The Ex

Another bomb is dropped with this Zach Braff vehicle that makes it obvious why the guy was a frontrunner to replace Chevy Chase in the Fletch franchise. Braff is prone to mugging and is so over-the-top here that it becomes mighty grating at times. He plays a cook who loses his job and must take up employment with his father-in-law (Charles Grodin, back from movie limbo) at a strange ad agency where his wife’s (Amanda Peet, a good actress in yet another bad movie) ex-boyfriend (Jason Bateman) also works. The Bateman character is in a wheelchair, so Braff must walk on egg shells during a rivalry for Peet’s affections so as to not appear insensitive. This leads to all strains of wacky wheelchair humor. It all comes together in a film so vile, so unfunny, so ugly, the words Zach Braff will likely cause a gag reflex in me for years to come.