In order to appreciate The Break-Up you really have to suspend disbelief at the reasons why a couple like Gary (Vince Vaughn) and Brooke (Jennifer Aniston) would actually come together in the first place. The film is well acted and fast paced and also entertaining, and it does a generally good job of showing what happens when love turns into a weapon of mutual destruction.
It's just I didn't quite buy the fact that a somewhat educated and cultured girl like Brooke who works as a art-gallery curator and likes going to the ballet would actually see in a working class schlep like Gary, a voluble if considerably doughy charmer who, with his two brothers (Vincent D'Onofrio) and Cole Hauser), runs a guided tourist service in Chicago.
If you can get beyond this strange lapse of logic, The Break-Up is a mostly fun and astute and features the lovely Jennifer and the clever Vince at their snappish best. The story itself is pretty slim: Brook and Gary meet at a Cubs game, fall in love hard, buy a showpiece apartment together and live happily ever after. All this happens in the opening credits.
It doesn't take long, however, for the cracks to appear in the relationship and the fights inevitably start coming. He doesn't buy the right number of lemons for a dinner party she's hosting for their respective families, and then doesn't do the dishes until she nags him to help. She doesn't understand his needs, which is basically relaxing after a hard day on his feet and watching the ball game. So consequently, after a bitter argument, Brooke impulsively puts an end to their relationship.
The big problem is that they both own the apartment together, and over the next couple of weeks things get worse. Lines are drawn over who can do what and trivial disagreements break out over common space, noise, and eventually escalating into Brooke inviting over dates, Gary inviting over strippers, moving in a pool table, and everything else as the relationship spirals out of control.
The couple's realtor (Jason Bateman) and shared friends, including Maddie (Joey Lauren Adams) and Johnny (Jon Favreau), all get caught up and are forced to take sides. But will Brooke and Gary be able to sort out their differences and stay together, or is the relationship doomed to failure?
I think the strength of the film comes from the biting repartee that takes place between Aniston and Vaughn, especially in the earlier scenes. You really do believe that they are and have been a committed couple that are about to explode with frustration at each other's failings. The actors indeed imbue Gary and Brooke with moments of sincere woundedness and the film's arguments that relationships are essentially about mutual respect and about give and take come across as remarkably authentic.
As usual in these sorts of Hollywood romantic comedies and using the term romantic loosely the supporting cast is filled out with a number of veterans. Judy Davis steals every scene she's in as Brooke's eccentric art gallery boss and Ann Margaret makes a surprise appearance as Brooke's mother.
But the movie ultimately belongs to both Aniston and Vaughn she's tanned and toned and looks fantastic and he does what he does best playing the permissive man-child who just refuses to take responsibility for anything, either personal or professional.
The film stalls a bit in its final third; as though the producers are intent to pad the story out and Brooke's motivations for doing what she does remain bit of an enigma first she loves him then she doesn't and we're left to infer some of her feelings rather than bear witness to them. In the end, though, The Break-Up is at least partially notable for showing both lead actors at their best, but the film also shows off some terrific views of the beautiful city of Chicago. Mike Leonard October 06.
Realistic to the end. I've been involved with counseling many couples who break up and this movie hits the proverbial nail right on the head. Many break ups are "accidental". Many times persons who break up wish they could be back together. Many times the greatest danger comes when the problems are out in the open and persons attempt to save the relationship.
All of the cast does a good job. The characters are believable and make the viewer root for them, even the supporting cast. The viewer becomes emotionally glued to this film with a desire for these two to make it, but they always seem to just miss, even though both want it to work. This could be a healing film, but it is not a "feel good" film. This may be why so many viewers, expecting a light hearted comedy, gave it less than stellar reviews.
Most people who have experienced the breakup of a close relationship will see themselves in this film. About half of all marriages end in divorce and most couples who live together will eventually split. The brightest spot in the film is the ending. It reminds us that however relationships turn out, there is hope for a future on the other side.
I won't say how this film turns out, but if you do not like the ending there is an alternate ending in the bonus features. I liked the ending that showed in the theatres, but the other ending is worth a glance, if only for a few laughs.
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I didn't see this film in the theater, so when I sat down to view The Break-Up I was surprised by the fact that it's less of a romantic comedy than a romantic drama. Sure there are some funny moments, but at its heart the film is about the relationship of Gary Grobowski and Brooke Meyers (played wonderfully by Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston) and how it explodes into a great mess. Vince Vaughn is great as the selfish Gary who doesn't understand why people just can't fall in line and do what he wants them to do. As his girlfriend, Brooke, Aniston shows some real acting chops and plays a character much more adult and well-rounded than Rachel from Friends. While the film focuses mostly on the characters of Gary and Brooke, the supporting cast is also top-notch. Two that really shine in the film are Jon Favreau as Gary's best friend and Vincent D'Onofrio as Gary's older brother, Dennis, who gets no respect from self-centered Gary. There is one scene in particular between them that was just heart-wrenching. As I said, this film was not what I expected it to be. After something like The Wedding Crashers, I guess I was expecting a bit more slapstick and childish humor from a Vaughn film, but that is definitely not what The Break-Up is; in fact, it's a very adult film about two people who can't seem to communicate with each other until it's too late. I especially like that the writers didn't sell out in the end and go for the hokey finale. Very good film.
