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The Ex (2006 film)

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The Ex
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJesse Peretz
Written byDavid Guion
Michael Handelman
Produced byAnthony Bregman
Marc Butan
Anne Carey
Ted Hope
StarringZach Braff
Amanda Peet
Jason Bateman
Charles Grodin
Mia Farrow
Donal Logue
Amy Poehler
Amy Adams
Fred Armisen
CinematographyTom Richmond
Edited byTricia Cooke
Music byEdward Shearmur
Production
companies
Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
The Weinstein Company
Release dates
  • December 15, 2006 (2006-12-15) (California)
  • May 11, 2007 (2007-05-11) (United States)
Running time
92 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$5.1 million

The Ex is a 2006 American comedy film directed by Jesse Peretz and starring Zach Braff, Amanda Peet and Jason Bateman. The film had a wide release planned for January 19, 2007, and then March 9, 2007. It was originally promoted under the working title Fast Track. It was released on May 11, 2007. Co-stars include Charles Grodin, in his first film appearance since 1994, Donal Logue and Mia Farrow.

The film generally received negative reviews from critics. It had a gross of $5.1 million

Plot

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Living in Manhattan, Tom is a cook who has difficulty keeping a steady job. His wife, Sofia, is an attorney. When their first child is born, they agree that she will be a full-time mom and he will work hard to get promoted.

When Tom gets fired after defending his friend Paco, he takes a job in Ohio working at the ad agency where his father-in-law is the assistant director. Assigned to report to Chip, who is a strict and hard-working paraplegic and Sofia's ex-boyfriend from high school. Chip is still obsessed with her, so he conspires to make Tom's work life miserable. As Tom's frustrations mount, he seems to sway Sofia to his side.

Tom begins to suspect that Chip isn't handicapped at all and goes through his desk. He finds a photo of him playing tennis and rushes to his in-laws' house to see his wife and show her the picture. He finds Chip having dinner with Sofia and her parents and holding his child. Tom tries to prove that Chip isn't actually paralyzed by dragging him up a flight of stairs and then throws him, expecting him to stand up to prevent falling.

Chip doesn't stand up (the photo actually being his late twin brother) and Tom is humiliated in front of his family. Later, he confronts and attacks him, where Chip reveals that he really can walk, but can't fight outside of his chair. Sitting back down, Chip beats him severely, and then to Tom's increasing rage, reveals that he plans to have sex with Sofia again.

When Chip gets a call from ad agency boss in Barcelona asking him to move to Spain and become the agency's creative director, he asks Sophia to come with him. Tom pleads with her to believe him that Chip has been faking paralysis. When she rejects Chip, he angrily tells his new "boss" he'll only need one ticket - as it's revealed that it's Paco on the other end of the phone call. Chip tells Sophia he "faked his orgasm" before getting out of his chair and storming out. Continuing to mock the couple, Chip is hit by a bus.

Tom and Sofia have moved out of Ohio and her dad is helping him start his own ad business. Now, the couple have switched positions, Tom becoming a stay-at-home dad while Sofia becomes a full-time lawyer again. During the credits Chip is shown in Barcelona in a wheelchair with two broken legs, only now the passive-aggressive routine that worked so well for him when faking paraplegia in Ohio is ignored in Spain. Still insisting he works there, Chip is tossed out of the ad company, and later on Tom's friend sees him on TV in the middle of the running of the bulls.

Cast

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Critical response

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On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 19% approval rating based on 101 reviews with an average rating of 4.34/10. The site's consensus states: "The Ex suffers from inept direction and characters that are either unsympathetic or plain unpleasant to watch."[1] By comparison, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 top reviews from mainstream critics, calculated an average score of 32, based on 24 reviews.[2]

Several film critics said the film felt truncated.[3][4] Film critics also felt that the majority of the cast's talents were wasted.[4][5][6][7] Many film critics also compared the film to a sitcom.[8][9][10] Pam Grady of Reel.com said the film "never rises above the level of a TV show grotesquely inflated for the big screen."[11]

Jesse Peretz was criticized for his direction by many critics.[6][12][13][14] Phoebe Flowers of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel said the film was "directed with a breathtaking lack of instinct by Jesse Peretz."[15] A few critics described the film as half-baked.[16] Sean Means of The Salt Lake Tribune said "It's like undercooked lasagna: lots of layers, but the flavors never blend."[13] Bill Muller of The Arizona Republic said the film was Zach Braff's most average movie so far.[17] Steven Rea of The Philadelphia Inquirer said that after The Last Kiss and Garden State, "Braff's shtick...is getting tired."[14] Desson Thomson of The Washington Post said the film "marks an all-time low for actor Zach Braff -- his Gigli, if you will.."[18]

