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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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Ex, The
EMAILPRINTThe Weinstein Company

Generally unfavorable reviews
Based on 24 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 13 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Comedy | Romance
Written by:
David Guion
Michael Handelman
Directed by: Jesse Peretz
Release Date:
Theatrical: May 11, 2007
Running Time: 90 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG-13 for sexual content, brief language and a drug reference
Starring Zach Braff, Amanda Peet, Jason Bateman, Donal Logue, Josh Charles, Mia Farrow, and Paul Rudd
When his high-achieving wife (Peet) decides she wants to be a stay-at-home mom, Tom Reilly (Braff) needs to step up and take care of his growing family. (The Weinstein Company)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: The Chateau
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Village Voice Scott Foundas
The movie is Bateman's to steal, however, which he does early and often.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Marc Mohan
Charles Grodin, in his first film in a dozen years, provides some of the best moments as Sofia's dad, while Mia Farrow is kind of creepy as her mom.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
Some of the most tasteless and un-PC comedy in the film is also the funniest - Farrelly Brothers-style humor that plays off the Bateman character's physical limitations.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Stina Chyn
Peretz's film continuously subverts the audience's expectations of what should likely happen given genre conventions.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Steve Davis
Still, The Ex is more appealing and less dumb than most movies that pass as comedy today, so any criticisms of its shortcomings need to account for that big-picture perspective. Indeed, there are worse ways to spend an hour-and-a-half.
Read Full Review >Premiere Ethan Alter
The actor that comes off the best in The Ex is Grodin, who spouts some hilariously cranky one-liners that sound too off-the-cuff to be scripted.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Angel Cohn
Braff and Bateman have a good, darkly comic chemistry, but there aren't nearly enough moments like the brutally funny, "Murderball"-style wheelchair basketball game to sustain the entire film.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
If you want a relationship comedy that feels like last year's stuff, doesn't go far enough in any direction and is made watchable only by an overqualified ensemble, there's The Ex.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
The movie is populated by dislikeable individuals doing unpleasant things but isn't redeemed by the vein of viciously black comedy that made "The War of the Roses" and "Bad Santa" such devilish pleasures.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Stephen Holden
The best jokes in this scattershot screwball satire of job insecurity, upward mobility, political correctness and yuppie marital tensions have claws that leave scratches.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
The resulting hodgepodge has the feel of filmmaking by committee, the look of last-minute reshoots and the whiff of desperation. Not even Braff's cartoonish smirk is distracting enough to hide that.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Janice Page
The next time Grodin attempts a comeback, it would be so great if he avoids movies where he might be upstaged by a sandwich stunt.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
Though there are giggles here and there, the film is inexcusably unfunny.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
It's a pretty twisted concept, bordering on offensive. But mostly it's just not funny.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
By the end, it doesn't even have the courage of its political incorrectness.
Read Full Review >Variety Peter Debruge
A half-baked comedy torn between sincere emotion and over-the-top outrageousness.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall
Even likable star Zach Braff can't salvage this clunker.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
The Ex isn't painful, horrible or despicable, but it is an amazing mess.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kevin Crust
Originally titled "Fast Track" when it was scheduled to open last January, neither the wait nor the new title makes it worthwhile. The only fast track here is the one to home video.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Gregory Kirschling
A painful comedy that reduces the "Garden State" star to pratfalls while many comic A-teamers around him (including Paul Rudd and Amy Adams) play idiots.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
A stunningly insipid romance, marks an all-time low for actor Zach Braff -- his "Gigli," if you will.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 5.4 (out of 10) based on 13 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Matt C. gave it a7:
Caught this movie on a plane by accident. It's a solid comedy with enough subversiveness in its characters to give it a bit of bite. Won't change your life but it'll probably divert you from thinking about it for 90mins or so.
Chad S. gave it a5:
Thanks to "Murderball", we don't have to feel sorry for the physically-disabled anymore. It's so obvious that Chip(Jason Bateman) is a type-A jerk, but since "The Ex" is basically a workplace sitcom, only Tom(Zach Braff) sees his sociopathic side. For "The Ex" to have been a successful comedy, the film had to be as mean as Chip. In real life, nice guys finish last. It's funnier to see the bad guy win. "The Ex" probably isn't the film that was first conceived on paper. This is "Bad Santa"-lite.
Ethan N. gave it an8:
It wasn't hilarious but it had some funny parts and overall it was a good movie.
Kevin R. gave it a1:
4th rate sitcommy garbage with a phony Farelly edge. It seeks to skewer yuppiedom (gee, that's new) and be a physical comedy at the same time, but winds up being insulting and insipid. I had to rush home and watch American Beauty just to detox.
PnArdy PnArdy gave it a9:
Brilliant romantic comedy with sweety Amanda Peet about a husband who has to defeat his wife's cunning ex-boyfriend now posing as a disabled person to regain her love back.
Cathy L. gave it a1:
This would be a pretty boring TV show and was a waste of time and money. This movie was boring, lame and predictable. Way too much sexual innuendo for young audiences.
