SOCIAL MEDIA

Monday 15 February 2010

The Break-Up (Peyton Reed, 2006)

the break-up 2006 poster

Cast: Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Aniston, Vincent D’onofrio, Jon Favreau, Justin Long, Jason Bateman

Summary: In a bid to keep their luxurious condo from their significant other, a couple’s break-up proceeds to get uglier and nastier by the moment

Genre: Comedy, Romance, Drama


Despite not being a fan of romantic comedies I thought I’d give this film a watch after my bought me the DVD. Now I’m just not a fan of the typical rom-com structure which is a strange considering that I love romance books.
I found this article that talks about the Structure of Notting Hill that talks about the 8 plot points which make up the majority if not all rom-coms.

Now before I make you think that I hated the film because I don't like romantic comedies, I will tell you that I was actually impressed when I saw this film. This film is one of the few that deviates from this 'typical' structure and although it doesn’t deviate completely it does manage to throw the structure slightly off balance.
It still has a typical introduction to the characters where Gary (Vince Vaughn) and Brooke (Jennifer Aniston) bump into each other at a baseball game and soon after begin a relationship, one that eventually begins to show cracks when the couple move in together. This is where traditional rom-com structure ends.

In order to keep their condo for themselves the couple resorts to coming up with ways to get the other to move out. It starts off as funny but somewhere along the lines it becomes uncomfortable to watch the two, particularly Vaughn continuously find ways to hurt Brooke.
With all this intense chemistry and emotion between these two characters/actors (actors who were reportedly dating at the time) with each upping the ante, it was easy to forget that it was also meant to be a comedy.

The ending for me is just perfect, how I wish a lot of my romance books ended but hey-ho you can't win them all.
Definitely worth a watch.


My Rating: 7/10
One Final Word: Quite Good

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