Directed By: Ivan Reitman
Written By: Don Payne
Cinematography By: Don Burgess
Editor: Wendy Greene Bricmont & Sheldon Kahn
Cast: Uma Thurman, Luke Wilson, Anna Faris, Eddie Izzard, Rainn Wilson, Wanda Sykes, Mark Consuelos
When a regular guy dumps a superhero for her neediness, she uses her powers to make his life a living hell.
I hate to say it, but I believe Ivan Reitman has lost his touch. This movie is far from classic to even that memorable. What really disappoints is that it is written by a SIMPSONS tv writer. Which is usually the upper echelon of comedy.
The cast is willing and able but everything seems to fall flat like you expect a lame joke time to time, but here it is far too constant.
This seems to be one of those films where the story seems so good and funny on paper it seems like it can’t lose. You might even expect it to work as a series of skits, but quickly wears out it’s welcome in a 90 minute time frame.
It’s probably also due to the fact that the whole plot can be summed up in it’s title. It lacks nuances that the film THE 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN had. Where the title was the plot but it had actual layers to it’s story and realistic characters you cared about. This film doesn’t.
One thing that might have worked to save this film is to have Anna Faris and Uma Thurman switch roles. I know Uma has the goddess like beauty and warrior body, but it would have been funnier to see her playing it straight and be the put upon innocent love interest and have Anna Faris. Who is a gifted comedic actress play the more manic and jealous one in high hilarity. As she has done before in the movie JUST FRIENDS, I believe she could have brought her a game here and made herself a star, up the material to a higher level or at least made this move a lot more amusing chuckle worthy, but as Uma Thurman was the bigger name it made sense to give her the bigger role.
It just feels like everyone In this movie is playing smug. None of the characters are truly relateable and I know this was made before the superhero boom, but the film seems like it was made by no one who has ever read a comic book, more like someone who saw a bunch of 80’s/90’s comic book adaptations. As there is a need here to make a femanist statement to a degree while dealing in stereotypes that was a bit onto something that was more clear in the film COLOSSAL.
Here it seems there is a need to not only create conflict but make a ridiculous villain whose issues are a bit understandable, but seem fit for a better movie.
The superhero of the title G-Girl is such a badly thought out and put together character. That it seems like little effort on the port of the filmmakers to make a little more detailed and well rounded would have done a long way.
Luke Wilson doesn’t have much to do here. Nor does he add anything. Rainn Wilson does his duty with conviction playing the best friend role with the requisite one liners, but he seems like he has been brought in from a different film.
I give the film credit as it was made early before superhero movies quite became a trend if they would have waited maybe it could have been a stronger and funnier satire. Not only of the superhero genre but more the superhero movies themselves. As what is here is so broad that it really has no strength behind it.
The film is pretty basic as here is nothing specific it feels like it is scripted yet making itself up as it is going along. As it plays more like an exaggerated version of just having an ex who has privilege and access.
Rainn Wilson is the only performer who makes the film and his performance interesting. As he seems to be in another film entirely and seems to realize how much of a mess the film he is in is. So he is just playing it for all it’s worth even if it makes little to no sense and it seems that he is improvising all his lines.
It feels like no one involved in this film has ever been into it even read comic books before.
What also is insulting is that the film has a female character who is heroic and has great power. It can’t help getting past the approval and dumping by a man. That makes it seem like all the characters care about ate relationships which is stereotyping and worse takes any empowering message away from the film and any chance for pride any female member of the audience might have had or been inspired by. I know it doesn’t seem the type they would but at that point there had been very few female action heroes bar none super heroes.
The film just comes off like no one put too much concerned effort into the film. Like they all just expected everything to go well and be a hit or they just didn’t care enough and figured the others will pick up the slack, This is one of those could have been movies. That has great promise, but Somehow almost everything goes wrong.
GRADE: D
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