My Super Ex-Girlfriend is a 2006 film directed by Ivan Reitman, starring Uma Thurman and Luke Wilson. The latter plays Matt Saunders; your basic everyman, who unwittingly ends up dating Superheroine G-Girl's alter ego. He finds out her secret, but soon also discovers that she's a Clingy Jealous Girl and breaks up with her for being controlling and dangerous.
She doesn't take it very well. Meanwhile, her nemesis Bedlam hatches a plan to use this domestic dispute to depower her, and enlists Matt to spring the trap.
My Super Ex-Girlfriend provides examples of:
- Acquired Situational Narcissism: Jenny acquires this along with her superpowers and became G-Girl, leaving poor Barry alone and embittered to become Prof. Bedlam. Although considering the off-hand way she states she chose to lose her virginity to Barry, "just to get it out of the way", apparently never bothering to notice that he was completely in love with her, heavily implies she was somewhat of a self-centered jerkass before she got her powers.
- All Is Well That Ends Well. The movie's ending is treated as such. She ruins his entire life AND his car. She offers to pay for the car she ruined. He's somehow okay with that. Considering she threw a Shark at him though, he probably considers himself lucky to be still breathing! It's obvious that he'd be Bullying a Dragon if he continued to press the issue and even Matt's not that stupid.
- Anti-Hero: Of the Good Is Not Nice variety. Aside from being a superhero G-Girl is, to put it bluntly, a selfish jerk.
- Alliterative Name: G-Girl's Secret Identity is named Jenny Johnson. It gets a Lampshade Hanging near the beginning.
- Animal Assassin: G-Girl throws a live shark through her ex's bedroom window.
- Applied Phlebotinum: The source of G-Girl's superpowers. (Specifically, Green Rocks.)
- Artistic License – Biology: The shark G-Girl throws at Matt shouldn't have survived so long out of water or been able to pursue him, aside from whether or not it would've survived being thrown headfirst into a wall. There's also the question of how Matt's bones were able to withstand sex with women with superpowers though their strength destroyed beds and walls.
- Berserk Button: Do not call Jenny, "Crazy!"
- Betty and Veronica: Eventually, Matt finds himself torn between his coworker and longtime crush Hannah and his more powerful and outspoken girlfriend Jenny.
- Beware the Superman: Particularly if she is a Clingy Jealous Girl and you're planning to break up with her.
- Breast Expansion: This happens as part of G-Girl's origin story.
- Butt-Monkey: Matt.
- Captain Ersatz: G-Girl is an expy of Supergirl, albeit with a different personality, complete with a copy of Lex Luthor.
- Casanova Wannabe: Matt's friend Vaughn. He finally gets laid after the credits.
- Cat Fight: G-Girl and Hannah after the latter gets superpowers.
- Clark Kenting: Wig + Nerd Glasses = Instant disguise! Averted when Matt later discovers that his initial assessment of her was correct after all. Jenny's civilian personality isn't an act and she really is an emotionally unstable, neurotic, basket-case!
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Jenny who grows increasingly jealous towards Matt's close friendship with his coworker (and one-sided crush) Hannah. This eventually drives Matt away from her.
- Corrupted Character Copy: G-Girl is an expy of Supergirl (got her powers from an alien meteor instead of being an alien, has a Kryptonite Factor of the same meteor that empowered her, but otherwise the same basic Flying Brick). The film asks "What if Supergirl was an insecure, neurotic, overly-controlling woman with a fondness for Disproportionate Retribution?"
- Confession Triggers Consummation: After Matt confesses his love to Hannah, she kisses him and they spend the night together.
- Dating Catwoman: In the end, G-Girl and Professor Bedlam. He's implied to have switched sides though.
- Destructo-Nookie: Given G-Girl's and then Hannah's powers, sex tends to lead to damage to the bed. And the walls.
- Don't Look at Me!: Jenny (as G-Girl) says this word for word to Matt after she saves his life as a means to keep both her normal identity and superhero alter ego self a secret from Matt. Doubles as Jerk Ass With A Heart Of Gold
- Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: The Movie. The film basically portrays a manipulative, controlling, physically and emotionally abusive relationship enhanced with superpowers, as a comedy. It's still put in a negative light, of course, but a Gender Swap would be the stuff of nightmares. Though also somewhat subverted; while people think that Matt originally deserved something to have G-Girl after him, once they realize that G-Girl is only ruining his life because he broke up with her, her public opinion goes down the toilet.
- Everyone Can See It: Between Matt and Hannah.
- Everyone Loves Blondes: Includes the main guy going from the superheroine G-Girl to his crush, Hannah. What is odd is that, while G-Girl's hair turned blonde with her new powers, Hannah's hair actually turns from blonde to redhead. Justified, because Heroes Want Redheads. It seems the power turns redheads blonde and blondes into redheads.
- Evil Former Friend: Prof. Bedlam.
- Eye Beams: On lower settings, they're useful for Face Doodling. Nothing wrong with shooting people in the head, right?
- Fanservice Pack: An effect of the Green Rocks.
- Finger-Suck Healing: Hannah sucks on Matt's finger to remove a splinter.
