Breaking up is hard to do
THE CINEMA should have taught us by now that dating a superhero is never a good idea. It always comes across as a complicated affair unlikely to result in mutual satisfaction. This film, from the director of other cult comedies such as Ghostbusters and Road Trip, is different from its predecessors as it portrays the superhero in a whole new light.
Widely regarded as a comedic take on Fatal Attraction, the plot follows the obscure superhero G-Girl (Thurman), who is a slightly more unhinged, female version of Superman. Her alter ego, Jenny Johnson, begins dating Matt (Wilson) after meeting on a subway. Slowly, Matt realises Jenny’s slightly neurotic and aggressive nature, highlighted when she manages to break his bed and crack his bedroom wall during their first sexual encounter.
After dating for a while, Jenny reveals her super identity, which initially intrigues Matt. However, once Jenny becomes obsessive and jealous that Matt is cheating on her with his co-worker Hannah (Farris), whom he does secretly love, Matt decides to break up with Jenny. This proves to be a very bad decision, as G-Girl wages war on Matt in a series of outlandish scenes that follow the superhero’s quest to seek revenge on the man who broke her heart.
Matt’s only hope of survival is G-Girl’s arch nemesis and former lover Professor Bedlam (Izzard), who attained his superpowers at the same time as G-Girl when they were in school together.
Uma Thurman is far and away the most entertaining entity in this quite bizarre story. Although not quite on a par with her roles in Kill Bill or Pulp Fiction, she does a great job combining the different sides of her character’s nature, managing to be crazy and sexy at the same time. In numerous scenes, she channels her anger into quite hilarious outbursts of superhero rage.
The supporting cast is fairly standard. Matt and Hannah’s boss is portrayed by Wanda Sykes, who serves as comic relief by accusing Matt for perceived sexual harassment against Hannah. Vaughn Haige (Wilson) is Matt’s best friend and does little more than offer bad advice on how to combat a crazy superhero ex-girlfriend.
There are, however, quite a few amusing scenes. For instance, after Matt learns of Jenny’s superpowers, he asks to be taken flying, which eventually terrifies Matt and results in G-Girl giving him a plane free introduction to the mile high club. After they split, she uses her laser vision to inscribe a derogatory term to his forehead, and then gets him fired from his job after she swoops into an important meeting and proceeds to strip him of all his clothes in a whirlwind.
The scene where G-Girl hurls a great white shark through Matt’s window after seeing him in bed with Hannah, somehow seems relatively normal in the scope of the story, which gives you a good indicator of what type of viewer will enjoy this film. Simpsons writer Don Payne penned the screenplay for this production and elements of the wacky dialogue convey similarities to the cult cartoon.
For those seeking a few hours of light entertainment, this film would merit a trip to the cinema, otherwise it’s likely that this sporadically amusing film will only appeal to the legion of Uma Thurman fans.
RATING: * * *
* missable
* * reasonable
* * * entertaining
* * * * very good
* * * * * outstanding
