THURMAN IS SUPER IN PLAYFUL `EX-GIRLFRIEND'.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic

We all know from watching comic book movies that being involved with a super hero, be it a nice-guy stud like Superman or a brooding loner like Batman, is a complicated affair, unlikely to end in mutual satisfaction. The world's needs come first. And then there's the time spent laundering the costume. (You can't send it to a cleaner, can you? It would blow your identity.)

These kinds of romantic roadblocks could drive a super hero crazy, and, as we see in Ivan Reitman's light comedy surprise, ``My Super Ex-Girlfriend,'' it does. Jenny Johnson, a.k.a. G-Girl (Uma Thurman) doesn't have the disposition to save the world. The burden wears on her. So when an ordinary doofus guy named Matt (Luke Wilson) goes out of his way to help her, she latches onto him like a life preserver.

``I have to help people every day, but no one has ever helped me but you,'' she coos.

So begins a pretty funny movie that's part nerd fantasy, part ``Fatal Attraction'' and part riff on Arnie Ziff, Jon Lovitz's revenge-seeking, still-pining geek from ``The Simpsons.'' That ``Simpsons'' connection isn't by accident. ``Ex-Girlfriend'' is the first produced screenplay by ``Simpsons'' writer Don Payne, and he has given the movie the same fresh, freewheeling spirit found on the best episodes of the series.

``Ex-Girlfriend'' would be nothing without Thurman, who continues to dazzle with her versatility. Here she alternates between crazy (she's a tad controlling and not quite adept at censoring her thoughts before they come tumbling out of her mouth), angry (there's the whole title designation, a state of affairs she doesn't take to kindly) and sexy (one of the year's funniest moments involves Jenny and Matt's first night of lovemaking).

If the rest of the movie can't quite match Thurman's talent and energy, it's not a wash, either. Anna Faris shows up as Matt's good friend and potential love interest, and she nicely plays off of Wilson's bland Everyman. The filmmakers are less certain how to incorporate Eddie Izzard's super-villain into the story, indicative of how ``Girlfriend'' works better as a romantic-comedy than it does as a comic book story.

Of course, this is a romance that involves a great white shark, a new twist on the Mile High Club and an all-powerful hero using her heat vision to fry a pet goldfish. Meg Ryan would be aghast, but Glenn Close would love this super chick.

Glenn Whipp, [phone].

glenn.whipp(at)dailynews.com

MY SUPER EX-GIRLFRIEND - Three stars

(PG-13: sexual content, crude humor, language, brief nudity.)

Starring: Uma Thurman, Luke Wilson, Anna Faris, Eddie Izzard.

Director: Ivan Reitman.

Running time: 1 hr. 35 min.

Playing: In wide release.

In a nutshell: Romantic-comedy/comic-book hybrid is pretty funny, and Uma Thurman dazzles as the very angry, very crazy title character.

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Uma Thurman is Jenny Johnson, who moonlights as the moody, clingy and highly unpredictable superhero girlfriend in the charming ``My Super Ex-Girlfriend.''