The Break-Up

The Break-Up is a romantic comedy that is neither romantic nor particularly funny. To some degree, this is intentional, since the story concerns the end of a relationship rather than the beginning of one; indeed, the filmmakers have called it an "anti-romantic comedy." But even given that premise, this movie represents one huge wasted opportunity.

Take the central relationship. Vince Vaughn is a wisecracking guy's guy and Jennifer Aniston may well be America's favorite girl next door until she is well past retirement age, so the pairing of these two actors could have resulted in that rare chick flick that appeals to male moviegoers as much as the female ones. But surprisingly, the two barely have any chemistry (no matter what the tabloids might say about their offscreen exploits), and the film never bothers to show us why their characters got together in the first place.

Gary Grobowski (Vince Vaughn) and Brooke Meyers (Jennifer Aniston), obviously before the movie's title comes into play

Granted, the film does show us how they got together, sort of, as Gary Grobowski (Vaughn) spots Brooke Meyers (Aniston) from a distance at a baseball game and begins to woo her with his rat-a-tat, motor-mouthed charm. Brooke happens to be with a man, and the intensity with which Gary pursues her might have some women crying "Stalker!"—but for some reason, Brooke loses the other guy and heads off with Gary instead. Then the film fast-forwards to the present day. Gary and Brooke co-own a condo; and, after a mildly awkward dinner attended by both their families, a small disagreement over cleaning up the dishes turns into a big shouting match, and suddenly, just like that, they break up.

But the film never shows us why they got together—that is, it never shows us what it was about the personalities of these two people that made them seem like a worthy match in the first place—and so, when Gary and Brooke break up, we have no idea how to respond. Was their relationship a mistake, in which case we should be glad to see them go their separate ways? Or should we be mourning the end of something good? And come to that, couples rarely break up over a single bad day; there are usually many other straws on the camel's back before that last one breaks it, and because the film does not give us that broader context, we cannot help but think that Gary and Brooke are over-reacting.

The lines clearly have been drawn between Gary and Brooke

At any rate, without some sort of back-story to explain their present actions, both Gary and Brooke come off looking rather petulant and unlikable—and that would be fine, if The Break-Up were a black comedy about nasty people doing nasty things to each other, like The War of the Roses. But no, this movie doesn't have the guts to go that far. Yes, Gary and Brooke—who both insist on staying in the condo, she in the bedroom and he on the couch in the living room—try increasingly desperate measures to drive each other crazy or to make the other person jealous. But the small acts of revenge are never all that vicious, and the movie always comes back to the emotional pain that the characters have caused each other. The movie, in a nutshell, doesn't know whether it wants to laugh or cry.

The script, written by Jeremy Garelick and Jay Lavender from a story they developed with Vaughn, doesn't create characters so much as it falls back on stereotypes: men are pigs who would rather drink beer and play video games all day than do anything romantic, while women play passive-aggressive head games and try to change the men in their lives—and representatives of both genders, including Gary's obnoxiously horny brother Lupus (Cole Hauser) and Brooke's art-gallery boss Marilyn Dean (Judy Davis), agree that the best thing to do after you have broken up with someone is to have sex with some really hot stranger, just to annoy your ex-partner. I can't recall whether Brooke's best friend Maddie (Joey Lauren Adams) also gives voice to this idea, but she's a mother of two with a really timid husband, so she, too, represents exactly what Gary doesn't want in a relationship.

Johnny O (Jon Favreau, right) takes in a Cubs game with his best bud, Gary

Aniston isn't given much to work with here. One of Brooke's better plans to annoy Gary involves letting her possibly-gay brother (John Michael Higgins) rehearse with his acappella group in her bedroom—but it is Higgins, not Aniston, who carries the scene, and the relationship between these two siblings is never explored in any way that might shed light on her character. The rest of her family remains an even greater mystery to us.

Vaughn, not surprisingly, fares a little better. The bad habits Gary displays at home are also causing problems at the tour-bus company he runs with his brothers—one of whom, Dennis (Vincent D'Onofrio), is not very bright, but he does represent the practical stability and sense of responsibility that Gary and Lupus lack. We can sense that a change for the better in one part of Gary's life could have positive effects in other areas, too.

