‘Super’ a welcome summer diversion

In theaters: “My Super Ex-Girlfriend” – Directed by Ivan Reitman, written by Don Payne, 95 minutes, rated PG-13.

Let’s face it – sometimes, it would be sweet to have

superpowers. And not just because they could be used for good or because possessing them would likely make your body look great in Lycra – an undeniable perk given that so much can go so wrong in Lycra. Where superpowers really could come in handy is in, say, the wake of a nasty breakup.

Just imagine what you could do to the offending party. Instead of throwing a brick through his or her window, you could throw a shark into the bedroom. Instead of having an ex-flame’s car towed as a prank, you could just hurl it into outer space. And why say to your ex, “You are so going to regret this,” if you can’t really follow through?

It’s this fantasy that’s at the heart of the new Ivan Reitman comedy, “My Super Ex-Girlfriend,” a punchy, bawdy film that imagines Uma Thurman as G-Girl, a neurotic, golden-haired superhero who routinely saves the day while patrolling the skies of New York City. In her secret life as a superhero, G-Girl has it going on. She’s hot, she’s smart, she knows how to wear that suit – hell, she’s Uma Thurman. But in the double life she leads as Jenny Johnson, a mousy curator of a swank art gallery, she is lonely beyond reason, with zip for a love life.

When into her life comes Matt Saunders (Luke Wilson), a nice guy who never has been lucky in love – just ask his wannabe-womanizing best friend, Vaughn (Rainn Wilson). Jenny initially resists him. But when circumstances nudge her toward him, her superpowered wall of self-protection dissolves and off they go on their first date, where Jenny reveals a sense of controlling neediness that suggests she’s a bit off kilter.

Matt soon realizes that she’s a powerhouse in bed – literally, shockingly – with some of the film’s funniest scenes realized there. The problem for Matt is that as much as he enjoys Jenny’s enthusiasm, he’s hung up on co-worke, Hannah (a nicely cast Anna Faris), who has his heart in ways that Jenny simply doesn’t. And when Jenny senses this, which she does, and when Matt dumps her, which he does, let’s just say the gloves are off, with a furious Jenny going through the sort of dramatic motions that perhaps only Glenn Close’s Alex Forrest of “Fatal Attraction” could fully appreciate.

Working through a subplot is the terrific British comedian Eddie Izzard as professor Bedlam, a super villain who knows exactly how Jenny got her powers and who wants to rob her of them for his own personal gain. Izzard offers just the right touch, underplaying the role where others would have overplayed it.

With Don Payne (“The Simpsons”) behind the script, this tight, silly movie is another fine showpiece for Thurman, who continues the winning streak she’s been riding since her “Kill Bill” movies, which also showcased a character who had been damned by a man and who went to extremes to right that wrong. “My Super Ex-Girlfriend” follows suit, smoothly sending up romantic comedies and the superhero genre with such panache, it leaps into midsummer as one of its best diversions.

Grade: A-

On HD DVD: “The Manchurian Candidate” – Directed by Jonathan Demme, written by Daniel Pyne and Dean Georgaris, based on the novel by Richard Condon, 130 minutes, rated R.

Jonathan Demme’s “The Manchurian Candidate,” a remake of John Frankenheimer’s jittery, 1962 Cold War classic about political brainwashing, arrives on HD DVD to slay the political process as well as corporate America, with big business viewed here as the real threat to our country, much in the same way that the communists were feared in the original film.

The movie works on several levels. Daniel Pyne and Dean Georgaris’ script deftly updates the proceedings to the near future, the roles are complex and meaty, and the performances by Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep and Liev Schreiber are superb. The film errs in that moments drag beneath the weight of its running time, but its ideas and its fears are steeped in enough legitimate worry to be compelling, with the payoff leading to a strong finish of note.

Swapping out the original film’s backdrop of the Korean War for the Gulf War, the film follows Gulf War vet Maj. Bennett Marco (Washington), who discovers that during the war, he and other members of his platoon were implanted with computer chips in their brains that have brainwashed them into remembering events that never took place.

Of chief concern to Marco is Raymond Shaw (Schreiber), the tall, good-looking Army sergeant who won the Congressional Medal of Honor for an act of heroism Marco believes never occurred. Now a vice presidential candidate backed by his vicious, powerful mother, Sen. Eleanor Prentiss Shaw (Streep), Raymond is on a manufactured path to greatness. He’s unwittingly being controlled by Manchurian Global, a mysterious corporate giant that has, shall we say, special interests in making sure that Shaw gets into the White House, even if that means assassinating Shaw’s running mate so that Shaw can assume the ticket and ride a wave of public support into the top job.

As ever, Washington is so good, you almost take him for granted. Same goes for Streep, whose evil, ice-crunching senator is a fine nod to Angela Lansbury’s bristling turn in the first film. While the movie doesn’t match the raw, satirical power of the original, Demme’s “Candidate” scores points for being prescient and relevant. Its messages of “securing tomorrow today” and the “need to look inward to tend to our own base” remain eerily timely.

Grade: B+

Visit www.weekinrewind.com, the archive of Bangor Daily News film critic Christopher Smith’s reviews, which appear Mondays in Discovering, Fridays in Happening, and Weekends in Television. He may be reached at Christopher@

weekinrewind.com.