| 70 |
Village Voice
Scott Foundas
The movie is Bateman's to steal, however, which he does early and often.
|
| 67 |
Portland Oregonian
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.
|
| 63 |
Philadelphia Inquirer
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.
|
| 60 |
Film Threat
Peretz's film continuously subverts the audience's expectations of what should likely happen given genre conventions.
|
| 50 |
Austin Chronicle
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.
|
| 50 |
Premiere
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.
|
| 50 |
TV Guide
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.
|
| 50 |
Chicago Tribune
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.
|
| 50 |
ReelViews
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.
|
| 50 |
The New York Times
The best jokes in this scattershot screwball satire of job insecurity, upward mobility, political correctness and yuppie marital tensions have claws that leave scratches.
|
| 42 |
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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.
|
| 40 |
The Hollywood Reporter
For a comedy, it's not really funny.
|
| 38 |
Boston Globe
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.
|
| 38 |
New York Daily News
Though there are giggles here and there, the film is inexcusably unfunny.
|
| 38 |
USA Today
It's a pretty twisted concept, bordering on offensive. But mostly it's just not funny.
|
| 33 |
Baltimore Sun
By the end, it doesn't even have the courage of its political incorrectness.
|
| 30 |
Variety
Peter Debruge
A half-baked comedy torn between sincere emotion and over-the-top outrageousness.
|
| 30 |
Chicago Reader
Even likable star Zach Braff can't salvage this clunker.
|
| 25 |
New York Post
The latest catastrophe from the Weinstein Co.
|
| 25 |
San Francisco Chronicle
The Ex isn't painful, horrible or despicable, but it is an amazing mess.
|
| 25 |
The Onion (A.V. Club)
It never comes close to being funny.
|
| 20 |
Los Angeles Times
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.
|
| 16 |
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.
|
| 10 |
Washington Post
A stunningly insipid romance, marks an all-time low for actor Zach Braff -- his "Gigli," if you will.
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