Occasionally a movie comes along that never makes it to most theaters, that doesn’t garner a lot of attention but that does offer a decent night’s rental. These aren’t movies that are Oscar bound or raking in big bucks, but they do offer a nice evening’s entertainment. EX-TERMINATORS is one of those films.
Heather Graham stars as Alex, a young woman who works hard, helps people and supports her jobless boyfriend. When she discovers him cheating on her, she boots him out. Unfortunately she also loses her job about his time. While in a grocery store she picks out a pie to purchase, sets it down to do something and turns to find a man has taken her pie. A smart aleck comment and a tossed punch by Alex finds her before a judge and sent to anger management class.
During the class she makes friends with several other battered women including Stella (Jennifer Coolidge) and Nikki (Amber Heard). Either involved in abusive relationships or having been taken advantage of, you find yourself sympathizing with each of them. When the girls get together to follow one friend’s physically abusive husband, they accidentally kill him…and get away with it. Their friend inherits money, is down one abusive spouse and is happy now. And realizing what probably happened, she pays off her friends for their good deed.
Seeing potential in this sort of business, the friends decide to make big bucks offing the ex’s of the women they meet in their anger management class. They then funnel the funds through the bug killing business of Stella. When an IRS agent with an agenda of his own begins to put the screws to the girls, they have to make a choice. Go straight or deal with this new problem. A difficult decision at best since the number of members for their anger management keeps increasing once word gets out and the money keeps coming in.
This film is basically a fantasy project for women who have been taken advantage of in one way or another. And it rings true in many cases. I did find it hard to believe that there was only one sympathetic male character in the whole movie, a cop investigating the murders who falls in love with Graham, but it didn’t take that much away from the film. It was an amusing tale that for a direct to DVD film didn’t turn out too bad.
Once again we’re not witnessing Oscar material here but we are seeing something that isn’t as bad as some of the choices that have been nominated in the recent past. The movie is well made, well acted and entertaining.
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