synopsis : easily - angered , chainsmoking architect david encounters his homicidal first wife diedre five years after their divorce .
diedre easily cons david 's not - so - bright new wife molly into believing she 's a child psychologist so that she can influence molly and
david 's quick - tempered son , michael .
diedre , at the same time , murders a bunch of people .
comments : the ex is a very bad movie .
i have n't seen a turkey of this magnitude in quite a while .
i kept vacillating , however , between giving the ex one star for its sheer awfulness and three stars for its campy humor ( ultimately , i decided to split the difference and give it two stars ) .
as summarized briefly in the synopsis , this is yet another spurned - psycho - lover - gets - her - revenge type movie .
i 'm not sure how many films have been produced since fatal attraction which use this tired storyline , but it seems like 10 , 000 , 000 , 000 .
the ex , however , though following many of the standard cliches of this thriller subgenre , differs slightly from the norm in that , at least , it does n't take itself too seriously like so many other duds do ( malicious and stalked are two examples which come to mind ) .
those involved in the movie realize they 're in a turkey , apparently , and turn in hammy performances which compliment the ludicrous dialogue contained within the script .
the ex 's storyline , as i said , incorporates many cliches predominant in films of its nature ; however ,
the plot is so overwrought and unbelievable
that , after a while , the viewer must accept that logic does not operate in the realm of the movie .
diedre , david 's first wife , kills and kills and kills , for example , without ever having to worry about police investigations and the like ( it 's not as though she 's bright enough not to leave fingerprints at the scene of the crime ) .
david and his new wife molly have an incredibly difficult time understanding why michael , their son , has emotional problems , specifically his inability to control his anger .
though david smokes like tomorrow will never come and blows up at people every other minute in the movie , the connection between him and his son is not made .
molly is easily swayed by diedre into believing she 's a child psychologist and allows the demented woman to spend time with her son . time and time again , things do not add up in this movie .
if a viewer ca n't accept this fact , then he will definately not like the ex .
if , on the other hand , he can appreciate the movie for its campiness , then he 'll probably like it much better .
i do n't mean to necessarily suggest , however , that the ex is a memorable exercise in camp .
even when viewed from an it's - so - bad - it's - good angle , this movie is n't all that successful .
the ex does have its moments , though , almost all of which involve yancy butler ( the psychotic diedre ) and nick mancuso ( david ) .
these two actors turn in decidedly hammy performances which , oftentimes , elicit chuckles from the audience .
the truly awful lines written for them help this humor along .
butler gets the larger portion of bad dialogue ; every time her character kills someone , she has a punchline that 's unbelievably inane .
when she murders a tenant of an apartment she wishes to use to spy on david , for example , diedre whacks the elderly lady with a crowbar and states
" i 'm so sorry , your lease is terminated .
"
or how about when diedre takes out her therapist in another ridiculous scene ?
( diedre 's therapist wishes to have her recommitted ,
so she decides to visit diedre , alone , in her new apartment -- never realizing , of course , that it 's not her 's .
therapists typically are catatonically brain - dead in these movies ) .
having successfully snuffed the woman out , diedre looks at the body and says : " what was it that you always said to me at the end of each session , dr .
jones ?
oh , that 's right . '
i 'm sorry , but your time is up ! '
"
this is what passes for humor in the film .
the audience does n't necessarily laugh but groan ( the type of groan that suggests the audience ca n't believe they 're watching this crap -- although watching it they are ) .
nick mancuso 's chainsmoking , nervous - wreck character does not have the cheesy lines that butler 's character delivers , but his ridiculously overdone performance provides for some better comic relief .
in between drags off his cigarette , for instance , in one of the movie 's best scenes , david tries to explain to his lawyer what a creep his ex - wife is .
in exaggerated exasperation , he nearly shouts " the woman is a cuckoo - bird ! "
( trust me , it is funny in context . )
and so , the movie continues until its painfully obvious conclusion .
i wo n't reveal the ending specifically ( though anyone remotely familiar with thrillers of this type could probably guess the ending just from this film review ) , but i will say that the ex has one of the biggest fire hazards appearing recently in film .
molly and david own a cabin that becomes engulfed by flames in approximately three seconds !
molly , at one point in the film , not - so - brilliantly observes , after discovering diedre has moved into an apartment across from her family 's to spy upon them , that " she 's crazy .
" you 'd be pretty crazy too if you 'd rented this turkey
.
i 'd avoid it unless it 's on tv
and you come across it .
if you do , you may want to watch it , groan at the bad punchlines and stupid plot , and feel good that you did n't spend money renting it .
Output: N