Tom has bigger problems than his and his wife's misery, as Chip starts an underhanded but obvious scheme to try to win over Sofia and mess over Tom.  He doesn't help him out with ropes, takes him to a wheelchair basketball game and neglects to tell the other players he doesn't need to be in one, and shows his memory of old cheer routines when Sofia stops over for a visit (Bateman's creepy look of triumph when he gets Sofia in a hold is one of those few chuckles).

Chip's a jerk, and by the time the movie ends, he's worse than that.  Here's a big problem, though: Tom's not much better.  Sure, he's got the victim thing going for him, but otherwise, he's a whiny, lying, bitter guy.  Not only does he get into that food fight, but in the course of the movie, he also sets fire to his the office (the foreshadowing of a really hot lamp is lamer than lame), gets his father-in-law fired, steals Wesley's skateboard, and, for some reason, cannot simply tell his wife he's miserable.  Then again, neither can she, but it would sure save us a lot of time.  Instead, Tom lets it get to the point where Chip comes over to console Sofia (by watching Coming Home, which earns another chuckle), and the dope throws Chip down a flight of stairs to prove a point in spite of everyone's absolute horror.  I did enjoy Sofia telling Tom to call her when he calms down, because Zach Braff can't get to the point where he needs to calm down (he's at a four when they need him to be at least at a nine).

Everything works out ok for them, sorry to say.  The cheap resolution of every complication in the movie's climax is just sad writing, as every character just seems to forget everything.  Lots of other dumb, forgettable, unfunny things happen, but I just don't have the strength.  It's incredibly apropos that The Ex contains the line, "I really only laugh when something funny happens."  Self-criticism at its finest, that is.

Note: It should be mentioned that this is Charles Grodin's first movie in 13 years.  In his downtime, he helped raise his son, became a television news commentator, wrote a play, and won a couple of social awards.  Then he made this movie.  Whoops.