Front page of current issueContents of current issue
What's in Festivale, including cover stories, the tour, indices, and what's new
what's new, Festivale's revision historyGo to the online shopping mall where all the on-line stores areThe Bookroom: News, reviews, linksReel Life: The movie section with film commentary, coming attractions and release dates, links pages and more.Technology BytesFestivale's guide to Melbourne and Victoria, photos, maps, linksFestivale's guide to Melbourne and Victoria, photos, maps, links

A Reel Life film section

Issue: Winter 2006


The Break-up movie review

Gary (Vince Vaughn) and Brooke (Jennifer Aniston) are a couple. They met at a baseball game where he flirted with her across her date and he's been pushing the envelope ever since.

Gary is one of life's sliders. He has a profound belief in his own value and that any effort on his part is HUGE, however most of his effort is put into avoiding anything that is not immediately fun and ego-gratifying.

In his relationships with Brooke, and with his brothers who are also his business partners, Gary is all about what he can talk himself out of. 15 minutes spent talking himself out of 5 minutes work is 15 minutes well spent.

What a guy.

Movie poster, The Breakup; Festivale film review

Movie poster, The Breakup

. . . pick a side

Gary is not a bad guy, just lazy and self-indulgent. Which makes it all the more frustrating for his responsible brother (Vincent D'Onofrio) and his live-in girlfriend. They don't want to lose him, but they want him to improve. They want him to contribute more than fun.

For Brooke, this means The Break-up. Time to make Gary step up by pushing him out of the conjugal bed and onto the luxurious oversized leather couch in front of the big screen TV.

Okay. That doesn't sound so bad, so it's up to Brooke to bring in the usual -- make him jealous. And for his own bimbo-ridden counter-gambit.

Brooke is ably supported by the outrageous suggestions of her boss (Judy Davis) and it is the friends and workmates who lift this story from the mundane into something watchable.

The Break-up has something for everybody who has ever broken-up or had a friend who hogged all the fun-and-irresponsible stuff and left the cleanup for them (or just think that's the case).

This is one of the better of the Aniston movie roles, although she still spends most of the film being a bit of a manipulative wimp instead of actually confronting the problem head-on.

Even if you don't care about the principals, the supporting roles make this one worth at least one viewing.

Bookmark and Share

Like us on facebook

Add your comments

by Ali Kayn
Due for Australian release 8 Jun 2006
For credits and official site details, see below
Search Festivale for more work by the film-makers below.

See also: For another break-up movie try The Story of Us with Bruce Willis and Michelle Pfieffer. For Aniston try The Object of My Affection .

Just the facts:

Title: The Break-up(2006)
Written by: Jeremy Garelick (screenplay) & Jay Lavender (screenplay), Vince Vaughn (story) & Jeremy Garelick (story) & Jay Lavender (story)
Directed by: Peyton Reed
running time:
rating:


The Players: Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Aniston, Joey Lauren Adams, Cole Hauser, Jason Bateman, Judy Davis, Ann-Magaret, Vincent D'Onofrio


Official website:
IMDb


For session times of current films, use the cinema listings on the Movie links page. For scheduled release dates, see the coming attractions section.

For more information about this movie, check out the internet movie database.
For the latest additions to Festivale, check out the change history section.

Coming attractions, Movies by month, Australian movie release datesIndex of movie reviewscontents of current FestivaleA Reel Life movie section