More about this DVD  •  DVD Info  •  Movie Main Page  •  Message Board

This film has a clever premise.  A superhero, uh, superheroine, named G-Girl (Uma Thurman) may be a crime fighter without peer, but her secret identity altar ego, Jenny Johnson, a mild-mannered assistant curator for a great metropolitan art gallery, is a mess.  She’s lonely, horny, needy and, as all who have secret abilities far beyond mortal men, reluctant to get involved in a relationship. 

That changes when she has a cute meet with Matt Saunders (Luke Wilson); during an unsuccessful attempt to introduce himself, a purse-snatcher grabs her bag and Matt takes pursuit.  She’s so tired of protecting other people from crime that his coming to her rescue was refreshing enough for her to let her guard down.  They begin to date.  And Matt and we begin to suspect that G-Girl may have come by her heroic name based on an overactive G-spot.  Sex with Jenny can be dramatic, dangerous, and damaging to furniture and walls.

Circumstances force Jenny to reveal her secret identity to Matt, who initially finds it quite a turn-on.  But when the relationship becomes too intense to soon, Matt backs off, breaks off, and Jenny has a meltdown.  Her neediness is no less super than her powers.  Hell hath no fury like a superheroine scorned.  We’re not talking about a dozen pizzas ordered in his name and delivered to his apartment.  We’re not talking about vitriolic messages left on his answering machine.  We’re talking about a huge hole open to the sky in his top floor apartment roof and his car launched into orbit.  This is one hurt chick.

And that’s not her only problem.  All superheroes and superheroines worth their salt have archenemies, and G-Girl must contend with Professor Bedlam (Eddie Izzard).  He knows the secret of her powers and is determined to take them away.  Why and how I shall not reveal.  Add to the mix a budding romance between Matt and his cute coworker, Hannah Lewis (Anna Faris, of Scary Movie fame), and we have a triangle with very sharp corners indeed.

Directed by Ivan Reitman and written by Don Payne, the film seems to tap into the angst of all women who’ve found themselves unceremoniously dumped after becoming committed to a relationship.  But G-Girl doesn’t have to resort to boiling a pet bunny to make her point.  If she wanted to, she could demolish Matt’s apartment building.  The cast seems to have great fun with this bit of lighthearted fluff; I was entertained.  Jokes are made at the expense of peoples’ pain, but unlike the Little Miss Sunshine viewing experience, Reitman makes clear that these are caricatures more than characters, and that the filmmakers had tongues buried deep in cheeks.  How can you take seriously a hurt woman’s prank of tossing a live shark at her ex-boyfriend through an apartment window?

The Video: How Does The Disc Look?

The film’s theatrical aspect ratio of 2.40:1 is presented in a pretty good transfer.  Edge halos are present, but they are minimal and don’t intrude.  Color rendition is excellent, from natural flesh tones, to art, to some more vibrant colors found on several sets.  Small object detail and finely grained textures are well above average.  The video dynamic range is conveyed terrifically, with no noticeable white crush or black crush.  Shadow detail in the nighttime scenes is excellent.  We’re left with a reasonably film-like presentation.

A second side holds a pan & scan full screen transfer.  And as on the Little Miss Sunshine DVD, the widescreen transfer is on side B rather than side A.  Am I being paranoid when I again ask (perhaps rhetorically), with the advent of Blu-ray Disc with its inherent widescreen format, has 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment made the decision to subtlety indulge 4:3 display owners?  I didn’t bother to sample the P&S transfer.

The Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is as much fun as the film.  Lots of surround effects like G-Girl swooping through the skies of New York.  Enable Ex decoding for a more enjoyable surround experience.  Gut thumping bass will challenge your subwoofer during action sequences and explosions.  The sound effects have a fine dynamic range and brisk attack times.  Teddy Castellucci’s score emulates superhero music one minute, offers romantic riffs the next.  It’s presented with satisfying fidelity.  And at no time is the dialog overwhelmed or masked by the other sound elements; the spoken word remains distortion-free and very intelligible throughout.

The alternative languages are in Spanish and French, both presented in Dolby Surround 2.0.  Optional subtitles are in Spanish and English, for which Closed Captions are provided.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

The modest supplements are spread between two single-layer sides.  On the full screen side, you’ll first find an Extended Shark Sequence (2:13).  I’m not entirely sure why this wasn’t used in its entirety.  It’s entertaining enough.  I did spot a red + on the shark’s tale, so perhaps it was a CGI special effects budget problem.  The only other extra on this side is the non-anamorphic widescreen theatrical trailer (2:23).

On the widescreen side you’ll find five deleted scenes that run 8:30 with a handy Play All option.  All have merit, and I suspect they were deleted for pace, particularly the high school flashbacks.  On this side, you’ll also find an annoying music video for “No Sleep 2 Nite” by Molly McQueen (3:26).

The 96-minute film is organized into twenty chapters.

Exclusive DVD-ROM Features: What happens when you pop the disc into your PC?

None are included on this disc.