The Break-Up

Eww he's so immature

Honestly, I was completely shocked by this film. I didn't see it in theaters because it honestly didn't look like the type of film I would typically find appealing. But when the DVD was released, I snatched it up in a hurry because my wife loves romantic comedies. And that's exactly what we thought we were going to get. Instead we got a poignant, heartfelt and almost painfully realistic piece of insight into the psychology and calamity of two people struggling to hold onto something they never had ahold of in the first place: love. First of all, I must say that Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston were absolutely fantastic. I'm a huge fan of Vince's and I've enjoyed Jennifer in most of the films I've seen her in, but I've never appreciated either of them as much as I did in The Break-up. Their acting was directly on-target. The initial fight scene (when the break-up actually occurs) was so phenomenal I actually paused the movie when it was over just to take it all in. I've never seen two people on screen portray a 'lovers quarrel' so accurately and realistically. Hats off to Jen and Vince for an outstanding performance. The movie definitely has its funny moments. Vince brings his usual fast-talking wit to the screen and that's an instant recipe for comedy in my book. But what I really took from this movie, as someone who is in a committed relationship and understands (as well as the average person can) the complexities of love, was its underlying message. Love is not all moonlight and roses; it's not always romantic, it's not always fun and it's sure as hell not always easy. But hard work, dedication and a solid foundation of love and respect can bring two people through just about anything together. This movie is absolutely brilliant and I'd recommend it to anyone, but especially married couples or people in committed relationships.

This is not your garden variety romantic comedy, thank god! I loved the authenticity of this movie. I don't know anyone who has been in a serious relationship that wouldn't relate to this movie. Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston are superb- they are both so credible and organic in these roles. Not sure about the bizarre-ish people the characters may surround themselves in the movie- family, friends and co-workers definitely are weird- but maybe they serve as a springboard to really bring the 2 main characters to life. (maybe comedic relief, too) In any case, so refreshing to watch a movie that is realistic and unpretentious. The opening scenes are scrapbook photos when the couple were together- they were wonderful- the exact types of photos most of us have in our own scrapbooks. It isn't an indie art-house film, but a big production that doesn't follow a relationship formulaic predictor for ratings, insead it portrays arguments and a break up in a realistic way. Lack of communication, lack of effort, too much pride, battles over what isn't so important but seems so at the time- all that. I was also pleased that it didn't wrap up in a big red bow at the end like most Hollywood movies.

If it wouldn't have been for Judy Davis's campy performance and the always interesting Vincent D'Onofrio, I would have walked out of the screening I attended. For those of you who enjoy endless arguments and high drama relationships, then perhaps this is the movie for you. You might pick up some immensely immature pointers on how to get back at someone in a relationship. Otherwise, skip this overly long, pointless movie that makes poor use of some interesting cast members. Movies like this also make me wonder what Jennifer Anniston plans to do with her career when they run out of "Friends" like movie plots for her to be cast in.

There's a moment in "The Break-Up" when art gallery owner Marilyn Dean (Judy Davis) turns to Brooke (Jennifer Aniston) and says, "This isn't surrealism. This isn't cubism. This is paint-by-numbers." Marilyn's referring to Brooke's relationship crisis with Gary (Vince Vaughn), but she very well could have been talking about the film. Of course, I doubt the writers, Jeremy Garelick and Jay Lavendar, have that much of a sense of irony. I realize there are loads of disappointed moviegoers who went in expecting a romantic comedy - and the film's trailers are to blame for that, I suppose - and, instead, found a bleakly dark film about the break-up of a relationship. Frankly, that's the only refreshing thing about this film. This isn't a pat romantic comedy. However, it has all the trappings and clichés of one, down to the obligatory best friend for each main character. In Brooke's case, it is Addie, played by Joey Lauren Adams, who still has the cutest husky voice on film. And for Gary, there's Johnny O, played by Jon Favreau (what a shock!). I have no problem sitting through a film that recounts a couple's break-up and the lengths to which they go to make the other miserable and/or jealous. However, in "The Break-Up," neither Gary nor Brooke is all that interesting a person. And - talk about suspension of disbelief - it's incredibly tough to swallow that these two would ever have found each other even vaguely interesting. Both Brooke and Gary are pedestrian people. Their arguments are, to quote Marilyn, paint-by-numbers. He's immature and accuses her of always nagging him; she complains he never listens to her and takes her for granted. So we get to see these two bicker and yell about nothing; their methods to make each other jealous are neither inventive nor humorous. Watching this movie, I remembered how much I enjoyed "The War of the Roses" (1989), a superb, dark comedy about a disintegrating relationship. But that film was smart, had passion and Oliver and Barbara Rose's revenge was gleefully funny. There was something perversely delightful about that film. And we understood why Oliver and Barbara Rose liked each other so much, thanks to terrific chemistry between Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner. I have no idea whether Aniston and Vaughn have any on-screen chemistry. Because in "The Break-Up," we never ever get a sense of why Brooke and Gary are together or what brought them together. The film would've been well served had Garelick and Lavendar thought to give us a glimpse of these two people in love, so that we could then understand and sympathize when we saw their relationship crumbling. Instead, the writers resort to lazy storytelling. The film is peopled with dull and/or typical characters. The only pleasant surprise is Jason Bateman, turning an underwritten role of a rather slimy real estate agent into something that, at least, makes one smile. The always-terrific Vincent D'Onofrio's sparse scenes only make us yearn for more of him in this movie. The others are true toss-aways. What Ann-Margret is doing in this movie as Brooke's mom is beyond me. They couldn't have plucked any middle-aged woman off the street for this thankless role? Ann-Margret's only purpose seems to be to provide some sort of musical background for a dinner-table scene that just strains to be funny. Apparently, we continue paying the price for "My Best Friend's Wedding" (1997). There's nothing wrong about watching a movie about the break-up of a relationship. Francois Ozon handled the subject matter beautifully in "5X2" (2004), and just before I saw "The Break-Up," I watched another the French film, "Clara et Moi" (2004). Now, there was a film dealing with real issues, gave us characters we cared about and with whom we sympathized because we knew what brought them together and why they loved each other. Compared to those two films, "The Break-Up" seems downright mediocre and superficial, which is exactly what it is.