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Unlike the previous reviewers of this film, I have the advantage of actually having seen the film at a preview here in Chicago. I'm happy to report that it is a very decent comedy with many moments that are genuinely funny. It doesn't quite belong to a genre of comedy known as a remarriage comedy (where a couple splits up and then reconciles despite a host of obstacles), but it isn't far from it. I won't spoil the film by explaining precisely why it doesn't quite fit that mould. I'll merely say that it isn't quite as predictable as one might assume at the outset.
The plot is fairly simple. Two people meet at the Cross-town Classic at Wrigley (for non-Chicagoans, that is what Major League Baseball likes to call the Cub-Sox inter-league series) and buy a condo together. They break up, but neither seems willing to move out. Comedy ensues as they play a series of mind games with one another.
A plot this bare bones could be either good or bad or something in between, depending on what you graft onto the story. Luckily, most of what they do is quite funny. Much of the success of the film stems from Vince Vaughan's fabulous gift for comedy. Jennifer Aniston, who has of course been linked to Vaughan after they met on the set of this film, does a very fine job, but it is Vaughan who drives the film's comedy. What follows their break up is a string of very funny moments as each tries to get back at the other.
There is a very odd bit of somewhat dirty humor in the film. Jennifer Aniston's character gets a wax treatment in her nether regions known as a Telly Savalas, so that she will make her former boyfriend jealous and desirous when she walks about the apartment naked. It isn't hard to imagine what that involves, but what makes it odd is that Telly Savalas was Jennifer Aniston's godfather. Her father, John Aniston (born Anastassakis), was a very close friend of his fellow Greek Savalas and asked him to be Jennifer's godfather. I just fine it a very, very odd joke given her relation to Savalas.
One of the reasons the film is so much fun is the very strong supporting cast. My fellow Arkansan and Little Rock native Joey Lauren Adams plays Aniston's best friend. Like many people I first became aware of Vince Vaughan in the Jon Favreau film SWINGERS. Favreau plays one of Vaughan's best friends in this one, though I swear he must weigh 80 pounds more than he did in SWINGERS. Vincent D'Onofrio plays one of Vaughan's brothers. The hugely talented (but under-utilized by Hollywood) Judy Davis has a somewhat inappropriate role as an art gallery owner. But two actors formerly of ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT supply two of the best contributions to the film. That series's star Jason Bateman has a couple of typically funny moments (using pretty much the same deliver he used for Michael Bluth) and one wishes he had had a larger role. But John Michael Higgins stole every scene he was in as Aniston's almost-gay brother. The funniest part of the film might be when he tries to get everyone to sing a song at a dinner early in the film. On ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT he played the highly professional and perpetually stone-faced lawyer Wayne Jarvis, though film goers will remember him best as the gay dog handler in BEST IN SHOW and the co-leader of a musical group in A MIGHTY WIND.
The only reason I can't give this film five stars is that it had some persistent pacing and rhythm problems. At several points the film drags a bit, scenes not moving at the right pace, the film lingering over bits just a little too long. It is hard to say precisely who is to blame for such things. Initial suspicion would go to the film's editor, but sometimes pacing can be dictated by the director or even the producers. There is no way to tell who is to blame, but the film just doesn't have as much life as it ought to have had.
But nonetheless, this is a solid comedy that will delight most viewers. It isn't a farce like Vaughan's hit from last summer, THE WEDDING CRASHERS, but more in the lines of a very funny date movie. I would like to add that it is one of the better Chicago films I have seen in a while. There are a number of Chicago locations that are seen in a host of movies, but also a few that rarely are. All in all, a very enjoyable movie.
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It's not a bad idea: a movie not about how a couple meets and falls in love, but about the demise of their relationship. The problem is the execution. I just never bought that Aniston's character would fall for Vaughn's. Come on, no woman who loves art and works in an art gallery could be with a man who thinks Michelangelo painted the "sixteenth Chapel." And let's not even mention the fact that his character is a fat slob and that Vaughn looks like a mailman. I spent most of the movie hoping she'd get as far away from Vaughn as possible, and the ending (both versions) left me absolutely cold.
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