulnerability, super breath, heat vision, and super senses after she was exposed to radiation from a crashed meteorite as a teenager. Jenny starts to become more controlling after she reveals her powers and Matt starts to lose his mind.
Hannah (Anna Faris
Anna Faris
Anna Kay Faris is an American actress, singer and comedienne. She is known for her starring role in the Scary Movie film series, as well as roles in The Hot Chick , Lost in Translation , Just Friends , My Super Ex-Girlfriend , Smiley Face , and The House Bunny...
), Matt's co-worker, has a secret crush on him. As Matt and Hannah's friendship develops further, and after becoming aggravated with Jenny's escalating jealousy, Matt ends the relationship. An angered Jenny vows to make Matt regret the decision, using her superpowers to publicly embarrass him, throwing his car into space and eventually causing him to lose his job when she strips him naked during an important meeting. Professor Bedlam (Eddie Izzard
Eddie Izzard
Edward John "Eddie" Izzard is a British stand-up comedian and actor. His comedy style takes the form of rambling, whimsical monologue and self-referential pantomime...
), Jenny's former boyfriend, and now G-Girl's arch-nemesis, contacts Matt in order to enlist his aid in defeating her. Matt refuses and makes plans to leave the city. As he does so he is contacted by Hannah, and after confessing their feelings to one another, they end up in bed.
Jenny (as G-Girl) discovers them in bed the next day. Enraged and jealous, she attacks the pair with a great white shark
Great white shark
The great white shark, scientific name Carcharodon carcharias, also known as the great white, white pointer, white shark, or white death, is a large lamniform shark found in coastal surface waters in all major oceans. It is known for its size, with the largest individuals known to have approached...
. Angered, Matt contacts Professor Bedlam and agrees to help him defeat her, as long as Bedlam retires from being a supervillain. He instructs Matt to lure Jenny to a meeting where she can be exposed to another meteorite that will draw away her powers, leaving her a mere mortal. Matt agrees and meets Jenny for a candlelit dinner at his apartment, under the pretense of wanting to resume their relationship. Hannah arrives to see Jenny sitting on Matt's lap. The two women fight, and in the struggle Jenny's superhero identity is revealed to Hannah. Bedlam's trap is sprung, and the energy that gave Jenny her powers is drained back into the meteorite, incapacitating Jenny.
Professor Bedlam appears, but reveals that he has no intention of keeping his promise to retire from villainy and in fact plans to take the powers for himself. While he and Matt fight, Jenny crawls to the charged meteorite attempting to regain her powers; Hannah intervenes just as Jenny grabs the meteorite, which explodes in a burst of power. Both Hannah and Jenny are catapulted off the roof, apparently to their deaths; Jenny appears within seconds, powers restored, threatening even more mayhem. Only the unexpected reappearance of Hannah, who was also exposed to the meteorite's energies, and now possessing the same powers as G-Girl, saves Matt. The second fight between Hannah and Jenny is a full-on super-brawl, destroying part of the neighboring properties. Finally, Matt reasons with them both and they cease fighting. He tells Jenny that Professor Bedlam is her true love; Jenny agrees and she embraces her former nemesis.
The next morning, Matt and Hannah meet up with Professor Bedlam (now just "Barry") and Jenny. As cries for help are heard from afar, Jenny and Hannah, who have become partners in crime-fighting, take off to tackle the emergency; Matt and Barry are left holding their girlfriends' purses, and leave to have a beer together.
Cast
- Uma ThurmanUma ThurmanUma Karuna Thurman is an American actress and model. She has performed in leading roles in a variety of films, ranging from romantic comedies and dramas to science fiction and action movies. Among her best-known roles are those in the Quentin Tarantino films Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill...
as Jenny Johnson / G-Girl - Luke WilsonLuke WilsonLuke Cunningham Wilson is an American film actor known for his roles in Old School, Bottle Rocket, The Royal Tenenbaums, Legally Blonde, Idiocracy and Death at a Funeral.-Early life:...
as Matthew "Matt" Saunders - Anna FarisAnna FarisAnna Kay Faris is an American actress, singer and comedienne. She is known for her starring role in the Scary Movie film series, as well as roles in The Hot Chick , Lost in Translation , Just Friends , My Super Ex-Girlfriend , Smiley Face , and The House Bunny...
as Hannah Lewis - Eddie IzzardEddie IzzardEdward John "Eddie" Izzard is a British stand-up comedian and actor. His comedy style takes the form of rambling, whimsical monologue and self-referential pantomime...