- Flying Brick
- Good People Have Good Sex: Subverted when we see Matt and Hannah have sex, after Hannah gets superpowers, in exactly the same way as Matt and G-Girl used to have sex.
- Harmless Villain: Professor Bedlam. He's never seen doing anything overtly villainous, making his status as a supposed supervillain almost something of an Informed Attribute. While he does leave Matt dangling off of the Statue of Liberty, considering he intended for G-Girl to rescue him, it makes it obvious that he knew he was never in any real danger at all. Likewise, the only person he's implied to have tried to kill is G-Girl, who is completely invulnerable. If anything, it is heavily implied he became a "super villain" just to get her attention.
- Heroic Comedic Sociopath
- Hypocritical Humor: Carla. Throughout the film, she practically considers men as always sexually harassing women, and pushing for the woman to file a complaint against the guy despite the guy doing nothing. During the credits, Carla goes up to a male employee and grabs his butt.
- It's All About Me: Part of what hurts the movie's narrative as while Jenny is a terrifying crazy ex-girlfriend, his treatment of her during their relationship comes off as extremely selfish. Also, his concern about removing G-Girl's powers is purely to protect himself when its shown she helps many many other people. As such, many see him as a
Designated Hero at best. - It's Not You, It's My Enemies: After being fired due to Jenny/G-Girl's shenanigans, Matt warns Hannah to stay away from him as he fears Jenny could harm her.
- Jerkass: Jenny. Seriously.
- Karma Houdini: G-girl commits several crimes and receives no punishment for them; her Domestic Abuse of Matt, property damage (destroying Matt's car) and several counts of attempted murder (against Matt), one of which (her stunt with the live Great White Shark) also included animal cruelty and killing an endangered species - Great Whites were declared protected in 1999, when the movie is set in the early 2000's. Of course, it'd be pretty difficult to punish someone with her powers.
- Kick the Dog: G-girl throws a shark at Matt then kills it with her heat vision. Essentially G-girl took a fish out of water, threw it head-first into a wall and burnt it alive. The fact that said fish was a Great White Shark is offset by it's brutal death and the fact that at the time of filming Great White Sharks were an endangered and protected species.
- Kryptonite Factor: Played with. G-Girl's "kryptonite" comes from the same meteor that gave her her powers in the first place.
- Love Triangle: Jenny/Matt/Hannah.
- Also Bedlam/Jenny/Matt.
- Mad Scientist: Professor Bedlam.
- Magic Meteor: The source of G-Girl's powers.
- Man of Wealth and Taste: Lampshaded.Professor Bedlam: Please, I am not super. I am not a villain. I'm just a regular man like yourself with 10,000 more money, intelligence and taste.
- Most Common Superpower: Exposure to Green Rocks made G-Girl grow a few cup sizes.
- Mundane Utility
- Nice Girl: Hannah, who gets G-Girl's powers at the end, and, unlike her, is actually a good girlfriend to Matt.
- Nigh Invulnerable: Even her hair. One wonders how she gets it cut. Her heat vision?
- Oblivious to Love: G-Girl thought she and Bedlam drifted apart after she got her powers when really her newfound popularity caused her to unwittingly ignore him. He became a supervillain to get her to notice him again.
- Punchclock Hero: G-Girl appears to have become a superhero simply because that's what you do with superpowers, rather than out of any apparent heroic urge or instinct.
- Psycho Ex-Girlfriend: With SUPERPOWERS!!! A super-powered one at that.
- Right Through His Pants: Matt doesn't removes his clothes when he spends time in bed with Jenny or Hannah after his love confession.
- Romantic Comedy: With superheroes!
- Sassy Black Woman: Carla, in a weird pseudo-Straw Feminist sort of way.
- Shamu Fu: Again, G-Girl threw a LIVING shark at her ex. That'll teach 'em!
- Shaped Like Itself: One character describes G-Girl as "spinning like a spinny thing."
- Steven Ulysses Perhero: Professor Bedlam's real name is Barry Edward Lambert.
- Super Speed: Jenny as G-Girl can move at accelerated levels of super speed.
- Super Strength: Jenny can lift cars, sharks, human beings, missiles, anything.
- Suppressed Rage: When Matt first mentions "needing space", Jenny's OK with it...until he mentions dating other people, when she slams the knife she is chopping carrots with into the board. And then frighteningly, bends it with her bare hands.
- Threatening Shark: When G-Girl turns on Matt, she throws a shark at him. It almost kills him, despite his apartment being on dry land.
- Victorious Childhood Friend: Professor Bedlam.
- With Great Power Comes Petty Revenge
- What the Hell, Hero?: After people find out that G-Girl is going after Matt just because he broke up with her (rather than committing any sort of crime) they are much less forgiving of her deeds towards him.
- Yandere: Uma Thurman's character vows to destroy the protagonist's life after he breaks up with her.
- Your Cheating Heart: Hannah's supermodel boyfriend cheats on her with another woman (or two or three according to Hannah).
- After becoming intimate with Hannah, Matt must trick Jenny into taking him back and reconciling with him only because Professor Bedlam says so and so he can remove her superpowers.
