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I can’t help but wonder if the cast of Jesse Peretz’s The Ex sat through the premiere, sinking down in their chairs, shaking their heads in embarrassment. Have you ever thought back on a relationship, which seemed to possess a certain magical quality at the time, yet it’s only when you look back on it that you realize it was all wrong and actually really, really horrible? Yeah, me too. Love makes us do stupid things, and it’s the only excuse I can give the otherwise remarkable players in this film, who were definitely under the spell of something when they signed on for what would turn out to be one of the most dull, boring romantic comedies of all time.

Given the cast, which stars TV A-listers like Zach Braff (“Scrubs”), Jason Bateman (“Arrested Development”) and Amanda Peet (“Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip”), and a solid supporting cast – Charles Grodin, Mia Farrow, Paul Rudd, Amy Adams and Amy Poehler all appear – The Ex should have been able to pull off a few laughs. Sadly those laughs are few and far between (and usually forced), falling flat within a storyline that is little more than several clichés strung together. Romantic comedy is a difficult genre in general, because Hollywood refuses to accept the idea that men and women find the same things to be funny, so they try and marry together blends of stereotypical humor that don’t work together, which is unfortunately the case here.

Tom Reilly (Braff) is a young husband to a pregnant Sofia (Peet), living in a tiny Manhattan studio. Tom’s a smart guy, but he’s got an uncanny knack for starting jobs he can’t finish and changing careers often. After an incident in his latest venture as a chef gets him fired the same day his wife goes into labor, the young couple decides to move back to Ohio, where Sofia’s from, so that Tom can take a more stable job for her father’s new-age advertising agency.

It’s there that Tom finds himself under the rule of wheelchair-bound Chip Sanders (Bateman), Sofia’s former cheerleading partner and one-time hookup. Chip’s well-liked, especially by Sofia’s dad (Grodin), thanks to his bright bowties, chipper grin and ability to evoke pity for his situation. Tom almost immediately sees through Chip’s guise and believes he’s being sabotaged by his boss, which worsens when Tom comes up with a great campaign idea for the agency’s pickle account.

Of course, no one believes Tom; he’s accused of everything from being downright lazy to having a bias against Chip because he’s in a wheelchair. What ensues as Tom tries to expose Chip for the fraud he believes him to be is supposed to be funny, but the scenes feel forced and the tone is uncertain, bouncing back and forth between over-the-top physical comedy and dark humor.

Two smaller storylines involving a young neighbor (newcomer Lucian Maisel) who befriends bored stay-at-home mom Sofia, and Amy Adams as the leader of a cultish group for new mothers, are the only two saving graces of The Ex, which is otherwise not worth seeing. Not even fans of Braff and Bateman should buy tickets for this one, as you’ll just be sorely disappointed in how under-utilized their talents are here.