CORPORATE LINE: Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston star in The Break-Up, which starts where most romantic comedies end: after boy and girl have met, fallen in love, moved in to start their happily-ever-after…and right when they wind up driving each other crazy.
Pushed to the breaking-up point after their latest “why can’t you do this one little thing for me?” argument, art dealer Brooke (Aniston) calls it quits with her boyfriend, Gary (Vaughn), who hosts bus tours of Chicago. What follows is a series of remedies, war tactics, overtures and underminings suggested by the former couple’s friends, confidantes and the occasional total stranger. When neither ex is willing to move out of the condo they used to share, the only solution is to continue living as hostile roommates until somebody caves.
But somewhere between protesting the pool table in the living room, the dirty clothes stacked in the kitchen cupboards and the sports played at sleep-killing volume in the middle of night, Brooke begins to realize that what she may be really fighting for isn’t so much the place but the person.
The Break-Up stars Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston under the direction of Peyton Reed (Bring It On, Down with Love). The writers are Jeremy Garelick, Jay Lavender and Vince Vaughn, who produces.
THE REVIEW: The Break-up is musty and anyone hoping the team of Vaughn and Jon Favreau will rekindle the characters from Swingers is in for a huge let down. Actually the film might be trying a little too hard to be like another show; The Honeymooners. There is nothing original or interesting about The Break-up.
Everyone in the cast is more interesting than the lead characters. There are times when watching the movie you wish that the movie was about a supporting cast member rather than the lead. John Michael Higgins, who plays Aniston’s brother, is hilarious and offers the rare funny moments. Vaughn and Aniston don’t work together and they certainly aren’t sympathetic characters. There is nothing funny about watching those two argue.
THE EXTRAS: The commentary by Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston isn’t charming or thoroughly entertaining. Aniston seems to rain on the parade because Vaughn is certainly more entertaining than this proves.
The deleted scenes definitely needed to stay on the cutting room floor. The alternate ending is barely worth watching. The outtakes have their moments of laughs. The “Improv with Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau” seems like it should have been much funnier. Finally, there is a featurette called “Three Brothers” which is a funny a tour of Chicago.
FRANKLY: The Break-up has no genre. It’s not a romantic comedy. It’s not a date movie. It’s not even a chick flick. What it is—is bad.
+ Charlie Craine
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