The Ex

In this movie we see Tom Reilly getting sacked as a cook in Manhattan and starting over in Ohio at the ad agency, where his father-in-law is the assistant director.Tom and his wife Sofia have their first child.What causes trouble in Tom's new life is Chip, the man in a wheelchair.Chip happens to be Sofia's ex-boyfriend from high school.Tom doesn't trust that guy.The Ex (2006) is directed by Jesse Peretz.The movie was a pretty big failure, but I don't see it as such a huge turkey.Zach Braff gives a great performance in the lead as Tom Reilly.Amanda Peet is very good as Sofia.Jason Bateman's character Chip Sanders is not the most likable, but his performance is good.I really enjoyed watching the work of Charles Grodin, who plays Bob Kowalski.In his character you can find a pretty big deal of tragicomedy.Before this movie Charles hadn't done one single movie in 12 years, and after this he hasn't done any.Mia Farrow is terrific as his wife Amelia.Amy Poehler plays Carol Lane.Paul Rudd is Leon.Fred Armisen plays Manny.Donald Logue is Don Wollebin.Amy Adams portrays Abby March.Marin Hinkle plays the part of Karen.As a movie this doesn't shine in anyways.It may have some potential, but that's all.Some of the characters in this movie are a bit annoying, like that kid.And of course Chip.But it is a bit funny sometimes.Like when Tom tries to prove that Chip can walk.So this is a movie you can check out when you got the time, and you may even like it.

If I were to look at it, I would say The Ex aka Fast Track forms a loose trilogy of sorts with regards to growing up, and somewhat like a natural progression in the different stages of life that Zach Braff's characters form when stringed together. With Garden State, it's in the 20s where you're having a feel for the ground, exploring your options and not knowing exactly what life will dish out to you.With One Last Kiss, so you think that you're dead sure about your other half, you're getting married and vowing to spend the rest of your lives together, and suddenly an ingenue comes along, and cast doubts about that.

Plenty of what-will-you-do moments, with outcome that are different depending on your values, but totally possible, and brought out earnestly through Braff's performance as the everyday man. In The Ex, Zach Braff plays the blue collar salaryman whose hotshot lawyer wife had just given birth and as agreed, she'll be a stay home mum. But he just got fired from his job, thus sending their agreement into red alert zone. Taking up his father in law's offer, he uproots himself, wife and baby and starts work in a new age advertising company, only to meet up with his wife's ex.

You'd come to expect the usual jokes about not fitting into a totally different corporate culture with its own idiosyncrasies, conflict with the parents, and the constant threat posed by the wife's ex Chip Sanders played by Jason Bateman, which I bet almost every male would want to kill given his attitude and back stabbing nature. It's classic office politics at work as we root for the survival of Zach's Tom Reilly, though at times you'd expect him to have a little more backbone, and a little bit of smarts to survive the jungle out there.

If that sounds a little like Meet The Parents, it does. And it also is styled after Just Friends in the rivalry department, where two guys do battle over a girl, only that this time, it's the third party up against a married couple. Though I'd say it again, nothing beats riling you up when you see how the bastard at work gets away with almost everything, and get incensed with his obvious intentions to bang his ex, i.e. the wife.

The flow of the movie did seem a little broken at times, which I suspect that there were a lot more filmed than was put on screen, perhaps saving them for the DVD release. The ideas injected into the movie were numerous, but that made for the narrative feeling a little scattered. For instance, Amanda Peet as the wife Sofia Kowalski didn't really have much to do except nurse the baby, and be in some of the most trying comedic scenes such as the ones involving yoga.

Fans of Braff will not want to miss yet another familiar performance, and remember to stay tune during the credits for a coda, as well as various bloopers, some of which are genuinely funnier than the bits that made it to the movie.

Just like most people who've written reviews for this film, I too was excited to hear about a film staring two great comedians like Braff and Bateman. How could you go wrong with these two? However, with two inexperienced writers and one inexperienced director; it's not hard to see where this film goes wrong.

The script is at times, very poor and extremely lacking in intelligent or deep humor, the characters are one dimensional and there are a lot of pointless and derivative scenes. There is no real chemistry between Braff and Peet and the soundtrack is somewhat lacking.

It's really awful to see such amazing talents go to waste in such a simple and shallow comedy such as this.

There are however, some great ideas in this film; the only shame is that they are not explored in their comedic entirety. Braff and Bateman are as usual, wonderful and do the best they can with the characters and the script they were given.

Zach Braff and Jason Bateman in one movie, hell yeah! How can it not be funny? Answer: by getting poor writers that have no idea of what makes these actors great. I guess "Fast Track" technically is a comedy, but it's just one without punchlines, funny one-liners or well, wit of any kind really. There's a lot of drama in there, there's a lot of romance, there's a lot of Amanda Peet talking about poo, but somewhere along the line they stopped bothering to put in actual laughs. There are indeed some attempts at humor in this movie, but it's the kind of situational drivel you already sigh at when it comes up in sitcoms, let alone in feature films. The actors save what there is to save, but they can't exactly make it laugh-out-loud funny with this material. A disappointment.

A fairly amusing show where Braff's character deals with a co-worker in a new job that had had a thing with his wife in high school. This comedy doesn't bring anything new to the genre, but is a fair watch overall with some interesting elements.

The Good: Appropriate length, Fair acting, Great gag reel (after some credits start rolling), amusing overall, villain is mean, but doesn't cross the line- after all comedies are not about sadistic, truly evil villains. They are usually funny, selfishly misguided people, and Bateman fits the bill perfectly.

The Bad: Too much slapstick humor, had more potential, some scenes were unfocused and with no real purpose.