The Ex

"The Ex" is one of those movies that you expect to be a little-known comedy gem. Its cast, including Amanada Peet, Zach Braff and Jason Bateman, are all very talented. But there's good reason it was a straight-to-DVD release. It's not funny. Its biggest problem is with characterization. Zach Braff plays the everyman, which is good casting because Braff plays the everyman with a comedic touch quite well. So well, in fact, that we connect to him. He wants to treat his wife well, work hard, and impress his in-laws. We want him to succeed just as much as he does. But then we start finding out that his wife (Amanda Peet) has no likable qualities and continues to force his life into hell, his in-laws of course are completely stubborn, and his co-worker (Jason Bateman) is a competitive back-stabbing ex-boyfriend of his wife. Obviously things don't go well for our hero, and they don't go well for the entire course of the movie. For this to work as a comedy, we need to understand our hero's connection to his wife, we need to see that there's a way in to connect with his in-laws, and we need to know that other characters see what the ex is really like, but the writers didn't give us any of that. Instead we have to sit there while our hero, who is essentially us, is being tortured for no good reason and with no way out. I certainly wasn't laughing.

source: The Ex

Zach Braff is like my group of friends, out loud collective conscious. He puts out there what we are all feeling, thinking, experiencing as our generation goes. He has great taste in music, and eye for spotting good opportunities, and has seemed to be very trustworthy so far. Even the off-Broadway play that he recommended, "Spring Awakening" was great. This movie was awful though. Let me save you the time and money, "The Ex" was the worst movie I've seen this year. The jokes were almost funny, the cinematography was attempting to do something cool with having a very shallow depth of field in every shot, but it was soft, and the jokes weren't funny. A lot of the humor was at the expense of others too. It was like a low budget version of a bombed Austin Powers joke. This made me sad.

Tom (Zach Braff) is a bright man who just keeps leaving jobs. As he is married to beautiful Sofia (Amanda Peet), a successful lawyer, this has not been a life-changing problem. However, hours before Sofia is set to give birth to their son, Tom promptly loses his latest job as a chef. As Sofia longs to be a stay at home mother, the only choice available now for the young family is a move to Ohio where Tom can take a job offered by Sofia's father. Although Tom has no background in the advertising world, he scores big points when he comes up with an extremely creative pitch for a condiment company. Yeah. But, working alongside Tom is the slimeman of the century, a man named Chip. Not only is wheelchair-bound Chip (Jason Bateman) an ex-boyfriend of Sofia's, he has everyone else fooled into thinking he is a great guy with a hefty talent as an ad man. Tom sees Chip's true self but exposing a handicapped man as a dirtbag is a difficult thing to do. Will Tom alienate everyone if he goes after Chip? This is a lame movie in almost every respect. From the forgettable script to the laissez-faire direction to the so-so production values, The Ex has definite problems. Worse still, the nice cast, which also includes Charles Grodin and Mia Farrow, can not transcend material of this caliber, no matter how hard they try. Braff is a lovable guy, so it really hurts that he and the others have nothing to work with here. Yes, I did crack a smile a few times but I found myself wincing more often than not. As a movie for bedridden flu patients, I suppose this one is okay. But, please do not spend big bucks arranging a viewing. Wait until it hits the cheap theaters, at least, or for the moment that you have a coupon for a free DVD rental. Even then, remember not to expect anything great, as this film is as disposable as they come.

What an utterly formulaic piece of garbage that wastes the talents of Zach Braff and Jason Bateman, two very funny guys on TV. There are some great supporting characters too and even they can't put lipstick on this pig. The directing is bad and the writing is just poor. Not a funny joke in the whole film! Usually a formulaic film can rise above average writing with great performances and great directing. This poor cast just had nothing to work with. Amanda Peet is her usual bland, boring self, and she's the only one who belongs in this. Everyone else is wasted. It's a bummer. Do not see this, even if you have the opportunity to see it for free. It's that much of a waste of time.

The movie doesn't move anywhere plot-wise. Everyone apart from the guy which is disabled seem to range from dumb to very dumb. Tom's in-laws are very naive. Tom isn't intelligent either. Most of the people lack common sense. His wife never supports him and Tom doesn't does anything to improve his life either at work or at home. i feel i wasted 100 minutes of my life by watching this movie. NEVER watch this movie, unless you have NOTHING, by nothing i mean it. Even staring out of your window can be an interesting thing to do than watching this movie. NEVER NEVER watch this movie.