Gary also has a pal in Johnny O, a bartender played by Vaughn's old Swingers buddy Jon Favreau. One of the film's funniest moments comes near the end, when Johnny proposes a particularly drastic course of action and a nervous Gary doesn't seem to know whether to take him seriously. The comic timing and the repartee between these two actors couldn't be better—Vaughn certainly has a better chemistry, if that's the word, with Favreau than he does with Aniston—but it is revealing that one of the film's bigger laughs depends on the fact that, so late in the story, we still don't know these characters all that well.

Talk About It

1. Do you think Gary and Brooke belong together? Why or why not? Would your answer be different if they were married and going through a divorce, instead of unmarried and splitting up? Why or why not
2. When Gary meets Brooke, he suggests she should go out with him because she has not yet decided to marry the man she is with. How do you think Gary would react if another man used this line on Brooke, after he and Brooke started going out? What sorts of commitments, if any, have Gary and Brooke made to each other? (E.g., they co-own the condo; does that imply something?) Why do you think they haven't gotten married
3. How does this film portray married people, or people who have accepted certain responsibilities in life? Consider Gary's brother Dennis, or Maddie's husband. Do they make commitment or responsibility seem attractive? Would Gary make these things seem attractive, if he were to embody these qualities—or would he cease to be attractive?

The Family Corner

The Break-Up is rated PG-13 for sexual content (including suggestive dialogue and a scene of strip poker), some nudity (mostly out-of-focus or edge-of-frame shots from behind) and language (including over a dozen four-letter words and a few names taken in vain).

Photos © Copyright Universal Studios

Copyright © 2006 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

What Other Critics Are Saying

Don't make a date with The Break-Up
Instead of talking about whether or not they can play a part in saving the world, most moviegoers spent the weekend talking about Jennifer Aniston and her tabloid-headline romance with Vince Vaughn. The two actors star together in The Break-Up, currently No. 1 at the box office.

Critics, meanwhile, are wishing the movie would just go away.

Harry Forbes (Catholic News Service) calls it a "tepid but only fitfully affable romantic comedy." He says, "Underneath the not-often-funny funny business, there are some universal truths about relationships, but the setup never quite rings true. …. Overall, the script — could have been sharper, though to their credit, the film avoids a clichéd denouement."

Christa Banister (Crosswalk) says, "Sadly, The Break-Up is yet another instance where the movie's trailer promised far more than the finished product could deliver. … Basically, when it's all said and done [the movie] is nothing more than a really long sitcom with poorly conceived characters that most people couldn't care less about—[let] alone identify with. And in a summer filled with a plethora of attention-grabbing action movies, this isn't the welcome, feel-good date movie diversion that most audiences would hope for."

Christopher Lyon (Plugged In) says, "The spatting in The Break-Up settles for re-creating pedestrian domestic squabbling instead of making it outrageous enough to laugh at or making it revealing enough to move us. All we're left with is sitting on the sidelines with the couple's friends thinking, 'These people need to grow up already.'"

Mainstream critics are trying to break up the relationship between moviegoers and this film.

Josh Hurst (Reveal) defends the film against its critics. "Ignore the trailers. Adjust your expectations. Put the gossip rags away. And, if a parade of Saturday Night Live-style gags or a not-so-subtle slap in the face to Brangelina is what you're after, just stay home. This isn't that kind of movie. This is something we see precious few of these days—a sour, darkly funny sex comedy that's just as painful as it is hilarious. It's lighter than Woody Allen's Match Point, but not by a lot. It's black, black comedy that tackles its subject matter with brutal seriousness."

And Andrew Coffin (World) is also pleasantly surprised. "There's a refreshing honesty to both the concept and the execution of this anti-romantic comedy. Most romantic comedies end with an emotionally satisfying but empty and ambiguous fulfillment of romantic longing. Rarely does the audience actually get to see what the happy couple will face when they live together or make some sort of long-term commitment to the relationship. … The Break-Up stands out because Gary and Brooke aren't kept apart by the whimsical hands of movieland fate, but by their own pride, selfishness, and often willful miscommunication. And they pay the consequences for their actions."