On paper there is a laundry lists of things that should make this movie excellent:
Jason Bateman: the current reigning king of character acting. Hands down the best of this generation of actors.
Amanda Peet: the understated darling of cinema. Funny and dramatic, beautiful and girl-next-door.
Zach Braff: TV funny man, adorable indie lead. Yummy and seemingly talented.
Amy Poehler: One of the industries funniest women at the moment. Always manages to be perfect no matter how big or small her role.
If you mix these elements together you should have a knock-it-out-of-the-park grand slam of a comedy.
Yet someone The Ex manages to strike out in every scene. Braff is adorable and lovable as the aimless loser Tom. Still when no one believes what Chip Sanders is doing to try and destroy him, Tom's sad attempts to finally prove himself are childish and annoying. Peet is a nice balance in this flick. Her portrayal of the woman in the middle, who doesn't know she is in the middle, was a believable core for the movie. Somehow she was still underutilized and her lack of camera time is one of the many things seriously hurting this movie. Poehler was completely miscast. I don't even know why they would waster her immense talent on her mere three scenes and handful of lines. Pointless and frustrating. Most disappointing though is Bateman. As always he assimilates into the annoying, undermining, conniving Chip Sanders, just beautifully. Still perhaps it was the script or general concept but his character was still not at all satisfying. Even throwing in great big name surprises like Amy Adam and Paul Rudd could not save this sunken ship. It's hard to pinpoint where The Ex goes wrong but I can tell you where it goes right: no where.
Skip Skip Skip.
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