Why would I watch The Break-Up? Yes, it’s on my Fill-in Filmography poster. But there are a lot of movies on there I haven’t seen yet. I did stick it on my HBO Max watchlist, and it supposed to leave the service at the end of the month, but there are a lot of movies on there that are leaving at the end of the month that I have on my watchlist. Why this one? Rom-coms, even ones about a break-up, are not generally my thing. I find Vince Vaughn a bit obnoxious and Jennifer Aniston bland. There was really no reason to choose this one based on that information.
Then I saw it was directed by Peyton Reed, the guy behind the camera for all of the Ant-Man movies. I figured maybe I could see what else the guy has done.
After a meet-cute at a Chicago Cubs game and some opening credits showing the happy days of the central couple, the movie cuts to the beginning of the end of their relationship. Gary (Vaughn) is a popular guide for his family’s tour bus company. Brooke (Aniston) is the manager at an eccentric artist’s gallery. It becomes clear pretty much from the start that there are problems here. Gary doesn’t listen to Brooke when she asks him to bring home a certain number of lemons for a centerpiece for a big dinner she is preparing for both of their families, and that’s just the first thing he does that shows he’s clearly not listening and would rather play video games. As it is, the two families are both very different in character, contrasting Brooke’s kinda lame more upper-class family with Gary’s cruder, more working-class brothers. Things go badly, and Brooke wants out of the relationship.
Small problem: neither can afford the mortgage on their condo, and the two are both unwilling to leave. That means a lot of silly antics, made worse by the fact that it comes across that, at least at first, Brooke may have been just making a tactical move to get Gary to grow up, and Gary is a very typical manchild sort of character that is very popular for comedies from this era. Will these two find a way out of the situation they are in? Will I care?
Will I care? Not really. Honestly, I took a phone call while watching this movie, paused the film, and then finished it the next day mostly out of obligation than out of any desire to see what happened. And as much as Brooke trying to get Gary to grow up, Gary came off looking worse to me. He’s the one who eventually realizes he needs to change and makes an effort. The problem for me is, despite an impressive cast that includes the likes of Judy Davis, Joey Lauren Adams, Vincent D’Onofrio, Justin Long, Jon Favreau, Jason Bateman, and even briefly Ann-Margaret, I couldn’t bring myself to care about either Brooke or Gary. Brooke was playing a game, and Gary was a child in an adult’s body. Neither tried actually talking to each other like the adults they allegedly were until it was too late.
And no, I am not counting the last scene that suggests a reconciliation can be possible. That was probably added to appease test audiences.
The thing for me is break-ups, serious break-ups for couples that have been together a long time, can be serious business, full of stress and heartbreak and the like, but here it’s a lot of sitcom antics that don’t make either party look all that good. Factor in as well my general distaste for Vaughn and apathy for Aniston, and yeah, this one wasn’t a bad movie, but it also wasn’t a good one…kinda like the last Ant-Man.
Grade: C
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