Movie Review: The Break-Up

I was not forced to see The Break-Up. While my girlfriend is in love with the lovable Republican, Vince Vaughn, I too wanted to enjoy his glow--his sweaty, 100mph, snowball momentum humor glow. Jennifer Aniston's new found martyrdom (the girl next door was ditched for the vivacious vixen by the demi-god) and her cuteness was an added bonus. Plus, movie popcorn is enough to validate anything. Even this movie.

Starting with a quirky baseball game encounter between the quintessential everyman (Vaughn) and the Good Girl (Aniston--look into her filmography for reference). After that, a slightly corny montage brings us into their looooong relationship. They go to Notre Dame games, they have Xmas together, they both love to admire Vince Vaughn's hairy, sweaty chest. Then comes the breaking point. The breakup scene made me cringe a couple of times. Actually, throughout. I often saw and heard what I have heard often in the past: "I didn't say you were crazy, I said you acted crazy", "Being myself means we have to break up?", "I want to be left alone", et al. It was very good at capturing the downward spiral partners slide through a fight. One small thing leads to a slightly bigger issue, which in turn leads to "I am through with this!". All over some stupid lemons.

Beside these sporadic insights, The Break-Up falls short of what it could be. It ends up becoming half a movie. Revolving around the idea of the vicious cycle a break-up creates, the movie only touches upon the upshot of this, the painfully necessary part of many relationships, until the last 15 minutes. You can feel the screenwriters along with the director and actors hurrying to finish this movie with enough closure to be able to sleep at night. Alas, they fail.

The director, Peyton Reed ("Bring it On"), appears to have let Vince Vaughn work his magic, and allow Jennifer Aniston to soak it in passively, with light (if even present) direction. His stamp is nowhere to be found in this movie, making it mostly Vaughn's show. The chemistry, even when yelling at each other, between Aniston and Vaughn is clearly present, but never honed in to its full potential. The movie lacks an aim. It ends up being a shouting match with gut laughs dispersed here and there.

A date movie it is, but only one to take someone you have experienced some of this already. With a new date, a prospect, it might remind both of you how much it sucks to be at the end of a relationship. I suggest at least a couple of beers before the viewing. Maybe a whole case.

At the end of the movie I saw the very interesting square between Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Aniston, and Vince Vaughn. The demi-god drops the ultimate girl next door for the sultriest vixen. The ultimate girl next door in turn gets it on with the quintessential everyman, with the beer gut, the love for baseball, and the bar and grill sense of humor. If only Aniston and Vaughn fell in love with another supporting crew I might have called it a storybook ending.