as Barry Edward Lambert / Professor Bedlam - Rainn WilsonRainn WilsonRainn Dietrich Wilson is an American actor and comedian. He is primarily known for his role as the egomaniacal Dwight Schrute on the American version of the television comedy The Office...
as Vaughn Haige - Wanda SykesWanda SykesWanda Sykes is an American writer, stand-up comedian, actress, and voice artist. She earned the 1999 Emmy Award for her writing on The Chris Rock Show. In 2004 Entertainment Weekly named Sykes as one of the 25 funniest people in America...
as Carla Dunkirk - Stelio SavanteStelio SavanteStelio Savante is a South African actor, producer, and writer living in the United States. He is a native English speaker and fluent in Afrikaans and Greek. In 2007 he became the first male South African born SAG award nominee. For his recurring role on Ugly Betty...
as Leo - Mike Iorio as Lenny
- Mark ConsuelosMark ConsuelosMark Andrew Consuelos is a Spanish-born American television and film actor.-Personal life:Consuelos was born in Zaragoza, Spain to a Mexican father and an Italian mother. He is the youngest of three children, he has a brother, who is a doctor, and a sister, who is a lawyer. Consuelos has lived in...
as Steve - Tara L. ThompsonTara ThompsonTara Thompson is an American actress.She first starred in the short-lived TV series The Mountain. She plays Young Jenny in My Super Ex-Girlfriend. Her next movie is The Attic. She has two younger brothers named Justin and Mike...
as Young Jenny Johnson - Kevin Townley as Young Barry Lambert
- Tom HenryTom HenryTom Henry is an American politician, former Fort Wayne City Councilman, and current Mayor of Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA. He has an MBA from the University of Saint Francis and is the President and CEO of the Gallant Group, a small insurance company in Fort Wayne...
as the guy in the red cast - Margaret Anne FlorenceMargaret Anne FlorenceMargaret Anne Florence is an actress, singer, and model based in New York City. Margaret Anne has been featured in major motion pictures, television, independent films, and on the New York stage. She frequently appears in national and international television commercials and print advertisements...
as the bartender
Production
Writer Don Payne conceived of the idea of his first film while working on The SimpsonsThe Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
television series, saying that as a fan of comics, the idea of a romantic comedy with a superhero twist was "a fitting first feature". The spec script
Spec script
A spec script, also known as a speculative screenplay, is a non-commissioned unsolicited screenplay. It is usually written by a screenwriter who hopes to have the script optioned and eventually purchased by a producer, production company, or studio....
(at that time called Super Ex) attracted the attention of production company Regency Enterprises
Regency Enterprises
Regency Enterprises is a Los Angeles-based film and television production company formed by Arnon Milchan and Joseph P. Grace. It was founded in 1982 as Embassy International Pictures, but the company name changed to avoid confusion with Norman Lear's Embassy Pictures . Its most successful film is...
and director Ivan Reitman, and the film was fast-tracked for production. Filming took place over four weeks in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and featured Westchester high school Port Chester High School for the main characters' high school scenes.
Release and reception
My Super Ex-Girlfriend debuted in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
on July 21, 2006 in 2,702 theaters. In its opening weekend, the film grossed $8,603,460 and ranked #7 in the American and Canadian box office. The film proceeded to gross $22,530,295 in the United States and Canada and $38,454,511 in other territories for a worldwide gross of $60,984,606. On the review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, My Super Ex-Girlfriend received a rating of 40% based on 126 reviews. On Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, the film had an average score of 50 out of 100, based on 28 reviews. Michael Medved
Michael Medved
Michael Medved is an American radio host, author, political commentator and film critic. His Seattle, Washington-based nationally syndicated talk show, The Michael Medved Show, airs throughout the U.S...
gave My Super Ex-Girlfriend two and a half stars (out of four), saying that Thurman gave "...one of her best performances ever...".
DVD release
The film was released on DVD on December 19, 2006 with anamorphic widescreenWidescreen
Widescreen images are a variety of aspect ratios used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than the standard 1.37:1 Academy aspect ratio provided by 35mm film....
and fullscreen presentations along with English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround tracks. Special features include deleted scene
Deleted scene
In Entertainment, especially the film and television industry, Deleted scenes are parts of a film removed or censored from or replaced by another scene in the final "cut", or version, of a film...
s, behind-the-scenes, and "No Sleep 2 Nite" music video by Molly McQueen
Molly McQueen
Molly McQueen is a singer/songwriter from the United Kingdom. She was once a member of pop/rock girl band The Faders, best known for their singles "No Sleep Tonight" and "Jump". McQueen took the stage name as Molly Lorenne during her time in the band.-Solo career:McQueen is currently working on...
.