Even its talented cast cannot save this movie's mediocre writing from stumbling all over the place
Added 10/23/2009
The Ex (directed by Jesse Peretz) is a romantic comedy that induces a few chuckles but ultimately doesn't do its talented cast justice.
Tom Reilly (Zach Braff) is a slacker who can't find a career he loves. When he loses his job as chef the day his wife, Sofia Kowalski (Amanda Peet), has their baby, he is forced to move from New York City to small town Ohio. He reluctantly takes a job at an ad agency where her father (Charles Grodin) works. He meets Chip Sanders (Jason Bateman); a self-absorbed creative consultant who knew Sofia in high school and has an unhealthy crush on her. Tom must learn to survive in the corporate world and against Chip who becomes a rival at work and in his personal life.
The humor is average at best. There are a few moments that are funny but most of the writing lets the cast down. Zach Braff, Amanda Peet and Jason Bateman are talented comedic actors. Even they cannot save this movie from its own mediocre writing.
Braff's character is very one-dimensional. He does redeem himself when he his taking care of his son but most of the time he acts like a screw up who can't get his act together. The ending is promising for his character, though. It makes me believe he might finally get some thing right. But I'm not holding my breath.
Chip Sanders is as evil of a corporate rival as they get. He is sadistic, cruel and there are no qualities in his personality that compels me to like him. I feel this also makes Sanders appear one-dimensional. It would be interesting for him to reveal anything that garners sympathy.
Amy Adams, Fred Armisen, Amy Poehler and Paul Rudd are all delightful actors that pop up in the movie. Poehler was great. She leaves me wondering why her character doesn't show up more. She is hilarious with the lines she is given (as are the rest of them). Any excuse to give Poehler more lines and air time would make me happy.
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The DVD is a very edited version of the movie, the unedited one just aired on Comedy Central
Added 9/28/2009
It is weird but this "unrated" DVD is really edited, which you would think would be the opposite case. I am glad I watched this on basic cable, because I saw the whole movie, not the weirdly edited version where no one knows if Chip can walk or not. I can understand why people would give this movie low ratings because they haven't seen the real movie. I see good ratings on movie sites until when the DVD came out, then there are bad reviews. So it might be the editing, right?
I liked Zach Braff in this. Jason Bateman was great too. A couple SNL people and Paul Rudd make some nice, if not short, appearances.
Not having seen the edited version, I can only go with what I read, so I beg you to not rent this on DVD and try to catch it on Comedy Central instead, where I do believe they show the whole movie intact. It is a funny movie. Not the best movie I have even since, but worth checking out.
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Fails as a comedy
Added 8/22/2009
Biggest problem with `The Ex' is that it tries to be a comedy movie but unfortunately all its jokes are highly predictable. You can sense the punch line as soon as the scene starts. Too much stress (and most of the `funny' moments) are between Jason Bateman and Zach Braff and movie fails to utilize the comedy timings of Amanda Peet (as evident in `Whole Nine Yards' movies) and Amy Adams (Enchanted).
After spending almost 90 minutes with `The Ex' it still feels like an episode of a regular sitcom. It looks like filmmakers decided to put together this amazing ensemble cast (Zach Braff. Amanda Peet, Jason Bateman, Mia Farrow, Amy Poehler, Amy Adams and even Paul Rudd) and then just tried to create a script around these characters. End result was pretty pathetic.
Overall, I think Jason Bateman did a pretty good job with his character. Amy Adams was amazing in her small role. One highlight of the movie was Paul Rudd (who was there only for a single scene) and he was simply amazing. His few minutes of appearance were more memorable then over an hour of Zach Braff. Watching Zach Braff was like watching another re-run of Scrubs on TV.
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Lifeless and unfunny
Added 4/27/2009
On paper, this is one of the best movies ever. Jason Bateman? Zack Braff? Amy Poehler? Amanda Peet? Paul Rudd? And Charles Grodin and Mia Farrow for good measure - how can this not be great?
And yet, "The Ex" is not great; it is not even OK, but instead is a lifeless dud. The first scene sets the mood - an awful, clunky bit of exposition that doesn't even rise to the level of bad TV comedy. This is bad news, given that Braff is the star of one of TV's best comedies, and Peet was fantastic in the underrated comedy/drama "Studio 60". It just gets worse from there. I think I was 10 minutes into this before I even chuckled. The cast tries gamely to work with the terrible script and nonexistent direction, generally to no avail. Grodin and Farrow fare the best, perhaps because their years of experience has taught them how to deal with clueless directors.
The lighting and camera work are public-access-TV level bad. I know because I have made movies for public access TV. I had something on the order of a benjamin to work with. I don't know how you get the same look with millions of dollars behind you.
The funniest bits of this movie are in the blooper reel in the special features - where the actors actually get to exercise their talents for comedy without being shackled by horrible writing and nonexistent direction.
As an aside, I didn't buy the crazy moms' group in Columbus, Ohio, until my wife reminded me that her best friend (who happens to live in Columbus) had virtually the same experience as Amanda Peet.
The entire talented cast is completely wasted in this sad misfire. Avoid at all costs.
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I have to disagree with the negative reviews - I liked it
Added 11/1/2008
I join the minority of reviewers who thought this was very funny. I laughed a lot watching it, and thought it was great. It was on TV, so I recorded it - I'll see it again some time. I agree with the reviewer who liked it.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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The Good Guy (and klutz) Wins!
Added 9/29/2009
Zach Braff marries over his head, can't keep a job, and as a last resort, goes to work for his father-in-law )Charles Grodin) at a really weird advertising agency. There he's made subordinate to an old flame (Donal Logue) of his wife (Amanda Peete) who has been living as a pretend paraplegic in a wheelchair for sympathy. Logue's objective is to drive Zach out of the company and take back up with Amanda; en route he sabotages Zach's new ad campaign idea, and Zach accidentally starts a fire destroying the tape with the compelling ad approach just when it's needed most. To make matters worse, the kid in the ad decides he's not going to record it anymore. The resulting stress causes Zach and Amanda to break up.
Fortunately, despite several additional klutzy moves, Logue exposes himself as an impostor, and goes off to a supposed new position in Barcelona that Zach fakes a job offer to him from. The good news is that Zach's promotional tape is recreated after Amanda talks the young lad into it, Zach finds his calling and starts his own ad agency, and he's reunited with Amanda.
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Braff and Bateman are funny actors. The plot is so lame that it defies explanation. They do the best they can with their parts, but the movie has very few laughs. I tried to explain the one funny gag about the "yes" ball to my brother. Nothing. It was a bad sign. Watch Scrubs or Arrested Development in stead.
1 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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This is the version you want.
Added 8/28/2007
IF YOU SAW THE EX IN THE THEATRE AND LOVED IT, THIS IS THE VERSION YOU WANT! THIS IS THE VERSION THAT WAS SHOWN IN THE THEATRE. The unrated version has a lot of material cut out, including a lot of character development and stuff that made the movie funny in the first place. This PG-13 version is 5 minutes longer than the unrated. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem that this rated version is available in widescreen at this time.
8 out of 8 people found this helpful.
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