The Break-Up

So I actually went and saw The Break-Up yesterday (despite it being an obvious chick/date movie). I went to the early matinee on Sunday, and there were a pair of older couples, a handful of women, and me at the theater (but I’m enough of a diehard movie buff that I didn’t even care that I was the only solo guy there). I went to see this movie for two reasons: one, I’ve always found Vince Vaughn to be incredibly funny, and two, the trailers for the movie made me realize just how hot (in a girl-next-door way, mind you, but still hot nonetheless) Jennifer Anniston really is (but I’d still take Angelina Jolie if I had to make a choice between the two – you go, Brad. And let me add – happy 31st birthday Angelina!! (June 4th – just happened to see that on imdb’s home page while I was writing this)).

The movie was both surprisingly good, and not nearly as funny as I expected it to be. Vince Vaughn isn’t so much funny as he is just obnoxious in this movie, but that’s not a bad thing, because that’s exactly what his character is supposed to be. Despite how you might feel from watching the trailers, once the movie starts you’re very quickly rooting for Jennifer Aniston’s character, because Vince Vaughn is really just a horribly inconsiderate boyfriend. And I noticed in the opening credits that he gets both producer and story writer credits for the movie, so it’s pretty obvious he had himself in mind when he wrote the role, which makes it really easy for him to inhabit the character and make you believe the character.

The movie starts out at a baseball game where Vince Vaughn first notices Jennifer Aniston, who’s actually there with another guy. He approaches her at the end of the game in the most obnoxiously charming way imaginable (pretty much acting just the way you’d expect a Vince Vaughn character to act), with Jennifer Aniston seeming less than impressed by him. But then the opening credits start with photo booth photos of the couple making goofy faces and poses (as most people seem to do when they’re in a photo booth), and then as the credits roll we’re treated to a very well thought out and presented series of photos showing the development of the couple’s relationship, from their early dating to shots of the couples’ bowling team that they’re on, holidays together, and of course them buying the condo that becomes the key focus during their breakup. When the credits finish and we see the couple again they’ve gone from having just met to having been dating for two years.

We start with the two people’s day jobs, and then when they get home that evening they pretty much go right into the big fight that leads to their break-up. Of course, Jennifer Anniston doesn’t really want to break up, she just wants her boyfriend to be more appreciative and more willing to do things for her and with her whether he personally wants to do them or not. And so the story of the movie is basically her various attempts to make him realize what he’s missing, make him jealous, etc., and his reactions to her attempts (one thing I do have to say – if Jennifer Anniston really wants to move past Friends and get fully into a movie career, she really needs to play characters that don’t immediately make you think of Rachel, which this character does in several instances).

One thing I found somewhat ironic, considering that the two actors involved supposedly are now dating after having made the movie together, is the fact that there are no lovemaking scenes, no kissing, no real intimacy of any sort between the two characters, since they’re basically fighting throughout the entire movie (the photos in the opening credits show numerous still shots of such moments, but that’s the only place). But hey, that’s Hollywood for you.

As I said before, this movie isn’t as funny as you’d think from the previews (something a number of critics complained about). There are certainly comic moments, and some really funny scenes, but mostly it’s more of a dramedy about two people who seem to really love each other, but who have very different personalities and backgrounds, and are at a crossroads in their relationship where they have to decide if they can overcome their differences in order to stay together as a couple. And they not only do a very good job with the story (regardless of what the critics think), but it also goes against the standard, cliched formulas you've seen done over and over again in romantic comedies (whether they do it right is something for each viewer to decide. I personally think they did). The ending is somewhat surprising, and VERY non-Hollywood, but it so perfectly fits the way the story and characters develop (and so plays out as more believable than the ending to the average romantic comedy) that I was really impressed, and just overall happy with the story as a whole when I left the theater.

I highly recommend this movie for couples, people who enjoy romantic films or relationship films, or for anyone who wants to see Jennifer Aniston’s bare butt (even if it’s not the best shot of it in the world, it’s still nice to watch). :-)