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"The Ex" not only fails to break any new ground, it avoids it like the plague. But the comedy's easy-going vibe makes it generally pleasant to sit through, and fortuitous casting lends credence to the theory that Jason Bateman (late of the criminally unwatched "Arrested Development") may, in fact, be a comedic god.

Zach Braff stars as a well-intentioned goofball who marries out of his league (Amanda Peet, of TV flop "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," plays his wife). Forced to take an advertising job he hates, he ends up working under his bride's vindictive and wheelchair-bound ex-boyfriend (Bateman).

Braff turns out to be the movie's weak link. He's pretty likeable in his TV work on "Scrubs," so it's baffling that his movie roles make him seem about as much fun to be around as a flu virus. Everyone else pulls their weight—even Peet, in the thankless "wife" role—but Braff's mugging just grates next to Bateman's deadpan delivery.

The movie's rushed ending piles on unnecessary slapstick (Bateman's comeuppance and motives, for example, could have been a lot more cleverly conceived), and almost ruins the goodwill generated up to that point. Still, there are enough sporadic laughs to qualify "The Ex" as a decent "date" movie for the recently hitched.

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