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The Break-Up (Peyton Reed)
"This Stuff Passes For Comedy These Days?"
After a nasty break-up between Brooke and Gary, the two decide to try and make the other's life miserable, in hopes of keeping the apartment. Gary doesn't see things unless they are blatantly said or put right in front of him, so he can't tell that Brooke still wants to be with him. All she wants is for him to appreciate what she does. Does Gary learn this in time? Or will he lose her forever?
Wow, see how the plot description went from something comedic to something dramatic in a matter of seconds, well that is exactly how the film plays out. After all the controversy surrounding Mr & Mrs. Smith, the so called big guys behind the desks in Hollywood decided to try and score money with the re-bound. Jennifer Aniston has a movie too, and look she is with a new guy too, it's Vince Vaughn...and he was in Mr & Mrs. Smith. Oohhhh, the controversy: Go see the movie. That is what I heard every time I saw something advertised for The Break Up. Still to this day I hear them and after watching the film I can see why. It's because it's a piece of trash.
Why did Vaughn associate himself with this material I will never know, but not even he can save this film from the terrible crash it was heading for from take off. With an awkward opening you can tell immediately what you're in for. A money grab film that if it weren't for the two main actors in it, would probably never see the light of day. Vaughn plays his usual fastball comedic style, but it falls flat a lot of times, especially when he says anything remotely funny, you realize you already saw it in the trailer. Aniston had comedic timing down pat on friends, but that was with the character of Rachel, here she has nothing, does nothing and accomplishes nothing. She is pretty much useless. Aniston does nothing to try to go above and beyond the material, Vaughn at least tries. Here she gives minimum requirements and collects her paycheck, then watches as the media spins everything and then she has a hit on her hands.
Not even the supporting cast can save the film. Other then the one or two times I smirked at Vaughn, arguing with the kid online was decent, the only saving grace would be Jon Favreau. I guess being long time friends with Vaughn paid off in this flick because their chemistry is the only thing that works. Joey Lauren Adams is the best friend and Justin Long is dreadfully annoying as the "is he gay" assistant. Bateman who usually gets a laugh out of me, 95% of the time it was on Arrested Development, again, sorry to say, adds nothing here.
Will you laugh? Probably not, the first half of the film tries to be funny, but guess what, that's right you got it, you've already seen it. The second half is drama and it hits you out of nowhere, much like Click does. This is it's probably and it suffers, just like Click did. It had no idea what type of film it wanted to be. A romantic comedy? comedy/drama? They should have thrown in some kind of horror element and maybe I would have enjoyed myself a bit. If you have Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston in your cast, who are both very funny people, you need to use them to their full potential. Hell, if the Break Up used them at even half, or a quarter of their potential, maybe we wouldn't have such a travesty on our hands.
Am I suppose to connect with either of these characters? Are the males suppose to connect with the guy in this war? Ditto for the women? I don't know and nor do I care. When the ending came, which tries to be different but just ends up being a cliché, you see it coming a mile away. Then the final scene jumps on us, to try and tie things up. Guess what, I hate to tell you it, but it really doesn't. They seemed to just rush an ending at us. Hey they meet again say what they've done and walk off. at least it has something in common with the opening scene, it's just awkward.
So in the end, skip on this flick. If you see it on the shelfs in the stores, do someone else a favour and destroy that copy. Yes Jennifer, Baby want twelve lemons, but hey this baby wants his time back.
3/10
"This Stuff Passes For Comedy These Days?"
After a nasty break-up between Brooke and Gary, the two decide to try and make the other's life miserable, in hopes of keeping the apartment. Gary doesn't see things unless they are blatantly said or put right in front of him, so he can't tell that Brooke still wants to be with him. All she wants is for him to appreciate what she does. Does Gary learn this in time? Or will he lose her forever?
Wow, see how the plot description went from something comedic to something dramatic in a matter of seconds, well that is exactly how the film plays out. After all the controversy surrounding Mr & Mrs. Smith, the so called big guys behind the desks in Hollywood decided to try and score money with the re-bound. Jennifer Aniston has a movie too, and look she is with a new guy too, it's Vince Vaughn...and he was in Mr & Mrs. Smith. Oohhhh, the controversy: Go see the movie. That is what I heard every time I saw something advertised for The Break Up. Still to this day I hear them and after watching the film I can see why. It's because it's a piece of trash.
Why did Vaughn associate himself with this material I will never know, but not even he can save this film from the terrible crash it was heading for from take off. With an awkward opening you can tell immediately what you're in for. A money grab film that if it weren't for the two main actors in it, would probably never see the light of day. Vaughn plays his usual fastball comedic style, but it falls flat a lot of times, especially when he says anything remotely funny, you realize you already saw it in the trailer. Aniston had comedic timing down pat on friends, but that was with the character of Rachel, here she has nothing, does nothing and accomplishes nothing. She is pretty much useless. Aniston does nothing to try to go above and beyond the material, Vaughn at least tries. Here she gives minimum requirements and collects her paycheck, then watches as the media spins everything and then she has a hit on her hands.
Not even the supporting cast can save the film. Other then the one or two times I smirked at Vaughn, arguing with the kid online was decent, the only saving grace would be Jon Favreau. I guess being long time friends with Vaughn paid off in this flick because their chemistry is the only thing that works. Joey Lauren Adams is the best friend and Justin Long is dreadfully annoying as the "is he gay" assistant. Bateman who usually gets a laugh out of me, 95% of the time it was on Arrested Development, again, sorry to say, adds nothing here.
Will you laugh? Probably not, the first half of the film tries to be funny, but guess what, that's right you got it, you've already seen it. The second half is drama and it hits you out of nowhere, much like Click does. This is it's probably and it suffers, just like Click did. It had no idea what type of film it wanted to be. A romantic comedy? comedy/drama? They should have thrown in some kind of horror element and maybe I would have enjoyed myself a bit. If you have Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston in your cast, who are both very funny people, you need to use them to their full potential. Hell, if the Break Up used them at even half, or a quarter of their potential, maybe we wouldn't have such a travesty on our hands.
Am I suppose to connect with either of these characters? Are the males suppose to connect with the guy in this war? Ditto for the women? I don't know and nor do I care. When the ending came, which tries to be different but just ends up being a cliché, you see it coming a mile away. Then the final scene jumps on us, to try and tie things up. Guess what, I hate to tell you it, but it really doesn't. They seemed to just rush an ending at us. Hey they meet again say what they've done and walk off. at least it has something in common with the opening scene, it's just awkward.
So in the end, skip on this flick. If you see it on the shelfs in the stores, do someone else a favour and destroy that copy. Yes Jennifer, Baby want twelve lemons, but hey this baby wants his time back.
3/10