Review: My Ex / Cert: 18 / Director: Piyapan Choopetch / Screenplay: Adirek Wattaleela, Sommai Lertulan / Starring: Shahkrit Yamnarm, Wanida Termthanaporn, Navadee Mokkhavesa / Release Date: October 8th
I was dumped by a girlfriend in Starbucks once. It was a traumatic experience and really put a dampener on the coffee I had been drinking at the time. Even more horrible than that is My Ex, a Thai ghost story in which a dead girl doesn’t take at all kindly to her man’s moving on.
Ken is a hunky A-List movie star and serial philanderer. With a string of discarded relationships already behind him, Ken dumps pregnant girlfriend Meen and shacks up with actress Ploy instead. They are soon engaged, as loudly reported by the local gossip mags. But they’re not the only one’s interested in Ken’s wandering eye – and his mysterious stalker is far more intrusive than the paparazzo simply taking revealing pictures of the poor celeb couple. One by one, the people around Ken begin to suffer for his sins. Could it be an obsessed paparazzi, mad ex or something far more spooky? The recurring appearance of a pissed-off looking lady ghost would suggest the latter. My Ex is like a supernatural version of My Super Ex-Girlfriend, except it manages to be a lot less interesting than that. At least My Super Ex-Girlfriend had Uma Thurman throwing a shark at Luke Wilson. My Ex has a ghastly bath and a scary car wash. Its very best scene is one in which Ken gets punched by a tree.
A number of gory death sequences and goosebump-raising spook scenes manage to alleviate some of the dullness, but the story is never gripping nor scary enough to make it worth a recommendation. The cheap cinematography, too, is uninspired and the music intrusive. With Ken a dick and his girlfriend’s interchangeable shrews, there’s not a likeable or sympathetic character in the whole film. Its central mystery is irrelevant because there’s no reason to invest in any of them, nor care when someone is bumped off. Also, Ken’s ringtone is really annoying. It’s melodramatic and loud when a little more focus and care could probably whip the film into shape easily enough. As it is, it feels like a soap opera rather than a horror movie. Look, My Ex, it’s not you, it’s us. We prefer our horror to have a bit more horror. Still, it’s not a terribly bad film, just a slow and clichéd one instead. There’s even one scene, towards the end, that really, genuinely sends chills down the spine. These rare moments of nasty aside (the finale is pretty good too), My Ex just rambles on too much.
Incredibly, it did spawn a sequel (My Ex 2: Haunted Lover) which goes to show that at least a couple of people must have liked this film enough for it to make a profit. There’s no accounting for taste, I guess. My Ex is boring and stupid. I do not like My Ex at all. The film, however, is merely mediocre.
Extras: None