The screenwriters, David Guion and Michael Handelman, virtually disowned the finished film. Handelman said, "I think what we wrote was meant to be a bit less broad than the film that came out. I think a lot of what you see in either of those films is stuff that was not written by us even though we’re the only credited writers on that." Guion added, "That movie was a bit of a cautionary story for screenwriters in terms of that it was a movie that struggled a little bit and didn’t test well initially, and the financers panicked and said, 'We better show a lot of people getting hit in the balls'... It was unfortunate because the director, Jesse Peretz, is great and very talented, but the movie was ultimately taken out of his hands."[19]

Zach Braff and Jason Bateman were praised for their performances by several critics.[20][21] Roger Moore of the Orlando Sentinel said "Braff and Bateman make this patchwork just funny enough to be worth our trouble."[8] Jason Bateman was praised by several film critics as being the best part of the movie.[5][16] David Nusair of Reel Film Reviews said "there's little doubt that Bateman deserves the lion's share of praise thanks to his scene-stealing work as Tom's hilariously smug nemesis."[22]

Box office performance

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The film opened at #12 at the U.S. box office, earning $1.4 million in 1,009 theaters in its opening weekend. The film went on to gross $3,093,394 in its nine-week theatrical run in the United States.[23] In other territories, the film grossed $2,085,246 making its total worldwide gross $5,178,640.[24]

References

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  1. ^ "The Ex (2007)". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on February 12, 2007. Retrieved September 8, 2022.
  2. ^ "The Ex Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 2007-05-15. Retrieved 2010-01-09.
  3. ^ Davis, Steve (2007-05-18). "The Ex". The Austin Chronicle. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2007-09-01.
  4. ^ a b Lemire, Christy. "'The Ex' Falls Flat". MSN Movies via Associated Press. Archived from the original on 2007-10-25. Retrieved 2007-09-01.
  5. ^ a b Rechtshaffen, Michael (2007-05-11). "Bottom Line: Jason Bateman's a blast, but this slack comedy's a bust". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2007-09-01.
  6. ^ a b Vice, Jeff (2007-05-11). "The Ex". Deseret Morning News. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2007-09-01.
  7. ^ Rabin, Nathan (2007-05-11). "The Ex". AV Club. Archived from the original on 2007-10-09. Retrieved 2007-09-01.
  8. ^ a b Moore, Roger (2007-05-11). "'Ex,' why, Z:Braff breaks no comedy ground". Orlando Sentinel. Archived from the original on 2011-05-23. Retrieved 2007-09-01.
  9. ^ Hammond, Pete. "The Ex Movie Review and Rating". Maxim. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-09-01.
  10. ^ Groen, Rick (2007-05-11). "The Ex". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2007-09-01.
  11. ^ Grady, Pam. "The Ex (2006)". Reel.com. Archived from the original on 2007-09-26. Retrieved 2007-09-01.
  12. ^ Phillips, Michael (2007-05-11). "Movie review: 'The Ex'". Chicago Tribune at Metromix.com. Archived from the original on June 21, 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-01.
  13. ^ a b Means, Sean. "The Ex". The Salt Lake Tribune. Archived from the original on 2007-05-27. Retrieved 2007-09-01.
  14. ^ a b Rea, Steven (2007-05-11). "Workplace comedy about as funny as...work". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2007-09-01.
  15. ^ Flowers, Phoebe (2007-05-11). "Save yourself heartache and skip this relationship". South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Archived from the original on 2007-10-19. Retrieved 2007-09-01.
  16. ^ a b Beer, Tom (May 17–23, 2007). "The Ex". Time Out New York. Archived from the original on 2007-09-26. Retrieved 2007-09-01.
  17. ^ Muller, Bill (2007-05-11). "The Ex". The Arizona Republic. Archived from the original on 2023-07-29. Retrieved 2007-09-01.
  18. ^ Thomson, Desson (2007-05-11). "The Ex". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2020-09-25. Retrieved 2007-09-01.
  19. ^ McKittrick, Christopher (2014-12-22). "Night at the Museum: Writing for Ben Stiller and Robin Williams". Creative Screenwriting. Archived from the original on 2014-12-22. Retrieved 2014-12-22.
  20. ^ Zwecker, Bill (2007-05-11). "'Ex' marks the spot for fish-out-of-water humor". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on 2007-08-21. Retrieved 2007-09-01.
  21. ^ Kepnes, Caroline. "The Ex". E! Online. Archived from the original on 2007-09-12. Retrieved 2007-09-01.
  22. ^ Nusair, David (2007-05-09). "Two Comedies from The Weinstein Company". Reel Film Reviews. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-09-01.
  23. ^ The Ex (2007) - Weekend Box Office Archived 2007-10-17 at the Wayback Machine. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2007-09-01
  24. ^ "The Ex (2007)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on 2012-01-29. Retrieved 2010-01-09.
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