Matt Saunders (Luke Wilson) pulls out the only weapon at hand -- a blowdryer -- at an angry, super-powered ex-girlfriend (Uma Thurman) in this scene from 20th Century Fox's new release 'My Super Ex-Girlfriend.' Click photo for larger image. 'My Super Ex-Girlfriend' Critic's Call: Rating: Rated PG-13 for sexual content, language, brief nudity. Starring: Luke Wilson, Uma Thurman, Anna Faris, Rainn Wilson, Wanda Sykes. Director: Ivan Reitman. Web site: www.mysuperex.com

In most movies involving supernatural powers, our hero takes either a brief hiatus or goes on strike. The hiatus typically has to do with the superhero being stripped of his or her powers, while the strike is usually all about the angst: Why can't I just be like everyone else?

In the cheerfully cheesy comedy "My Super Ex-Girlfriend," G-Girl's (Uma Thurman) motivations are much more base. She wants to finish painting her toenails and go on a date. She wants to figure out if her new boyfriend, Matt (Luke Wilson), has designs on another woman, his cute co-worker Hannah (Anna Faris).

G-Girl is not worried about how she can be like everyone else; she is like everyone else. Or at least every neurotic, needy woman clinging to a relationship that isn't going anywhere. That's why she's so fun to watch. Director Ivan Reitman brings some of the same zany energy to this ridiculous movie that he brought to "Ghostbusters" back in 1984.

The gorgeous Thurman spends most of the movie as G-Girl's alter ego -- bony, bespectacled Jenny Johnson -- and that guise actually suits her better. It frees up her comic potential.

The movie is based on a screenplay by Don Payne, a longtime writer for "The Simpsons," who clearly delights in defying superhero conventions. After falling for Matt, G-Girl doesn't hold back anything. She consummates their relationship and confesses her secret identity to Matt in short order. When he breaks up with her not long after, she shows her displeasure by departing through a hole she drills in his roof with her head.

The supporting cast mostly pads a thin storyline. The brilliant comedian Eddie Izzard is wasted as G-Girl's nemesis. His function is to help wrap it all up, a thankless task.

You don't go to movies like this to feel closure, you go to see Uma Thurman throw a shark at Luke Wilson.