Tagline: He broke her heart, she broke his everything.
My Super Ex-Girlfriend movie storyline. Breaking up is hard to do, but sometimes it can be downright dangerous. In the Ivan Reitman comedy “My Super Ex-Girlfriend,” Matt Saunders (Luke Wilson) thinks he’s finally found the perfect girlfriend, the beautiful Jenny Johnson (Uma Thurman) – who just so happens to be a superhero.
When Jenny / G-Girl becomes overly possessive, Matt wants to call it quits – but how do you break up with a superhero? A scorned woman, Jenny / G-Girl unleashes on her ex the full fury of her super-powered wrath as she sets out on a no-holds-barred mission to bust up Matt’s budding romance with his co-worker Hannah (Anna Faris).
Everyone’s had a painful parting of the ways with a romantic partner. We pick up the pieces and move on. But for one New York guy, it’s not going to be so easy. When he breaks up with his girlfriend, he discovers his ex is actually the reluctant superhero, G-Girl. A scorned woman, she unleashes her super powers to humiliate and torment him.
“My Super Ex-Girlfriend” stars Uma Thurman as Jenny Johnson, aka G-Girl and Luke Wilson as Matt Saunders, her beleaguered boyfriend. Anna Faris is Hannah, Matt’s co-worker. Rainn Wilson is Vaughn, Matt’s best friend and Eddie Izzard is Professor Bedlam, G-Girl’s arch nemesis.
Ivan Reitman is one of the most successful comedy filmmakers of all time. His numerous directorial credits include “Ghostbusters,” “Stripes,” “Meatballs” and “Ghostbusters 2.” In addition, he produced or executive produced hits such as “Old School,” “Road Trip,” “Private Parts” and “Animal House.” For his latest film, Reitman was looking for a fresh take on the genre. “It wasn’t easy,” Reitman says. “We’ve seen lots of comedies with a romantic element, and most seem to play out in a strict template: Boy meets girl; loses girl for a while; then he gets her back.”
Reitman found the kind of novel idea he was searching for in an original screenplay by Don Payne, a longtime writer/co-executive producer on the “The Simpsons.” Payne’s script, called My Super Ex-Girlfriend, changed up the classic comedy template: the “boy” falls for a “girl” whom he discovers is a superhero.
Taking the idea even further, Payne made his super-heroine neurotic, needy and clingy – the nightmare trifecta of romance. “Even though the female lead character is a superhero, Don’s script wasn’t a comic-book story,” says Reitman. “This is not a superhero film. It’s a comedy grounded in reality. Even if you don’t like comics or superhero films, there’s a lot for you in My Super Ex-Girlfriend. Don’s dialogue was naturalistic, contemporary, sharp – and funny.”
Payne’s love for comedy – evidenced in his work on perhaps the greatest comedy series of all time, “The Simpsons” – is coupled with what he calls his “pure nerdom.”
“I grew up reading a lot of comics, and I love comics to this day, much to my wife’s chagrin,” Payne says. “It’s a nerd fantasy to have a superhero for a girlfriend, and I thought it’d be a fun idea to have a regular guy dating a superhero to disastrous results.”
Payne notes that the notion of a super-enabled woman dating a regular guy had been explored previously; the television sitcoms “Bewitched” and “I Dream of Jeannie” are two notable examples. But Payne adds a new twist to the idea. “I wondered what if the relationship between a superhero and a regular guy ended badly? What if he begins to realize that she’s kind of nuts? “That’s not going to be the kind of crazy ex-girlfriend you want,” Payne says, in a super-sized understatement.
Payne’s superhero is Jenny Johnson, a seemingly typical, contemporary New Yorker who works in an art gallery. Jenny, like most single people, wants a special person in her life. But she’s continually frustrated in her efforts to find “Mr. Right” due to her other “job”… as the superhero G-Girl.
“Jenny’s save-the-day feats become old for her,” says Reitman. “She doesn’t have the temperament to be a superhero, or the temperament for romance.”
When casting the part of Jenny / G-Girl, Reitman knew he had to find an actress who could handle the character’s stunt-heavy superheroics and who had the requisite comedic skills. According to Reitman, there was only one option: Uma Thurman.
“Who else could play the part?” he asks. “Uma is a special effect in real life! She’s a wonderful actress, gorgeous, and she has done rigorous stunt work before, in the `Kill Bill’ films.”
Thurman was eager to tackle Jenny’s superheroics and super-neuroses. “I loved the idea that Jenny is neurotic, vulnerable and a superhero,” says the actress.
Thurman notes her instincts about taking on the part were on-target. “I’ve never had more fun making a movie,” she notes. “I love doing comedy – it’s a passion of mine. You don’t often see a female lead like Jenny. She’s angry almost all the time, and that was great fun to play. Ivan [Reitman] encouraged me to play Jenny as broadly as possible, and to take the risk of making the character seem like a fool.”
At first glance – or first date – Jenny appears to be quite a “catch”; after all, she’s a vivacious, vibrant, and beautiful woman. But, as Reitman notes, it doesn’t take long for the story’s protagonist, Matt Saunders, to realize that there’s something “off” about Jenny. “She’s a very verbal person,” says the director. “Basically, she talks too much and hasn’t yet learned the fine art of self-censorship.”
Jenny is too much – way too much – to handle for a regular guy like Matt. Matt, played by Luke Wilson, is a successful architect who, like most single people (including future girlfriend-from hell Jenny), is looking for love. He is the story’s straight man and, says Reitman, the heart of the film. “Luke really embodies the quintessential American everyman,” says Reitman. “He’s a likable guy with great comedic timing.”
“I thought the script was very funny and, equally important, it had a lot of heart,” says Wilson. “It’s a very relatable story; everyone’s been through a rocky relationship, and Matt and Jenny’s connection is definitely rocky…and then some.”
Given Jenny’s abilities, even lovemaking becomes a risky proposition. Indeed, My Super Ex-Girlfriend answers the much-debated question: What would sex be like with a woman with superpowers? “Our sense was that it would be terrific AND painful,” says Reitman, who worked closely with Don Payne to find an original way, within the boundaries of a desired PG-13 rating, to depict super-powered sex. Jenny and Matt’s first time involves a bed rocking back and forth against a wall; another amorous encounter finds Jenny and a near-hysterical Matt joining the “Mile-High Club”…minus the plane, of course.
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My Super Ex-Girlfriend (2006)
Directed by: Ivan Reitman
Starring: Uma Thurman, Luke Wilson, Anna Faris, Eddie Izzard, Rainn Wilson, Wanda Sykes, Stelio Savante, Margaret Anne Florence, Eva Veronika, Catherine Reitman, Tara Thompson
Screenplay by: Don Payne
Production Design by: Jane Musky
Cinematography by: Don Burgess
Film Editing by: Wendy Greene Bricmont, Sheldon Kahn
Costume Design by: Laura Jean Shannon
Set Decoration by: Debra Schutt
Art Direction by: Patricia Woodbridge
Music by: Teddy Castellucci
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sexual content, crude humor, language and brief nudity.
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: July 21, 2006
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