UMA POWER SURE, SHE PLAYS TOUGH CHICKS, BUT THURMAN SAYS SHE'S REALLY NO DIFFERENT FROM THE REST OF US.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Writer

Any guy who's seen the ``Kill Bill'' movies knows that you don't tick off Uma Thurman.

Now, imagine that Uma's mad at you, and that she has superpowers.

For half the population, ``My Super Ex-Girlfriend'' may be the scariest movie of the summer. For the other half, it could be the most empowering fantasy.

Theoretically, anyway, it's supposed to be a comedy.

``Maybe it's life and time, but I just want people to have a good time, you know?'' the 6-foot-tall actress says, sounding real friendly. ``I'm really not, intuitively, into scaring people. And I'm really not into beating them up, and I'm really not into depressing them. I want people to be happy.''

But couldn't some men be traumatized by ``Super-Ex''?

``Well, that's humorous scary,'' Thurman laughs dismissively. ``If they want to take me seriously, good, then they get more for their money.''

What you get is this: Luke Wilson as Matt Saunders, a New York bachelor in search of a relationship. Thurman is attractive-but-a-little-too-desperate Jenny Johnson. They meet and make a lust connection, but her clinginess, jealousy and rages turn Matt off.

Then Jenny reveals that she's secretly G-Girl, the flying, superstrong, invulnerable heroine of Manhattan. And she threatens to do painful things to him if Matt ever reveals her true identity.

Midair lovemaking proves frightening enough, though, and Matt just has to break it off.

Jenny does not take this super-well.

``Yeah,'' Wilson admits when asked if he ever really felt scared of Thurman. ``Ivan Reitman, the director, would tell her, `Now, try a take really over the top.' At those times, I thought, `Wow, I'm getting yelled at by Uma Thurman. She's incredibly angry yet still beautiful.' ''

Wilson says that with irony, of course. And if any males are actually trembling out there, you can feel reassured that ``Super Ex'' was made by real men, ``Ghostbusters'' and ``Stripes'' director Reitman and ``The Simpsons'' writer-producer Don Payne.

But even if the film is just a wacky romp, it's still likely to dredge up memories of relationships gone wrong -- and their aftermaths -- that most people might want to forget.

It's certainly an effort for Thurman to be specific when asked what was the worst thing an ex has ever done.

``Oh, God -- (they) called!'' blurts the now-single mother of two who's been married twice, to fellow actors Gary Oldman and Ethan Hawke. ``That was enough for me.''

Wilson is a little more forthcoming.

``I haven't had any real crazies,'' drawls the 34-year-old bachelor Texan, who's dated such co-stars as Gwyneth Paltrow (``The Royal Tenenbaums'') and Drew Barrymore (``Home Fries''). ``One time, I woke up and I had an ex standing over me, just kind of staring at me. This is after we'd broken up. She hadn't spent the night. She just kind of showed up in the morning.

``Staring at me.

``Not longingly, either.''

Turn the question around and the lady is more revealing.

``Oh, I've had my late-night hang-up call madness,'' Thurman says of her own stalking proclivities. ``Listen to the voice on the answering machine, sob your eyes out, call back, listen to it, hang up. I've done it, I've been there.''

``Probably beg,'' Wilson says is his worst reaction to breaking up.

``I've never really done anything crazy. I mean, if it's been over, I think I've always gotten the point. I try to just kind of be gracious when those things come to an end. I try.''

Since they worked somewhat intimately with one another for several months, we asked the co-stars if their leading man/woman seemed like good/bad boyfriend/girlfriend material or not.

Separately, of course.

``In real life? Luke? I have no clue,'' Thurman demurred, then quickly offered insight. ``He's certainly incredibly charming, and incredibly sweet and endearing -- which probably means he gets away with murder. But God bless him if he can do it. Nice work if you can get it, right?''

We asked her first. So we naturally spilled what she said to him.

``That's a funny thing to say!'' Wilson responded. ``I don't know what she was really talking about. I didn't get away with anything with her. She called me on everything.

``What would make Uma a good girlfriend is, just ... intelligent, funny, and she's kind of easygoing,'' he continued. ``When I met her the first time, I got kind of nervous, just from what she seems like in so many things I've seen her in over the years. But I was surprised by just how much fun she was to be around. She has a bawdy sense of humor, she really likes to laugh.

``What would make her a bad girlfriend? I would say that she'd be going off on location, and you'd wind up missing her.''

Thurman understands that people who don't know her might presume that she's intimidating. The daughter of a psychologist and an Ivy League professor, she played wise beyond her years in mostly arty films as a teenager. Then, of course, there was that perfectly trained and very unforgiving assassin in the Quentin Tarantino set.

And even though she won't cop to actually being that way, the actress figures that, Wilson's compliment to the contrary, some who know her may have the impression that she's high-maintenance.

``I wouldn't say I was easygoing at all,'' Thurman says, sighing. ``I could say that and I'm sure somebody would balk and scream at me that I was completely ridiculous, that I had no idea. So I guess I should just go with assuming that I should call myself difficult. I don't think so, particularly, but I would assume that I would hear that back.''

``That's exactly what would make Uma a good girlfriend -- answers like that!'' Wilson says with evident adoration. ``You know, you'd ask most actresses that, and they'd be like, `No. No, I'm incredibly grounded. I eat cheeseburgers.'''

Considering he's dated his share of them, we had to ask if there was a memorably high-maintenance actress or whatever. Then we found out why Wilson gets so many women: He knows what to say.

``I've been pretty lucky in that I haven't been with anybody high-maintenance,'' the actor avows. ``I'd say, if anything, I'm probably the one who, in high-maintenance terms, gets moody and that kind of thing.''

So there's no chance of him actually getting together with anyone as needy as Jenny, right?

``Some people, I think, are looking for somebody who is looking for them to kind of look after them,'' Wilson says (and now it's on record, ladies). ``That's never been something I've gone for in a woman.''

As far as images go, though, Thurman is more protective of Jenny than she is of herself. Call the character controlling, manipulative or even a royal b-word, and you'll get ... well, corrected sounds like a nagging kind of word. Let's say, educated.

``I think she's empowering while simultaneously having an overly raw, female side of the female,'' Thurman says of her G-Girl. ``I think she's empowering but I don't think she's one-dimensional. By being both incredibly feminine and incredibly girlish in her alter ego and then incredibly bold and confident in her A personality, I think a lot of women have that and understand that -- especially today.''

And the last thing Thurman wants is for anybody to be afraid of her.

Really. By this movie or by anything that she can't predict (should we be worried about this?) she'll do in the future.

If it's reassuring at all, guys, she says she's as vulnerable as you are.

``That's sort of where I've come to,'' Thurman explains. ``I'm not saying I won't enjoy doing something powerful or something that moves me. But if it's not movin' me, I want it to make me laugh. I don't need anybody to scare me. I'm scared enough as it is.''

Bob Strauss [phone]

bob.strauss(at)dailynews.com

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5 photos

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) `SUPER' STAR

Uma Thurman isn't nearly as scary as her roles

(2 -- 4) Uma Thurman, left, with Luke Wilson, and opposite, is the jealous and insecure Jenny, alias superhero G-Girl, in ``My Super Ex-Girlfriend.''