There was a time when Ivan Reitman, might have rightly been considered the king of the big screen comedy. He and Harold Ramis and Bill Murray cornered the market on the genre for a period of years. As I watched his new baby My Super Ex-Girlfriend it became clear that Reitman hasn't changed, it's the times that have changed. It was also difficult not to feel a little bad for the man, after all his son has directed without question the funniest film of the year and did it on his first try (I'm not counting Borat because it hasn't been released). As I watched this good premise so poorly executed, I thought "man he should have called his kid in, at least in the editing."

Uma Thurman plays the title character, a girl who once touched a meteor and as a result has just about every super-power in the book. She's completely invincible and uses her powers to save the day, but the task has become somewhat burdensome. When Luke Wilson meets her alter-ego Jenny Johnson on a subway he makes an awkward pass, but when a purse snatcher grabs Jenny's bag, Luke runs the guy down and manages to retrieve it. So touched is G-Girl (Uma) that someone has finally helped her after years of always helping other people, that she falls for Wilson and they begin seeing each other.

Truly the film has a lot of funny and charming moments, but with such a wonderfully rich premise, much of it's potential is squandered on cheap gags and scenes that exist solely because they lead to a punchline. The biggest problem I had with the film was the fact that Reitman doesn't allow Wilson and Thruman's relationship to develop. Thurman goes wacko before we have a chance to have any fun with the relationship between Superwoman and Lois Luke. The film would have been much more effective had they explored that dynamic a little better. As it is, everything turns sour almost immediately and then the movie is just about cheap revenge gags. There's one scene courtesy of Spielberg that was a hilarious touch, but much of this part of the film was surprisingly misogynistic and unfunny.

Eddie Izzard was effective as G-Girl's nemesis, but Rainn Wilson (The Office) really became annoying, in fact he was annoying right out of the gate, mostly due to piss poor writing. And I was also surprised because this is the first film I've seen with Anna Faris where she didn't end up stealing the movie. She just wasn't her usual hilarious self. Uma is really the saving grace of the film, she really embraces the insanity of her jealous superhero. Wilson isn't bad, but this is the sort of role where he generally excels (trying to remain sane, while everything around him is falling apart) and he really did little to capitalize. He seemed kind of bloated and dishy and hungover – he wasn't his usual handsome self and it just didn't seem like his heart was in it.

If I go into any more detail I'll be getting into spoiler territory, I'll just say that the film is enjoyable at times and has it's share of clever and funny bits, but it shot it's wad too early and then just limped to the finish line. I found myself more often frustrated that the film wasn't better written and executed - it really should have been a much more profoundly super-human experience.