3 Pulses
Zach Braff, Amanda Peet, Jason Bateman, Mia Farrow, Charles Grodin
Directed by Jesse Peretz
Rated PG-13
Nothing ventured nothing gained. That is what I think about Zach Braff’s performance in a new movie from the director of The Chateau (2002) and First Love, Last Rites (1998), Jesse Peretz. In this case, nothing was ventured. Braff didn’t seem to depart from the same physical humor and basic character depiction he gave to Dr. John Dorian in the hit TV series, Scrubs.
In The Ex, Braff plays a chef named Tom Reilly who finds himself unable to swallow the horrible tongue lashings of an intolerable boss. Reilly, having lost his job as a chef, is forced to move his wife, a successful attorney named Sofia (Peet), from New York City to Ohio to take a job with his father-in-law at a local advertising agency. Soon, Reilly is confronted with an old flame of Sophia’s from high school (Bateman) who happens to be his new mentor. Without revealing the hilarious details, suffice it to say Reilly has a hard time making it in the office politics game working for a guy who is obviously out to ruin him.
With her roots in The Whole Nine Yards and The Whole Ten Yards, Amanda Peet shows us she has what it takes to hold her own in the comedic genre. Her character in The Ex wrestles with the decision to stay at home and be a full-time mom. The decision takes it’s toll on her as she finds herself lost between her old litigation career and the throes of motherhood and baby day-camps.
Mia Farrow and Charles Grodin do not disappoint in their roles as Bob and Amelia Kowalski, the parents of Sophia. Grodin’s brand of comedy is spot on in this performance. His dry and witless humor syncs right up with Bateman’s sarcastic overachiever character and Braff’s genuine uneasiness in his own skin type of character.
All in all, this is a very entertaining film. It is not going to make you roll in the aisles laughing, but you will giggle a bit and identify with the themes presented. It is worth the matinee price but I wouldn’t pay evening prices to see it. Containing everything from career espionage to endangered matrimony, Tom Reilly forges ahead to come out smelling like a rose.
The Ex is a true triumphant underdog story worth telling.
