The Ex
Acclaimed music-video director Jesse Peretz made his third feature with this comedy starring Zach Braff and Jason Bateman. Tom (Braff) is an aspiring chef whose wife Sofia (Amanda Peet) has just quit her high-paying job to stay home with their new baby. When it becomes abundantly clear that they can no longer maintain their New York City lifestyle, the family picks up and moves to Sofia's hometown in Ohio, where Tom is hired to work at her father's ad agency. It is there that Tom meets Chip (Bateman), the agency's wheelchair-bound golden boy, who also happened to have a one-night stand with Sofia while the two were cheerleaders in high school. Suddenly, Tom finds himself sabotaged by Chip at every step as the nefarious paraplegic schemes to steal Sofia from him and destroy any chance he might have of success at the agency. Released briefly in 2006 under the title Fast Track, the film was retitled The Ex before receiving a wide release in the Spring of 2007. more..
Director: Jesse Peretz
Starring: Zach Braff, Amanda Peet, Jason Bateman, Charles Grodin, Mia Farrow
The best jokes in this scattershot screwball satire of job insecurity, upward mobility, political correctness and yuppie marital tensions have claws that leave scratches.
For a comedy, it's not really funny.
It's a pretty twisted concept, bordering on offensive. But mostly it's just not funny.
The next time Grodin attempts a comeback, it would be so great if he avoids movies where he might be upstaged by a sandwich stunt.
The Ex isn't painful, horrible or despicable, but it is an amazing mess.
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