THE EX (2007) **1/2 Zach Braff, Amanda Peet, Jason Bateman, Charles Grodin, Mia Farrow, Lucian Maisel, Donal Logue, Amy Poehler, Fred Armisen, Josh Charles, Marin Hinkle, Amy Adams, Yul Vazquez, Paul Rudd, Robert John Burke, Michael Cumpsty, John Benjamin Hickey. (Dir: Jesse Peretz)
Farrelly Brothers lite : Bateman and Grodin steal the show.
In the latest attempt to make a Farrelly Brothers lite knock-off of "There's Something About Mary", Braff stars in the Ben Stiller role of Tom Reilly , a New York City cook whose wife Sofia (the sexy Peet in the Cameron Diaz role) is expecting the couples first baby when he is summarily fired from his job after anticipating a promotion that only leads to a confrontation with his jerk boss (Rudd in a funny cameo). With no other choice Tom decides to take up his father-in-law Bob 's (Grodin returning to the silver screen in over a decade, and a much welcome back!) long-standing job offer to work with him at his advertising job in Sofia's home state of Ohio. Packing up the family and all their worldly belongings they arrive with an open welcome and a place to stay until Tom gets his footing.
To add insult to injury, Bob is assigned to work under Chip Sanders (Bateman, stealing every scene he's in and hilarious to boot0, a former close friend of Sofias's (who has still a mad crush on her). Not only is Chip a vain, pompous undermining passive/aggressive creep but he's in a wheelchair which makes for only more uncomfortable moments for the awkward Tom to hurdle over in the never-ending series of unfortunate social blunders and professional pitfalls Chip tosses like so many hand grenades.
While Tom is attempting to get back on track for his family's sake he becomes obsessed in getting back at the nefarious Chip no matter what and ultimately suffers for it in the long run.
While newcomer director Peretz (a music video helmsman making his big-screen debut) manages the best he can with the hit-and-miss screenplay by David Guion and Michael Handelman, novice scribes themselves, the film lacks the fundamentals of being a satire say like "Flirting With Disaster" or again the absurd political incorrectness of the aforementioned Farrelllys. Instead the hodgepodge comedy comes undone in spite of some really funny moments its game cast dishes out with full brio (slapstick by Braff, Bateman's comic timing, Grodin's dry grouchy humor and the sprinkling of the underused SNLers Poehler and Armisen.
It's no secret that Tom's desire to expose the dark secret of Chip is revealed but with no real shocking payoff I don't want to ruin it either but it could've been a revenge best served coldly and not lukewarmly.
Farrelly Brothers lite : Bateman and Grodin steal the show.
In the latest attempt to make a Farrelly Brothers lite knock-off of "There's Something About Mary", Braff stars in the Ben Stiller role of Tom Reilly , a New York City cook whose wife Sofia (the sexy Peet in the Cameron Diaz role) is expecting the couples first baby when he is summarily fired from his job after anticipating a promotion that only leads to a confrontation with his jerk boss (Rudd in a funny cameo). With no other choice Tom decides to take up his father-in-law Bob 's (Grodin returning to the silver screen in over a decade, and a much welcome back!) long-standing job offer to work with him at his advertising job in Sofia's home state of Ohio. Packing up the family and all their worldly belongings they arrive with an open welcome and a place to stay until Tom gets his footing.
To add insult to injury, Bob is assigned to work under Chip Sanders (Bateman, stealing every scene he's in and hilarious to boot0, a former close friend of Sofias's (who has still a mad crush on her). Not only is Chip a vain, pompous undermining passive/aggressive creep but he's in a wheelchair which makes for only more uncomfortable moments for the awkward Tom to hurdle over in the never-ending series of unfortunate social blunders and professional pitfalls Chip tosses like so many hand grenades.
While Tom is attempting to get back on track for his family's sake he becomes obsessed in getting back at the nefarious Chip no matter what and ultimately suffers for it in the long run.
While newcomer director Peretz (a music video helmsman making his big-screen debut) manages the best he can with the hit-and-miss screenplay by David Guion and Michael Handelman, novice scribes themselves, the film lacks the fundamentals of being a satire say like "Flirting With Disaster" or again the absurd political incorrectness of the aforementioned Farrelllys. Instead the hodgepodge comedy comes undone in spite of some really funny moments its game cast dishes out with full brio (slapstick by Braff, Bateman's comic timing, Grodin's dry grouchy humor and the sprinkling of the underused SNLers Poehler and Armisen.
It's no secret that Tom's desire to expose the dark secret of Chip is revealed but with no real shocking payoff I don't want to ruin it either but it could've been a revenge best served coldly and not lukewarmly.