A Review by Phil Calabro
2006, Universal Pictures, Dir. Peyton Reed - Starring Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Aniston, Joey Lauren Adams, Jon Favreau, Jason Bateman, Vincent D'Onofrio, Cole Hauser, Peter Billingsley, Justin Long, Judy Davis, John Michael Higgins, Ann-Margret, James Kim
Have you ever been stuck in the middle of your friend's argument with his significant other, babbling and meandering through meaningless insults and excuses to justify themselves? 'The Break-Up', which stars the hot new couple Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston, displays this, but similiarly becomes a pain to listen to as well. Yes, the quick wit of Vaughn (more like the screenwriter's wit and Vaughn's execution) is always an audience's treat, but his success from last summer's 'Wedding Crashers' is not sufficient to fuel Peyton Reed's flimsy excuse for a comedy. Rather, the yarn unrolls forever until it hits a wall and never really finishes. There's more joy in a Wagnerian opera than 'Break-Up', which will certainly leave many audiences grimacing and uncomfortable after its undeniably unpropitious end. I sat in the far back row, clenching my fingers for one of the characters to just sum the whole thing up already. Instead, 'The Break-Up' flounders for a sentimental excuse only to leave the final product with a tasteless and trite finale - which left me asking, "What was the point?"
Gary Grobowski (Vaughn) and Brooke Meyers (Aniston) are two fashionable Chicagoans who meet at a Cubs-White Sox game and fall in love. After a tiring opening credits roll, we see the couple coexisting peacefully in a glam condo. But there's been some tension settling in between the two - and much goes down after a simple family gathering. Brooke wants Gary to be more cooperative, yet Gary would rather not be pushed around. Rather than talking it out, the movie abruptly begins with their break-up. No further development into their characters, they just break up, and that's enough explanation there. Gary turns to his friend Johnny (a bloated Favreau) while Brooke turns to Addie (Adams), trying to organize their thoughts and how to handle their romantic terms. Both parties come to the same fiendish conclusion: show each other how independent they can be without one another, and force the other out of the condo so they can keep it. But - as iMDB so quaintly describes - "could they be fighting to keep their relationship alive?" Details at eleven.
What happened to Vince Vaughn's sting? I blame the writers, for never giving him the opportunity to crack enough good lines for the audience. Now, Vaughn is no comedian - he's been an actor in several genres, but he can accomplish comedy better than others. His schtick is sporadically thrown here and there in 'The Break-Up', but is never given enough screen time. And to topline Vaughn with the ever-static Aniston is a recipe for disaster. There's nothing more excruciating than watching what potential 'Break-Up' could have had be crushed by a simple sitcom star. It's quite simple, Aniston has looks, style, and a lot of tabloid reports on her side - but when it comes to acting, she certainly is not worthy of A-listing. It's sad, frankly, that her character can be upstaged by Vaughn, even when his character isn't saying anything at all. Joey Lauren Adams seems to be picking up roles after she realized Kevin Smith couldn't get her through a career entirely, and Jon Favreau looks like he actually drank all that beer on set. A few amusing cameos from Jason Bateman (of 'Arrested Development' fame) and John Michael Higgins (as Brooke's bubbly yet sexually indeterminate brother) are worthy, but little else is.
A sense of imbalance encompasses the entirety of 'Break-Up'. It's hard for me to really say what angle director Peyton Reed really wanted to convey with the couple's relationship. Sometimes, the 'battle of the exes' is waged in full comic effect, but sentiment and thought are thrown in between for good measure. Much of the material to either sway or dismay the other is unnecessary, revolving from Brooke getting a 'Teddy Savalas' wax to woo Gary, or Gary having a wild strip poker tournament. There's a few gloveslaps here and there from both parties, eventually turning into full-scale attacks on each other, then gradually becoming an emotional question. Director Reed could have easily appeased the audience with a simple hello-goodbye-hello, but he rather took the longer of the two paths. A thread of events that finish the film are stemmed from comedic events earlier, creating an obvious contrast in tone and appearance. There's little comedy for the last half of the film, other than the occasional titter. 'Break-Up' eventually alienates both parties and the audience.
There's no concrete ground throughout 'The Break-Up', and many moviegoers should not be expecting a prime follow-up to Vaughn's recent comic forays. Rather, it's a bitter film, that never achieves any sort of positive uplook and cheats the viewer into a rotten ending. There's some good here, but little that's worthy - a simple split from this film is necessary.
