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The Break-Up |
Image courtesy of Universal
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In the spirit of its predecessor, The War of the Roses, director Peyton Reed’s (Down With Love) latest film, The Break Up, focuses on a couple at the end of a relationship who are fighting to hold onto more than just real estate. Yet, unlike the emotionally deep Roses, The Break-Up doesn’t give us nearly the same amount of meaningful insight into the entire relationship cycle or the conflicting emotions from both parties that contribute to its demise. Because we (as a society) are way too involved in the personal lives of celebrities, it has become increasingly more difficult for audiences to separate fantasy from reality. In the case of Brad & Angelina in Mr. & Mrs. Smith, the gossip rags actually helped sell it at the box office when everyone knew that Brad left Jen for Angelina in real life. So, now that we suspect Jen & Vince are a real-life couple (though their reps still deny it), studio execs are hoping for the same type of box office pull from The Break-Up. Will it work? Possibly…for awhile at least. Whereas Brad and Angelina had smoldering chemistry together in their onscreen debut as a couple, Jen & Vince come across as icy and distant. Maybe it’s because we don’t get to see them interact as a happy couple before they break-up, maybe it’s because we don’t get to see anything explode in the film, or maybe it’s just because we can’t go anywhere without being bombarded by celebrity gossip. |
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Image courtesy of Universal
Pictures |
The Break-Up starts out innocently enough when Gary (Vaughn) uses a hot dog to woo Brooke (Aniston) away from her date at a Chicago Cubs game. Once he manages to seal the deal by pointing out her date’s fashion faux pas of wearing a baseball jersey tucked into plaid shorts, pictures of the happy couple carry us through the opening credits. |
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Vaughn and Aniston’s onscreen meeting is how you might picture them meeting in real life – all cutesy and whatnot; but, that’s where you need to start separating reality from fantasy if you want The Break-Up to work. That cutesy montage photo album is about as chummy as these two ever get onscreen. Once the opening credits come to a close, the film dives headfirst into one of the ugliest after-dinner fights since Michael Douglas urinated on Kathleen Turner’s swordfish in The War of the Roses. After their argument ends in a stalemate, Brooke uses the
stereotypical girlfriend tactic of breaking up with Predictably, throughout the standoff, the bickering duo drags their friends and family into the mix, forcing them to choose sides; and, at this point, you start to see just how underdeveloped these secondary characters really are. Even with casting like Ann Margaret as Brooke’s mother, Joey Lauren Adams as Brooke’s best friend and Jason Bateman as the couple’s realtor, these roles seem to be little more than cameos instead of solid, supporting cast members. However, Brooke’s brother Richard (John Michael Higgins) who’s a cappella singing group “The Tone Rangers” does provide some of the funniest scenes in the movie. |
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Of course, the most noteworthy secondhand player in The Break Up is |
Image courtesy of Universal
Pictures |
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What keeps The Break-Up from being in the same league as The War of the Roses is poor writing and a director without a backbone. In Roses, we actually get to see the entire evolution of the relationship as it is played out from the first meet-and-greet all the way to the grizzly end. You just don’t get that same type of emotional depth in The Break-Up. Instead, Reed glosses over the couple’s entire courtship and picks back up as soon as everything starts going to hell in a hand-basket. Because we don’t see how Brooke and Gary’s relationship gets from point A to point B, we can’t relate to them as a real couple or believe they somehow managed to stay together for two years. By the time they finally reach the emotional rock-bottom of their break-up, it’s too little, too late. Elvis has already left the building. As for the ending, it’s basically a cop-out. Unfortunately, Reed’s lack of conviction is the very thing that makes you question whether or not the film should even be labeled a “romantic comedy.” The comedic portions of The Break-Up are forced at best, there’s no romance because the relationship is already over, and by the time everything is said and done, you still feel like you need to dig through that pile of rubble at your feet searching for anything of value that might have been left behind. Stop looking. It’s not there. |
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Photo by Johnny Buzzerio
courtesy of New West Records |
Since I was hesitant to see The Break-Up because of all its celebrity hype, then why did I rush out to see it on opening day? One reason and one reason only – the Old 97’s. Call me a homer if you must; but, as soon as I heard my favorite band was in the film, there was no way I was going to miss it. |
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Was the price of my ticket stub worth seeing the guys finally make the big screen? Yes and no. Yes, because I got to see them in one of the biggest films of the summer. No, because their segment lasted all of about 5 minutes – if that long. But, even more disappointing was how Reed’s choppy editing worked against the band’s music instead of using it to his advantage. The concert sequence would have flowed better if Reed had
gone with a different sounding mid-tempo song from the band for their third
song in lieu of “Melt Show.” By using
direct cuts instead of slower transitions during the concert, “Melt Show”
came across sounding like a continuation of the first song played, “Time Bomb.”
Also, if Reed had extended the second
song “Salome” to emphasize the ballad’s haunting lyrics, the scene would have
carried more of an emotional impact when Oh well, I should probably just be happy the Tone Rangers didn’t perform an acappella version of “Time Bomb.” Oh, the horror…. © |
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