"The Ex" (2007) - Movie Review

Naïve husband trying to be supportive and in the mean while being jealous towards an old ex of his wife who seems to go beyond weird imaginations to win her back. Adding to it, the husband does not get the respect and attention from his in laws either. Been there seen that. It is written all over the movie that director Jesse Peretz definitely want to give a casual and relaxed romantic comedy. He does not strain himself in bringing any new kind of elements to this clichéd story. Even with the entire repeated ness there seems to be some moments to laugh and get entertained a bit, I mean a bit.

Tom (Zach Braff) gets fired instead of a promotion on the day of his wife Sofia (Amanda Peet) giving birth to their baby. With financial pressure mounting up and to make her happy Tom moves to Ohio and takes up the job of being an ad-man for his father-in-law Bob (Charles Grodin). He meets the physically challenged Chip (Jason Bateman) who seems to still have a thing for Sofia from his high school days. Chip is the man of the company. He stretches himself far beyond to be the achiever. More than that, he does not like competition from any one, especially from Tom. He is the friendly successful guy for Bob and his wife who are not satisfied by Tom’s achievement in his career. All set and the games begin. Sabotaging, lying and spying. Sprinkle some nice awkward moments of fun and there it is the casual comedy. But wait, we have seen tons of those. Nothing is new and once the few funny laughs get over, it is time for us to wait for the movie to end.

But Zach Braff manages to bring in the boyish charm to enlighten this piece for a while. Jason Bateman tries too but even though they seem to center around him, there is not proper connection of his actions. He is meticulous and careful and why does he makes an unnecessary show at the end? Yes, they need to end the movie. Does not seem to be the character they show. While he is suffering from those character flaws, Sofia’s character is another ambiguous handling. They show sequences of Sofia getting bored with the life at Ohio too, but it seems unbelievable for not to discuss this with Tom. What is surprising is that the creators think that the audience can be taken for granted in these unexplainable behaviour. But they do not realize that even though the audience cannot pin point on what is wrong, they can feel the small nudge in them while the inquisitive heart of theirs beckons the explanation.

As I said earlier, the director does not intend to make a novel story line and definitely not a new style of film making. He wants to provide a light hearted comedy. This is the same attitude when Jay Roach made “Meet the Parents”. But it is an interesting movie mainly due to the unspoken yet cold chemistry in between the characters of Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro. The sadistic and cunning Jason Bateman’s Chip does not produce the charm and irritation by over possessive and spy eyed Robert De Niro’s Jack. Zach Braff is an obvious choice since he has come up with the same emotions very nicely in his TV Sitcom “Scrubs”. He adds in the committed husband to it and Voilà!

There is nothing wrong in making a casual beaten up comedy. It has been proven that the most clichéd stories can be made with different style and approach successfully. Moreover the cast brings out the creative weirdness in movies like this. There are those in these movies but does not come out well. It is not being applied for its full potential either. Charles Grodin is the one whom I could point out in that aspect. No one can forget his character in “Midnight Run”. They do not employ him to his caliber. It came for a moment and vanished way quickly. This is the movie wherein we do not get bored but when the movie is over, we ask, “So?”