It may be early days but its still clear that Zach Braff is really painting himself into a corner when it comes to movie choices.

With Garden State, The Last Kiss and now The Ex its the same standard Braff deal, Man in his late 20s dis-satisfied with life for some reason or other coupled to a collection of characters pulled out of "lost western youth" and voila you have a Braff movie!

Braff's clumsy yet endearing Doctor Dorean from Scrubs is an entertaining creation but when all Braff does is riff off versions of him for movie roles it starts to get annoying and rather insulting to the viewer. Still we can allow him one more auto-pilot indulgent so consider The Ex his last free ride before demanding he actually puts some work into his roles.

Unfortunately for Braff he chose a pretty lousy film to go slumming on. The Ex has been subject to numerous delays in release (it actually gained a short run late in 2006 under the name Fast Track) and its not hard to see why because if you looked at it from the view of a studio marketing department you'd be tearing your hair out because this film is completely unmarketable. It seems to try for a sort of slightly farcical comedy but completely fails mainly due to the fact that the entire film is populated by horrendously unlikable bastards or New Age Corporate caricatures that attempt quirky but just come off as grating.

The basic story of Braff de-camping with a new born son and wife to Ohio to work at his father in laws advertising firm isn't going to win any awards for originality but one can forgive this if your actually entertained, unfortunately you rarely are with the worst crime of cinema being reserved for Braff's work and love rival (the titular Ex) namely a wheelchair bound Jason Bateman. Bateman has done some great work on Arrested Development but while there he had some great stories and writers backing him up here he's given a complete (if you allow me to use a Anglo phrase) git of a character. There is nothing wrong with a character being a git indeed most of cinemas best creations are gits but Bateman is given one that just makes a person want to punch the screen in frustration. Its a black void of entertainment as he's to slimy to be admired and to devoid of personality to be engaging, and the whole angle of him in a wheelchair is botched to a massive degree. How hard is it to produce gold from the concept of a villian in a wheelchair? Clearly very hard judging by this.

Elsewhere the parade of human driftwood flows by barely registering on the screen, Amanda Peet as Braff's wife makes Chemistry run to another Solar System whenever she shares the screen with him and beyond that has absolutely nothing to do and the whole ending feels bolted on, far to jolly to fit with the misery of whats gone before.

Granted there are moments where despite your best intentions you'll raise a smile but otherwise The Ex is a cavalcade of assholes who don't even have the decency to entertain while their on screen.

D

just watched it. Not even braff could save this film. There were some funny parts but this was still just an average film.


C

It wasn't anything great, but I enjoyed it for the most part. It was a decent romantic comedy with a few good laughs and a talented cast. It's nowhere near as great as Zach Braff's last two films (which earned strong A grades from me) but I'd recommend it.

B-

Wait, how did you see this already? Has it opened in other countries before it opens in the US May 11?

It opened overseas a while back, and a DVD screener is readily available online.

It looks to be a surefire flop when it finally does open in the states. It has had next to no marketing and opens in-between SM 3 and Shrek the Third. Zach Braff isn't a star and The Last Kiss proved that Garden State may have been a fluke.

i watched it on the internet

my full view

http://worldofkj.com/articleIndex.php?tid=30279

I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. There are some inexplicable things in the movie - Like why is Braff's character one of the most insecure characters I've ever seen in a film? And we're supposed to buy that Chip has been in a wheelchair for almost 20 years just to get pity sex? Outside of that and a couple of other things, I found myself laughing throughout the entire thing. It's not great, but it's good.

B

As you can see from what I wrote above, I thought The Ex was good but nothing special. I'm currently watching the Unrated cut of this film, and it's amazing what some editing can do to a film. For those of you who do not know, but were thinking about renting or buying this at some point, make sure you get the theatrical cut. I'm not even finished with the film and I felt inclined to write something about it.

Here's the thing. I had no idea what the difference was between this cut and the theatrical cut was. Figuring like most Unrated cuts, I thought it was slightly longer without much being different. Here's the thing - the Unrated cut is six minutes shorter. Curious enough though, three scenes have been added in. They probably add up to about four minutes long. That means there were at least 10 minutes cut from the film. Now, I'm not saying those scenes were probably comedic gold, but without those and the inclusion of some scenes (One mind numblingly awful scene that involves a dream sequence featuring the cheerleading squad) the flow of the entire film is off. And with that, it's no longer funny - at all. I've laughed maybe twice during this.

And even the special features are supposed to be better on the theatrical cut. There are seven deleted scenes on here, unlike the twenty that are included on the regular cut. What the hell?

Even though I obviously opened the box, I hope I can find the receipt and take this back for the theatrical cut. That cut I at least found to be decent. This is a piece of shit.

meh. very unfunny.

Good cast, but it ultimately was not as good as I expected it to be. There were a lot of moments that could have been a lot funnier, but instead just fell flat. The conclusion of the Bateman/Peet "relationship" was not done well at all, feeling so out of place.

C+

I was honestly suprised at how unfunny this movie was, I saw previews and really wanted to watch it because I love the casting, but it was really not good.

It was just really bland, it seemed like it was a direct to video release or something, I am really not sure what happened here.

Anyway, I love the casting and was very disappointed in this movie.

C-

I came across this as a free movie on YouTube and thought I'd give it a go. I quite liked it. It's pretty funny in a rom-com formulaic kind of way, but it has some standout performances. Braff isn't one of them, obviously. He is the same as in Scrubs. He doesn't have another character in him. But Charles Grodin is always lovely to see. He's basically playing Phil Hartman. Jason Bateman is pretty great as the office prick, and Paul Rudd is excellent as the restaurant owner, though unfortunately he's only in the opening scene. But what a scene!

What's great about this film is the amount of faces that are now big names which, I guess, weren't so in 2006. Amy Adams pops up in a small role, as does Amy Poehler. That's what I love about catching up with older movies. To me, someone like Amy Adams came on the scene in, what, The Fighter and Man of Steel? Before those I probably hadn't heard of her before, but OBVIOUSLY she was in stuff. At the time though, she just wasn't a recognizable face, but catching up on films like this is brilliant for spotting stars before they really made it. Amy Adams was in bloody Catch Me If You Can! Not a film anybody would associate with her because, yet again, it before she was a name.

I liked how the film went places with its comedy that in 2022 I don't believe they would go. For example, a normal person pretending to be a disabled person in a wheelchair. That just would not fly in today's world. It's fine with me. The character gets his comeuppance and it evens out. But you just know it would be "problematic" in today's perennially offended society. I also liked how the comedy goes a tad dark here and there, such as Bateman getting his dues ... twice. Getting hit by a bus to actually make him what he pretended to be, then being potentially rammed by bulls in Barcelona, lol. Maybe a bit strong, but it is thoroughly satisfying because he plays such an asshole.

All-in-all, I think it's a decent comedy with a decent cast. If you're expecting performances with a capital P then you're checking out the wrong movie. But if you want a light 80 minutes of chuckles and fun, The Ex has your back.