When he's fired from his job as a chef, he leaves New York to, regrettably, take a job working for his father-in-law at an Ohio ad agency. Going along is his young wife (the wide-eyed Amanda Peet) and infant daughter. Immediately, he gets into trouble at the eccentric office when his "mentor" and boss proves to be a conniving jerk who seems determined to trip him up at every turn.
Jason Bateman, as Chip the jerk, not so much steals the movie as he dominates it. Chip uses his paralysis and wheelchair as weapons. He also had a high-school fling with Braff's wife, back when they were cheerleaders.
(Please note that Bateman has the title role. He is "The Ex," although the title is as unfocused as the film.)
Chip manages to get Braff's character, Tom, into all kinds of trouble at the office.
Tom's only show of defiance is a beady-eyed stare of resentment. Braff's acting is limited to a suggestion of bemused, befuddled double takes. After an hour or so of watching the evil Chip continuously victimize Tom, we get an urge to give him a pep pill, or a new writer, to encourage him to fight back.
Chip tricks Tom into looking like a cheater when he gets him to play in a wheelchair basketball game. He takes credit for Tom's "brilliant" ad idea of having an oddball neighborhood kid sell burgers by gulping down an entire Big Mac in one slurp. (The obnoxious little kid is the most original character in the movie.
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This is the kind of office that continually has meetings in which the loudest talkers get credit for the real work. It's a new-age kind of office in which all kinds of formulas and games are encouraged rather than any real thought or leadership. Tom hates it while the devious Chip thrives on it.
Peet is merely decorative, a pawn in the rivalry between her hubby and her ex-boyfriend. We remember her favorably for playing Jack Nicholson's young girlfriend in "Something's Gotta Give." She also gets credit for trying Broadway last season in a revival of "Barefoot in the Park.
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One suspects she might be quite appealing if given better roles, but we can't be sure.
We're encouraged by the fact that the wry, dour and often hilarious Charles Grodin is cast as the father-in-law - a return to movies after 13 years. Mia Farrow plays his nondescript wife.
They, unfortunately, are given little screen time.
The hopes are dimming that Braff had the eccentricities to become another Dustin Hoffman type from "The Graduate" or even a bona fide Woody Allen intellectual comic. Take a survey and you'll still find some who think he's cool in a different, non-leading-man way, but you'll find a new group that finds he's getting on their nerves.
• Reach Mal Vincent at (757) 446-2347 or mal.vincent@pilotonline.com.
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