The Ex

The architect David Kenyon (Nick Mancuso) is married with Molly (Suzy Amis), they have an almost 6 year old son named Michael. Unexpectedly, Kenyon's ex-wife Deirdre (Yancy Butler) returns and stalks the family, becoming Molly's friend under a false name. We learn that Deirdre has been treated in a lunatic asylum and committed at least 2 murders. She must be planning something really evil...

Worth watching for the excellent performances of the two female leads. Suzy Amis ("Twister", "Firestorm") plays the wife who has to ask herself after 6 years of a perfectly happy marriage: does she really trust her husband or will she believe the lies Deirdre spreads? After all, he didn't even tell her he was married before! Yancy Butler ("Witchblade", "Drop Zone") is truly terrifying as the mad woman, full of hate, who kills without regret - and asks others to kill her because she lives in such a distorted world. Yancy has got the devilish grin and the evil eyebrows for the role, perfect choice! The movie may have a couple of weak points. Better explanations and more information could have filled a few gaps on the way, but in the end the thriller succeeds at its raison d'etre: to thrill!

David is an architect who is married to Molly. They have a 6-year-old son Michael who can't find a psychiatrist he likes. Molly doesn't know David was married before, but Deidre shows up at a skyscraper he helped design, where poor-quality materials will have to replaced.

Deidre wants to get back together with David, but he wants to put his past behind him. She starts her process of getting revenge in a restaurant by telling a man she is David's wife Molly and their marriage is in trouble, and then having a fling. I'm not sure just what purpose this serves, but the specifics of this incident do demonstrate the woman has problems.

Deidre's psychiatrist Dr. Jonas contacts her and tells her she should continue treatment, which Deidre won't do. What she does is go to Molly's gym and become friends with her. She has one of Dr. Jonas' business cards, and when she learns about Michael's inability to find a psychiatrist he likes, Deidre introduces herself as Dr. Jonas and says she is a child psychiatrist. She is moving her practice and has no business cards.

Deidre and Michael become good friends, though she never actually treats him. From here the movie starts getting weird. I mean REALLY weird. And don't get in Deidre's way, or else.

Yancy Butler does an amazing job. At first I didn't think her acting was all that great, but Deidre is so incredibly convincing when she poses as others. And when she is merely scheming, delicious would be a good word to describe her personality. Stalker doesn't even begin to describe this woman. She's really something to watch.

Children should most definitely not see this movie. In one scene I think Michael gets the wrong idea about acceptable behavior. There is some violence and the language appeared to have been cleaned up, but Deidre is into S & M and she has taped herself (and David) in the past. I mean her sex life is really, really sick.

If you want a stalker movie, it doesn't get much better.

"David Kenyon" (Nick Mancuso) is a successful architect who has remarried after divorcing his first wife "Deidre Kenyon" (Yancy Butler) seven years earlier. His second wife "Molly" (Suzy Amis) is not aware that he had been married previously. Neither does she know that Deidre had been committed to a mental institution and has recently arrived back in New York with the desire to get her husband back--regardless of what it takes. Now, while other films like "Fatal Attraction" have already covered the "psychotic girlfriend/wife scenario" what makes this particular movie interesting is the performance of Yancy Butler. She was both hot and crazy. On the flip side though, there were a couple of scenes that simply went beyond the boundaries of realism and had me shaking my head in disbelief a couple of times. Only in Hollywood. That being the case I have rated this movie accordingly. Average.

She may not be a great actress, but Yancy Butler has an unmistakable name, face and voice. Her striking eyes and brows make me think she'd be perfect as the lead in a remake of 'The Wasp Woman.' And that throaty gurgle of a voice is positively un-natural. It's unfortunate that she's had alcohol issues that threw her out of the acting game for a while. But that does make me think how she's appeared so uncomfortable on-camera in most of her roles over the years... even this one. Perhaps it's just this film's sledgehammer of a script making her uneasy here, even as a villain. It's obvious that this thing is riding the same track trodded down previously by 'Fatal Attraction' (although 'Attraction' itself is a variation on an even older film: Clint Eastwood's 'Play Misty For Me'). Yancy gets the juicy role of the crazed ex-wife who terrorizes ex-hubby Mancuso and his second wife Amis. It all leads to an achingly predictable conclusion. Sure, you don't know what will do ol' Yance in, but you know it's coming (and you can figure it won't involve a tub since that would be way too close to 'Fatal Attraction'-- although this film does rely on tubs for Yancy's killing spree). I agree with a fellow commentator who was annoyed with the child actor: indeed, the young boy is truly terrible. They could have used a dog in place of the kid and gotten a better performance. The only interesting facet was having Mancuso be into rough sex. From that, I think a more startling conclusion would have been having Mancuso and Yancy re-uniting---because they're obsessed with each other and play this sick game of rough love that extends to even killing Yancy's sister and Mancuso's new wife. As it is, this is just a b-grade thriller/time-killer.

At first glance, this film seems to be about a murderous ex-wife who is resorting to vengeance to vindicate her previous relationship. However, I do actually believe that 'The Ex' is way more than that. As a psychological thriller, it features one of the most distressing studies of psychotic and mental disorders that I have seen in a long time and proves how dangerous they can be if they are left unchecked.

I found Yancy Butler's performance as Deidre Kenyon in this film to be brilliant. Not only was she absolutely stunning here, even my girlfriend kept going on about how beautiful Butler's eyes are when my girlfriend has green eyes herself, but she nails what must have been a difficult portrayal of a very troubled mental disorder patient with homicidal tendencies. She is the star of this film, I believe she was truly outstanding here.

As far as psychological thrillers go, 'The Ex' is perfectly enjoyable despite some minor flaw here and there (I would have chosen a different child actor as Michael Kenyon, for example as he was not a proper fit for such a role). Its best parts are when the story focuses on aspects of crime and the criminal system.