Weekly Review -- Love Anti-Actually

The Break-Up (2006) -- It is difficult to categorize Peyton Reed's latest film. It is no comedy, due to the somber, strip-down way it treats the titular topic. It does not work as a drama, either, due to its comedic elements. The only way to describe the film is as an unromanticized, albeit optimistic, relationship study; as such, however, it fails to deliver, since it does not get to the depths that it is trying to reach. After the usual peachy start, Gary (Vince Vaughn) and Brooke's (Jennifer Aniston) relationship is on the rocks. Brooke decides to end it, but the two are unable to decide on the ownership of their apartment. Their little games of jealousy and spite soon make the pair wonder if they maybe care enough about each other to give the liaison another chance. The writing is mostly dull, although it does offer some good dialogues, namely the ones between Gary and Johnny O (Jon Favreau); still, you can never go wrong with Vaughn and Favreau in a film together. The screenplay exaggerates all the relationship bickering, which exhausts the viewer's patience after the first 30 minutes. Vaughn is good as Gary, who attempts to balance accepting his adult responsibilities with his love of video games. I thought Gary was more interesting and more conflicted than Brooke, although his adolescent shenanigans were very irritating. Contrary to Vaughn, who is always spontaneously appealing, Aniston does not manage to stand out in terms of charisma. I did not really care for Brooke -- while she struck me as ambiguous in her demands for Gary, she was also a dime-a-dozen character -- and Aniston does not bring any spice to the role. The film offers nice turns from Vincent D'Onofrio, who plays Gary's businessman brother Dennis, and Cole Hauser, who plays Lupus, Gary's sex maniac brother. The main problem with the film is its lack of sympathetic characters and lack of engaging situations. Another issue I had with it was the fact that it touches upon some interesting aspects of its themes, like 21st century dating and the effects of class on modern romance, but never sees them through. By the second half, I found myself not caring about what would happen to either Gary or Brooke and wondering when the whole mess would end. The Break-Up should have been a film that singles would love and that couples would cringe at; instead, it is a half-baked, bland dissection of a love affair gone wrong.

5/10