Originally, this movie was titled Fast Track, since it's about an up-and-coming marketing guy who's on the proverbial way up at his father-in-law's firm. But then it was changed to The Ex, which shifted the focus from the workplace to the home. But let's get this straight: Either name is infinitely better then the unhealthy dollop of mean-spirited junk that appears after the title card on the screen. Tom (Zach Braff) has been fired from his job as a chef at a hoity-toity restaurant, so he and his wife Sofia (Amanda Peet) and their newborn baby schlep from New York to Ohio, where Sofia's dad Bob (Charles Grodin) has not only set Tom up with a new job but also has procured a nice little house for them to raise their new family in. Aww, ain't that sweet. But things don't start off well for Tom at the marketing firm, which turns out to be both new age and, well, wacko. You know, a place where such "creative" aspects as casual dress, unwalled offices, an imaginary ball of ideas or something abound. Tom has some issues with fitting in with the eclectic, quirky crew, but more importantly he clashes immediately with his new supervisor, Chip (Jason Bateman), who just happens to be a former schoolmate of Sofia. Oh, and a paraplegic, of course. But don't worry; although it seems like this is a romantic comedy about jealousy and redemption, about a young couple getting past their differences to survive as a unit, it's set up to be more like a slapstick comedy, with many jokes at Chip's expense. (Which is okay, because Chip is a real jerk.) The sad reality, though, is that the movie fails at both genres. Women won't like it, because there's no real romance, no genuine feelings on anyone's part. (Sorry to generalize, ladies.) Guys won't like it, because there's not nearly enough physical humor. That would be fine, except there's hardly any subtle humor, either. What you're left with is just vicious, mean-spiritedness that drains every ounce of humor from an otherwise talented cast. Braff's not terrible, but I never got the sense that he was, well, believable as someone women would desire. But what do I know, I'm a straight male. The affection between him and Peet seemed forced, tentative, and unnatural, sort of like unwilling siblings. Peet wasn't bad, either, but she didn't have much to work with - on a positive note, she doesn't come off as icily unappealing as she does in most of her other films. And man, check out Charles Grodin. I had to check to see who was playing Sofia's dad - Grodin, who hadn't been in a movie in 13 years, looks about 85 years old here. I thought he was Bob Eubanks. There's one scene, too, in which Bob utters the f-word. For no freaking reason other than to have Charles Grodin, septuagenarian, drop an f-bomb. Interestingly enough, the unrated version of the movie runs about five minutes shorter than the rated one that was seen in theater. And, having seen the unrated one, I couldn't tell you about any particular scenes that were so raw that they would have pushed the rating to an unwanted NC-17. So I have to assume that the rated one was even tamer, and thus even crappier. Sad and predictable in its attempt at comedy, The Ex is a waste of time. You'll be clawing your eyes out at the numbing awfulness.

If I were to look at it, I would say The Ex aka Fast Track forms a loose trilogy of sorts with regards to growing up, and somewhat like a natural progression in the different stages of life that Zach Braff's characters form when stringed together. With Garden State, it's in the 20s where you're having a feel for the ground, exploring your options and not knowing exactly what life will dish out to you.With One Last Kiss, so you think that you're dead sure about your other half, you're getting married and vowing to spend the rest of your lives together, and suddenly an ingenue comes along, and cast doubts about that. Plenty of what-will-you-do moments, with outcome that are different depending on your values, but totally possible, and brought out earnestly through Braff's performance as the everyday man. In The Ex, Zach Braff plays the blue collar salaryman whose hotshot lawyer wife had just given birth and as agreed, she'll be a stay home mum. But he just got fired from his job, thus sending their agreement into red alert zone. Taking up his father in law's offer, he uproots himself, wife and baby and starts work in a new age advertising company, only to meet up with his wife's ex. You'd come to expect the usual jokes about not fitting into a totally different corporate culture with its own idiosyncrasies, conflict with the parents, and the constant threat posed by the wife's ex Chip Sanders played by Jason Bateman, which I bet almost every male would want to kill given his attitude and back stabbing nature. It's classic office politics at work as we root for the survival of Zach's Tom Reilly, though at times you'd expect him to have a little more backbone, and a little bit of smarts to survive the jungle out there. If that sounds a little like Meet The Parents, it does. And it also is styled after Just Friends in the rivalry department, where two guys do battle over a girl, only that this time, it's the third party up against a married couple. Though I'd say it again, nothing beats riling you up when you see how the bastard at work gets away with almost everything, and get incensed with his obvious intentions to bang his ex, i.e. the wife. The flow of the movie did seem a little broken at times, which I suspect that there were a lot more filmed than was put on screen, perhaps saving them for the DVD release. The ideas injected into the movie were numerous, but that made for the narrative feeling a little scattered. For instance, Amanda Peet as the wife Sofia Kowalski didn't really have much to do except nurse the baby, and be in some of the most trying comedic scenes such as the ones involving yoga. Fans of Braff will not want to miss yet another familiar performance, and remember to stay tune during the credits for a coda, as well as various bloopers, some of which are genuinely funnier than the bits that made it to the movie.

I give this a 8 because I was throughly entertained when I left the theater. This if film is actually pretty good, I thought I was walking into a "chick flick" but it wasn't. To give the some critics they're dues, zack braff, the main character is definitely not the shining star(s) of the movie but certainly doesn't seem to deter from the film. The flick is about an ex (jason bateman) and the husband (zack braff)who come together in the workplace in his wife's home town where she is pregnant and ready to bear child. His is father in-law helps find him a job and that's how this whole thing begins. I repeat, this is a funny movie, jason bateman is great and is actually the shining diamond in the film along with charles grodin. Both of them are very funny through the movie pulling chuckles, laughs and rolls of the eyes because these two characters are charismatic but absurdly off on tangents. I definitely give this film a thumbs up to see with your girlfriend or wife and it shouldn't be defined as a "chick flick". I would put this in the realms of films like Meet the Parents. If you liked that movie, you will probably enjoy The Ex. Hope this review/comment was useful.

what to say, well the film was average, nothing brilliant but it did manage to hold your attention until the end. Both leads were fine, again not brilliant but if anyone steals the show i would say that had to be Jason Bateman. He was your typical Villain type character but played his part well attempting to win the sympathy vote being wheelchair bound, not quite as Crude as "The Ringer" was in this area. Charles Grodin looked exceptionally old, the last time i saw him was with De Niro in Midnight Run but he has aged. The film didn't have a real chance to loose your attention though at only 78 minutes. It has some silly funny moments but on the whole i would have to say go and watch it and make your own mind up after all you are reading my comment now but in your heart will what i say sway your decision on whether to watch this film.