The Break-Up

The problem with The Break-Up is that I just didn’t care. I do find that I am way more invested in television relationships over movie ones. Most likely it’s because I can spend a longer time with the characters and maybe I can find myself relating to them easier. In a romantic comedy, you need to care about the characters. Will Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan meet at the end of Sleepless in Seattle? I’m not going to lose sleep over it; we never really see them together. I was sad when Ross and Rachel broke up on Friends. I wasn’t weeping non-stop and grabbing a pint of Ben & Jerry’s but it did get to me. Maybe it’s because I spent three years watching their up and down relationship, then again, maybe I’m just a pansy. To be fair, some movies can engross me enough to care about their relationships, The Princess Bride and When Harry Met Sally . . . come to mind. When it came to The Break-Up however, I just wasn’t feeling the love.

The only time we see Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston as a happy couple is in the opening credits of the movie. And even then, it’s only photos of their life together; a slide show of love. Then for the rest of the movie, we see them being jerks to each other. They spend their time pushing each other’s buttons with handsome dates and strippers playing poker. And like a bad sitcom, the reason for the break-up comes down to bad communication. Like most movies, and sitcom episodes for that matter, all issues could be resolved in five minutes if the characters were honest with each other and shared their feelings. Now I will admit that there are a few good jokes in The Break-Up, but most of them could be found in the trailer, so you’re not really missing out. I do like seeing Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau reignite their Swingers chemistry but it’s not enough to sustain the film. I have also heard a bunch of people griping about the ending. I figure since I don’t care about the individuals, why should I care how it ends up? I was pretty disappointed in this film and wouldn’t even recommend the renting of it. Wait till it comes out on network television, since it’s trying so hard to be a sitcom anyway.