THE BREAK-UP Reviewed by Harvey S. Karten
Universal Pictures
Grade: C+
Directed by: Peyton Reed
Written by: Jeremy Garelick, Jay Lavender
Cast: Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Aniston, Lauren Adams, Ann-
Margret, Jason Bateman, Judy Davis, Vincent D'Onofrio, Jon
Favreau, Cole Hauser, John Michael Higgins, Justin Long
Screened at: AMC 34th St., NYC, 6/3/06
Opens: June 2, 2006 Sometimes you see a couple, maybe a guy 6 inches shorter than the gal, and you say, “What could she possibly see in him?” Height probably doesn’t matter all that much, but education and cultural outlook should. What chance is there that a woman who introduces customers to the paintings at a posh Chicago art gallery and doubtless has sushi ready for her at the Windy City’s Kamehachi Restaurant on Michigan Avenue would go for a hot-dog-and-ball-park fellow whose idea of participatory sports is shooting pool and whose favorite restaurant is the local beer hall? First date, maybe. She could be slumming. But would you ever believe that such a match would work well enough for them to buy a spacious condo, each kicking in half the price, even though there is no commitment of marriage? Then again, if Gary (Vince Vaughn) and even-the-name-is-classy Brooke (Jennifer Aniston) were on the same page, you could probably forget about making a comedy. The tension between two people from different worlds makes for the bulk of the laughs, though what comes out of “The Break-Up” is pure sit-com enhanced by at least one leading performer who has had far better opportunities for roll-on-the-floor laughter. Remember “The Wedding Crashers?” There’s nothing wrong with a picture whose main characters are unpleasant. Think of the gem of all the misbegotten marriage pics, “The War of the Roses,” featuring a knock-down-drag-out battle between Oliver Rose (Michael Douglas) and Barbara Rose (Kathleen Turner)–a struggle that literally makes the chandeliers shake. That pic had the advantage of being a honest-to-goodness satire on yuppie materialism. Materialism is not at issue in “The Break-Up,” because there’s only one yuppie in the relationship, while the laughs come from the working-class types who form Gary’s circle of pals. The obligatory dinner party should have been good for verbal wit but instead we get an unrealistic scene featuring John Michael Higgins as Joey, who leads an a capella singing group, The Tone Rangers (ho ho ho) and devotes a few embarrassing minutes of the guests’ time and of ours knocking out a tune right into Gary’s ear. The breaking up begins when Brooke realizes, as though out of the blue, that her live-in boyfriend is a slob who leaves his clothes all about the house and refuses to help her wash the dishes after the party. Each refuses to move out of the condo but spend the remaining time trying to make each other envious. True to his class, Gary has a strip-poker and dance party with some bimbos, getting caught in the act when Brooke returns hom. For her part, Brooke sets up some dates with guys who she hopes will get Gary’s goat. Some colorful side characters are fun, such as Gary’s brother Dennis (Vincent D’Onofrio), who regularly pleads with Gary to turn in a 3-month log of the bus tours he leads and for which he has people lining up, understandably, considering his repertory of jokes for the tourist crowd. These are the gags that may have caused Brooke to fall for him, but after that, what? Judy
Davis does her usual biting shtick as the owner of the gallery where Brooke works. To the credit of director Peyton Reed and scripters Jeremy Garelick and Jay Lavender, there is no cop-out at the conclusion. Breaking up is final: we find out that the two, who have little to say to each other when they accidentally meet on the street, really have broken up. Rated PG-13. 106 minutes © 2006 by Harvey Karten
harveycritic@cs.com Member: NY Film Critics Online | 
