My Super Ex-Girlfriend
for sexual content, crude humor, language and brief nudity.
Reviewed by: Keith Howland
CONTRIBUTOR
| Moral Rating: | Very Offensive |
| Moviemaking Quality: |
|
| Primary Audience: | Adults Teens |
| Genre: | Action Romance Comedy |
| Length: | 1 hr. 35 min. |
| Year of Release: | 2006 |
| USA Release: |
July 21, 2006 (wide) |
What is fornication? Answer
Why should I save sex for marriage? Answer
How far is too far? What are the guidelines for dating relationships? Answer
How can I deal with temptations? Answer
What are the consequences of sexual immorality? Answer
What is true love and how do you know when you have found it? Answer
| Featuring | Luke Wilson, Uma Thurman, Anna Faris, Eddie Izzard, Wanda Sykes |
| Director |
Ivan Reitman |
| Producer | Gavin Polone |
| Distributor |
“He broke her heart. She broke his everything.”
An ordinary guy name Matt Saunders (Luke Wilson) asks out seemingly ordinary girl Jenny Johnson (Uma Thurman). They “click” and continue dating, but he discovers that she is overly clingy and neurotic, so he asks for a little time “to evaluate the relationship.” In other words, he wants to break up. Of course, Jenny is no ordinary girl—she is “G-Girl,” a superhero who protects New York City from all sorts of calamities. And since Jenny/G-Girl is very neurotic, and she does have superpowers, she naturally seeks super-powered vengeance on her hapless ex-boyfriend.
In short, the concept of “My Super Ex-Girlfriend” blends “The Break-Up” with the current superhero movie craze. Such a premise is accompanied by an inevitable mean-spiritedness in tone. But this film goes much further than that—it is also complete and utter filth. Luke Wilson manages to exude some ordinary-guy sweetness, and Eddie Izzard gives an admirably restrained performance as supervillain Bedlam, but these commendable points are lost amidst a fray of utter sexual degradation.
There is not a single scene in the film that does not depict sex or include dialogue about sex. Indeed, Matt’s friend Vaughn (Rainn Wilson) does nothing but talk about sex. And none of the sex, whether depicted or discussed, is even once what God intended it to be—the consummation of a physical relationship of a man and a woman in the bond of marriage (Genesis 2:18-24; Matthew 19:4-6; I Corinthians 6:16). God expressly forbids any sex outside of marriage (Exodus 20:14; Leviticus 18; Matthew 5:27-28), yet this movie repeatedly and exuberantly endorses it. Vaughn rightly describes his obsession as “carnality,” and his incessant ruminations on the topic are especially degrading to women. Ironically, one incidental character in the film is Matt’s work supervisor (Wanda Sykes), who is constantly on the alert for sexual harassment in the workplace. If she were this film’s supervisor, it would be fired on the spot!
Even if this movie were not inextricably offensive (with male nudity, profanity, and gratuitous violence piled atop the mountain of sex and sex-themed dialogue), it would still be substandard. The story by Don Payne is predictable and uneven in tone. Ivan Reitman’s direction is uninspired, and the acting is often less than persuasive. The visual effects are mostly just cheesy, too. (One question also needs to be asked: How many superheroes does New York need? It already has Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four; and if you figure that Metropolis and Gotham are really doubles for the Big Apple, it has Superman and Batman, too. Don’t other cities need heroes?)
All good art points in some way to God—His presence, His character, or His work of redemption through Jesus Christ. Art itself is a reflection of God’s own creativity, as exercised in Creation and displayed throughout the visible universe. By this measure, “My Super Ex-Girlfriend” can be seen only as utterly artless. In every way, it shamelessly opposes the presence, character, and work of God.
By the last reel, if the film has managed to present a theme or a “moral” of any kind, it is this: Be honest about your feelings. Well, let me be honest with you: This film is awful. Do not see it.
Violence: Moderate / Profanity: Moderate / Sex/Nudity: Heavy
See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.
Matt (played by Luke Wilson) had a best buddy Vaughn, a token “shallow male” who was incessantly vulgar throughout the film with his sexist and lewd comments, which were supposed to be funny. The movie was also completely fine with premarital sex—a gratuitous slant aimed at an older demographic. It would have been a nicer film had it been more family friendly and “cleaner.” Why do we need to see people in bed? Twice, female lead characters straddled “their men” in bed and humped so wildly that the bed moved a few feet with each thunderous “bang,” showing us the man was getting the “ride” of his life, to the point of jelly-legs and difficulty in walking afterwards.
I was so disappointed. Don’t take your kids to this one. Revenge is the main theme of the movie, and it’s interlaced with sex from go to whoa.
Offensive / 3
Offensive / 3
Extremely Offensive / 2
As a Christian man, I was offended by the sexual harassment that the main character suffered from the second hero’s character, as well as Wanda Sykes’s character. This movie (if nothing else) pointed out that sexual harassment in the workplace is a problem, but it really isn’t the men doing all of the harassment. Let’s hear a round of applause for the expose on female harassment of males.
As a Christian, I agree that every Christian would see this movie as utterly offensive. The language of the worldly “best friend” was demeaning to females, but the character that we are referring to (Vaughn) is portrayed very effectively as a ??-year-old frustrated virgin trying to live vicariously through his friend’s exploits. He is worldly, not Christian, so to force the ideals of a Christian onto Vaughn’s character is ludicrous.
Vaughn’s character is very understandable to many viewers of this movie, either as a picture of themselves at some point in their lives, or someone that they knew. I think that’s why most Christian viewers focus on Vaughn’s diatribe of female harassing comments, and are so offended by them. Personally, I (like the main character) easily filtered out whatever Vaughn said that was , and ignored it… enabling me to enjoy the rest of the movie. In truth, I think that the movie makers needed more time on film, so they gave the actor playing Vaughn the order to be the raunchiest that he could, and fill up extra minutes.
I agree that the sex scenes were very offensive to peaceful Christians. As a viewer, and man, I was more focused on the humor involved with the damage during the aftermath. Seeing the bed fall apart, then the neighbor’s reactions to the furniture beating against his wall, and lastly the neighbor having to cringe in the far corner as a piece of furniture comes through his wall. I thought that was humorous, but offensive.
The respectable thing in my mind was that these sex scenes did not show any “private part” from a female body. As a bald eagle fan, I appreciated the mid-air scene, but it was even offensive to the Christian mindset. In it’s entirety, this movie offered nothing to the Christian in the way of Christian entertainment… but Christians weren’t the movie’s intended audience.
Average / 4
My Ratings: Extremely Offensive / 3