Well I am a fan of the Vince Vaughn, Ben Stiller, Will Ferrel, etc. movies, but "The Breakup" was AWFUL. Let me say, it started off pretty funny, just like any Vince Vaughn movie. He did the monotoned funny monologue. The exposition of the movie is pretty amusing as you are introduced to everyone. Vince Vaughn works with his 2 brothers on a tour guide bus, and Jennifer Anniston works in an art gallery with a strange but funny boss and a gay, semi-drag-queen co worker, played by Justin Long from Dodgeball (in this movie he has long, straight, black hair and looks like a Chinese woman.) Towards the beginning, there is a scene where Anniston and Vaughn's families meet at dinner and you realize how Vaughn and Anniston's relationship is slowly declining...that is where it lost its spunk. ^ that scene is about 20 minutes- the rest is boring and not funny. As soon as they start fighting, the rest is them just whining and being mad at each other and thinking of ways to make each other jealous with Anniston going on dates and Vaughn having parties with his friends.From there, there is the occasional amusing line and the scene where you see Jennifer Anniston's butt. Even after breaking up, they still live together in their apartment because they need a place to live, and they have continuous disputes about whose room belongs to who (annoying). Jennifer Anniston starts to realize that she wants him back and invites him to a concert for a casual date. He does not show up, and she goes home and cries and whines. He explains to her that he wanted to go but blah blah blah. She tells him (while crying) that all she ever wanted from him was a little appreciation. This hits Vince Vaughn and he shows his appreciation. While she goes out one day, he cleans the house and makes dinner for her, and he does the "I love you, I'm never going to hurt you" cliché speech, and she has the non-cliché reaction- she tells him that she does not love him and they wind up selling their apartment. They both go their separate ways: he continues his tour guide business, and she travels for a while. They meet a few months after, and do the "it's good to see you! you look great! how you been?" conversation. You can definitely see that they are hiding their emotions behind their smiles and that they still want to be together. Then the best part of the movie happened. . . IT ENDED! I yelled "free at last!" after it ended. The movie is tedious, boring, and not amusing.

Good acting, good plot, good laughs, good serious moments, and good supporting cast. I just don't understand why the critics would rip apart this movie. I really liked it, and thought it was realistic and heartfelt. There were moments that I was just dying of laughter, and others where I really felt like I was gonna get all choked up. And Jennifer and Vince have great on-screen chemistry!!! You could tell that they had a good vibe together. I guess the only problem I had with the movie was the fact that the previews were a little misleading. It wasn't a comedy per se, but a movie with comedic elements. Vince was hilarious in those moments, but the movie was also quite serious at times. It was an honest movie, and despite what people have said about it, it's completely devoid of clichés. I recommend it. Guys will like it, because it'll teach them something!! And girls, you'll like it, too! Watch it!

As corny as his character could have been (and was) I thought he pulled of every part of his character's scenes excellently. Jennifer did good too, but Vince's performance surprised me the most. Without getting into spoilers, Vince played the egregious boyfriend very well (as usual) but he also played the serious side of the character well (that surprised me). Even though a joke would be predictable, Vince and the cast pulled it off well so as to make it very funny and seemingly original. As usual with American audience targeted films, they could have ended it without the very last scene. In my opinion the movie would have been just as good ending after the fade-to-black in the apartment, 2 scenes before the credits rolled. mikey.

OK, so Vince is funny as always. He skillfully delivers a slew of funny one liners. And of course Jen is beautiful, as expected. (there is a not-to-miss scene of her that just hammers home the mistake Mr. Pitt has made...) In the movie they break up, as advertised. Unfortunately other than these assets the movie offers little that one would expect from a romantic comedy. Think of Spanglish, not of any movie from the 90's with Meg Ryan. Whats missing here is any real reason for them to stay together. What we end up with is an at-times-funny movie that fails to sell itself to us because it displays no real value in their relationship. The result is that other than feeling a bit sorry for the characters, we don't really except what the plot tries to sell us; that they should keep trying to get back together. Its a bit of a sad movie in that all we are left with is a pretty strong feeling that they really should break up.

You all know the story. I don't think anyone would have expected it to be so loud, but the story is that one. The break up of two people who were not suppose to be together in the first place. He is that obnoxious guy offering her a hot dog. She meets him at the same time we do. I would have run as far as possible as fast as possible but apparently there was something about this slightly deranged tourist guide who likes to play video games that appealed to her. Well, so, my dear you deserve every bit you're going to get. Vince Vaughn has all the "funny' lines and she is like a farcical woman from yesteryear, dating other guys to make him jealous. I'm not kidding, that's what she does, while he goes to visit Jon Favreau - the best bits in the film - to cry his miseries to the one other character more moronic than himself. Glimpses of Judy Davis, Ann-Margret and Vincent D'Onofrio give the movie an unexpected lift but, dear me, dear me. Rush to see the films of Preston Sturges, I'm talking to the filmmakers naturally. The awful part of the whole thing is that I found myself laughing and that as far as 2006 comedies is not half bad. Isn't that just terrible?