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List Price: $14.95 | | Label: Weinstein Company
Salesrank: 13354
Released: August 21, 2007 |
| Our Price: $2.86 |
| Used Price: $0.97 |
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MPAA Rating: Unrated
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Tom (Braff) and Sofia (Peet) have just had their first baby and that means it is time for Tom to grow up. But, when Tom goes to work for his father-in-law, his new boss Chip (Bateman) seems to have it out for him. Tom soon discovers that Chip is still carrying a flame for Sophia from their high school days. Now, Chip will stop at nothing to see Tom out of the company and out of Sophia’s life. As the two go head to head, Tom must expose Chip’s dirty tricks and push him out of the picture forever.
Description of The Ex (Unrated Widescreen Edition):
When a movie sits on the shelf for a year, the consensus is that it must be a dud. Formerly known as Fast Track, Jesse Peretz's third and most commercial feature may not be a dud, but it comes perilously close. With the success of Garden State, it was inevitable that The Ex would be marketed as a romantic comedy, except it isn't. Sure, there's romance between Tom (Zach Braff) and his pregnant wife, Sofia (Amanda Peet, Igby Goes Down), but this is mostly a black comedy about the ad game, like How To Get Ahead in Advertising. After their baby is born, Sofia puts her legal career on hold to care for little Oliver, but then Tom loses his job as chef (Paul Rudd cameos as his boss), so they move from New York to Ohio where her father, Bob (Charles Grodin in fine fettle), secures Tom a gig as assistant associate creative at his New Age-style ad agency. Their money woes are a thing of the past, but new problems await. The biggest is creative director Chip (Jason Bateman), who briefly dated Sofia in high school. A longtime wheelchair user, Chip resents Tom for stealing his limelight--and for his relationship with Sofia. So, he sets out to turn everyone against his competition (their co-workers include SNL's Fred Armisen and Amy Poehler). Because Chip has such a genial manner, Tom's complaints strike others as unjustified paranoia. By the time he figures out a way to pay Chip back, it's hard to care after all the pratfalls and bits of funny business that fall flat more often than not. There are worse ways to spend 89 minutes, but any random episode of Scrubs or Arrested Development offers more laughs. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
The Ex (Unrated Widescreen Edition) Reviews:
Even its talented cast cannot save this movie's mediocre writing from stumbling all over the place 
2009-10-23 - The Ex (directed by Jesse Peretz) is a romantic comedy that induces a few chuckles but ultimately doesn't do its talented cast justice.
Tom Reilly (Zach Braff) is a slacker who can't find a career he loves. When he loses his job as chef the day his wife, Sofia Kowalski (Amanda Peet), has their baby, he is forced to move from New York City to small town Ohio. He reluctantly takes a job at an ad agency where her father (Charles Grodin) works. He meets Chip Sanders (Jason Bateman); a self-absorbed creative consultant who knew Sofia in high school and has an unhealthy crush on her. Tom must learn to survive in the corporate world and against Chip who becomes a rival at work and in his personal life.
The humor is average at best. There are a few moments that are funny but most of the writing lets the cast down. Zach Braff, Amanda Peet and Jason Bateman are talented comedic actors. Even they cannot save this movie from its own mediocre writing.
Braff's character is very one-dimensional. He does redeem himself when he his taking care of his son but most of the time he acts like a screw up who can't get his act together. The ending is promising for his character, though. It makes me believe he might finally get some thing right. But I'm not holding my breath.
Chip Sanders is as evil of a corporate rival as they get. He is sadistic, cruel and there are no qualities in his personality that compels me to like him. I feel this also makes Sanders appear one-dimensional. It would be interesting for him to reveal anything that garners sympathy.
Amy Adams, Fred Armisen, Amy Poehler and Paul Rudd are all delightful actors that pop up in the movie. Poehler was great. She leaves me wondering why her character doesn't show up more. She is hilarious with the lines she is given (as are the rest of them). Any excuse to give Poehler more lines and air time would make me happy.
The DVD is a very edited version of the movie, the unedited one just aired on Comedy Central 
2009-09-28 - It is weird but this "unrated" DVD is really edited, which you would think would be the opposite case. I am glad I watched this on basic cable, because I saw the whole movie, not the weirdly edited version where no one knows if Chip can walk or not. I can understand why people would give this movie low ratings because they haven't seen the real movie. I see good ratings on movie sites until when the DVD came out, then there are bad reviews. So it might be the editing, right?
I liked Zach Braff in this. Jason Bateman was great too. A couple SNL people and Paul Rudd make some nice, if not short, appearances.
Not having seen the edited version, I can only go with what I read, so I beg you to not rent this on DVD and try to catch it on Comedy Central instead, where I do believe they show the whole movie intact. It is a funny movie. Not the best movie I have even since, but worth checking out.
Fails as a comedy 
2009-08-22 - Biggest problem with `The Ex' is that it tries to be a comedy movie but unfortunately all its jokes are highly predictable. You can sense the punch line as soon as the scene starts. Too much stress (and most of the `funny' moments) are between Jason Bateman and Zach Braff and movie fails to utilize the comedy timings of Amanda Peet (as evident in `Whole Nine Yards' movies) and Amy Adams (Enchanted).
After spending almost 90 minutes with `The Ex' it still feels like an episode of a regular sitcom. It looks like filmmakers decided to put together this amazing ensemble cast (Zach Braff. Amanda Peet, Jason Bateman, Mia Farrow, Amy Poehler, Amy Adams and even Paul Rudd) and then just tried to create a script around these characters. End result was pretty pathetic.
Overall, I think Jason Bateman did a pretty good job with his character. Amy Adams was amazing in her small role. One highlight of the movie was Paul Rudd (who was there only for a single scene) and he was simply amazing. His few minutes of appearance were more memorable then over an hour of Zach Braff. Watching Zach Braff was like watching another re-run of Scrubs on TV.
Lifeless and unfunny
2009-04-27 - On paper, this is one of the best movies ever. Jason Bateman? Zack Braff? Amy Poehler? Amanda Peet? Paul Rudd? And Charles Grodin and Mia Farrow for good measure - how can this not be great?
And yet, "The Ex" is not great; it is not even OK, but instead is a lifeless dud. The first scene sets the mood - an awful, clunky bit of exposition that doesn't even rise to the level of bad TV comedy. This is bad news, given that Braff is the star of one of TV's best comedies, and Peet was fantastic in the underrated comedy/drama "Studio 60". It just gets worse from there. I think I was 10 minutes into this before I even chuckled. The cast tries gamely to work with the terrible script and nonexistent direction, generally to no avail. Grodin and Farrow fare the best, perhaps because their years of experience has taught them how to deal with clueless directors.
The lighting and camera work are public-access-TV level bad. I know because I have made movies for public access TV. I had something on the order of a benjamin to work with. I don't know how you get the same look with millions of dollars behind you.
The funniest bits of this movie are in the blooper reel in the special features - where the actors actually get to exercise their talents for comedy without being shackled by horrible writing and nonexistent direction.
As an aside, I didn't buy the crazy moms' group in Columbus, Ohio, until my wife reminded me that her best friend (who happens to live in Columbus) had virtually the same experience as Amanda Peet.
The entire talented cast is completely wasted in this sad misfire. Avoid at all costs.
I have to disagree with the negative reviews - I liked it
2008-11-01 - I join the minority of reviewers who thought this was very funny. I laughed a lot watching it, and thought it was great. It was on TV, so I recorded it - I'll see it again some time. I agree with the reviewer who liked it.
