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461 comments in total

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144 out of 227 people found the following comment useful :-
A Drama With Comedic Elements - The Promotional Trailers Attempt to Mislead Us Again, 4 June 2006

Author: Jeffrey Lubeck from Sun Valley ID

The Break-Up is a highly watchable drama that contains elements of cleaver comedy. Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Anniston put in solid performances in a film that feels strikingly real at times.

The Break-up does not play out as a light-hearted comedy with a predictable wrap-up in the last five minutes. The Break-Up reveals the very human side of a failed relationship and its potential reconciliation. Yes, there are some very funny scenes. However, as the misalignment of expectations quickly unfolds the movie reveals its true self.

The Break-up does a more than credible job of displaying many of the aspects of how people deal with conflict and remorse. Many of the situations play all-in-one as funny, sad and realistic.

The bottom line is that the Break-Up is solid film built with Hollywood money and stars that chooses a route its benefactors rarely allow to be taken. This fact alone makes the movie worth viewing.

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210 out of 359 people found the following comment useful :-
Poignant Movie, 1 June 2006

Author: needrunaway from United States

There have been several reviews maligning this movie. I think it's because they may have some pre-conceived notions that this movie will be full of non-stop laughs given that Vince and Jennifer are both comedic actors. I happen to think that this movie is excellent! True, the movie has many scenes where you will burst out laughing but there are also scenes which will touch you or even make you cry. What I like about this movie is that it's very realistic on how it portrays relationships especially when it's on the brink of dissolution. Because isn't that how life and relationships really are? It isn't always rosy, there has to be a mix of gray and blue, or it would be pretty boring.

Jen and Vince did an awesome job in this movie as well as all the supporting casts. My only comment is on the script which may be a bit lacking in character development. Nonetheless the movie is a must see.

I urge you to watch this movie with an open mind and you might take away a lesson or two after you finish viewing it.

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145 out of 255 people found the following comment useful :-
Not your conventional romantic comedy - and that's a good thing, 2 June 2006

Author: (johnny_betts@hotmail.com) from http://www.themoviemark.com

As mama used to say, "The extent of the nourishment you get from your entertainment water is directly related to how deep your well of expectations runs." I always thought mama was a bit too verbose in her metaphorical philosophizing, but there's truth in them there words! Thanks to Hollywood's constant desire to market films based on what they feel they have to trick people into thinking they're about, some audiences will likely go to see The Break-Up, ignore the insinuations of the movie's title, and expect something cute and fluffy. As such, the movie is unfairly saddled with expectations that it can't possibly meet for no other reason than the simple fact that this is NOT a conventional "chick flick" romantic comedy that will warm those little heart cockles and send you floating out of the theater on a cotton candy cloud. After a chance meeting at a Cubs/White Sox baseball game, an "opening credit relationship photo montage" creatively establishes that Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn are a couple. Just not for much longer. You see, Jennifer is busy cooking for a family dinner. Vince's only responsibility is to bring home 12 lemons so that she can create a centerpiece for the dinner table. So what does he do? Brings home three. Jen's understandably agitated. Rather than dutifully go get the extra lemons, Vince tries to find alternatives that will allow him to just sit on the couch and play video games until everybody arrives. Perhaps use the lemons to flavor the chicken since he tasted it and thought it was a little too spicy anyway? Maybe place them in a glass and create a smaller centerpiece? Yeah, it's fairly clear which three letters he puts in "class." This leads to his lack of desire to help with the dishes later that evening. Oh, he'll help with them in the morning, but Jen really wants them done tonight. Fifteen minutes of work won't kill the guy, right? When Jen expresses her disdain for the lack of appreciation he shows her, he goes into a character-exposing rant and declares his desire to just be left alone. Jen's had enough and decides to grant him his wish. Commence with the break-up and the emotional tug-of-war that carries the majority of the movie. This is where some audiences might get lost. Why? Probably because it feels so real, and sometimes reality doesn't always sell. People still love fairy tales, you know? The arguments and hard-feelings that slowly develop will likely hit home with anybody who has gone through a break up, and I have no doubt that many, if not most, guys will fill a little discomfort when they see some of themselves in Vince. The thing I appreciated the most is despite his penchant for being a jerk, Vince isn't adorned with a black hat and presented to us for our jeering. It's just the way he is. He likes doing things his way. He treats his friends and brothers in the same manner, but they still love the guy and like hanging out with him; he just needs to learn to accept doing things he might not want to for the people he loves. He's likable and funny enough that we root for him to learn the lesson. Likewise, Jennifer isn't placed on a pedestal with a golden halo on her head. Though she's the more sympathetic of the two, she still resorts to playing dirty and isn't allowed to come off completely innocent. Perhaps the character flaws won't play well with the "give me idealistic characters!" crowd, but I found them refreshingly realistic. The movie's focal point is the often volatile chemistry between Vince and Jennifer, which I thought was great, but the supporting characters are also very effective, albeit underused. Vince has some show-stealing scenes with Jason Bateman and particularly one with Jon Favreau (and his ever-increasing girth) that are so good that you can't help but be disappointed that there aren't more to savor. Speaking of disappointment, go ahead and prepare yourself for the potential of more as the closing credits begin to scroll. I admit that I wanted a little more closure than I was given, and that seemed to be the audience consensus. I suppose we should admire the screenwriters for sticking by their guns and refusing to tie all the loose ends as tightly as test audiences have demanded, but that doesn't mean we have to be happy about it. I could have handled it better had it not felt so abrupt and left me feeling a little incomplete. But it certainly doesn't ruin the movie. You just need to check your expectations and give the film a fair chance. Don't be a pawn of the marketing team's efforts to mislead audiences into the door. If you're a Vince fan I would also advise you not to expect the Johnny Jump-Up zaniness of The Wedding Crashers or Dodgeball. The Break-Up is a movie of a different breed. Abandoning the temptation to deliver a consistently uproarious comedy romp, The Break-Up deliberately balances itself with dramatic conflict, and gives us something a little different than what Hollywood has forced us to become accustomed to. It doesn't do it flawlessly, but at least it makes the attempt.

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81 out of 138 people found the following comment useful :-
Decent romantic comedy/drama, 3 June 2006

Author: lkl6411

My husband and I went to see this film on its opening night and weren't surprised to see a full theatre.

The movie has its hilarious moments which are interspersed with plenty of uncomfortable, tense arguments as these 2 people who love one another try to one-up each other in the payback mode for the pain in their relationship.

My husband thought it dragged from the middle on a little, although I didn't.

We both left thinking the movie was really funny in some parts, pretty sad and even tragic in others. Overall, we thought the acting was solid & believable and though the ending wasn't expected, it was real and even hopeful.

We both said it was worth seeing, and if you're looking for a fairly real-life view of the life of a struggling relationship, you'll be glad you saw this film.

I left the theatre feeling a little empty, but glad that in real life, these two are together!! Enjoy!

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33 out of 53 people found the following comment useful :-
Boring, 2 June 2006

Author: evantheraider05 from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Well I am a fan of the Vince Vaughn, Ben Stiller, Will Ferrel, etc. movies, but "The Breakup" was AWFUL.

Let me say, it started off pretty funny, just like any Vince Vaughn movie. He did the monotoned funny monologue. The exposition of the movie is pretty amusing as you are introduced to everyone.

Vince Vaughn works with his 2 brothers on a tour guide bus, and Jennifer Anniston works in an art gallery with a strange but funny boss and a gay, semi-drag-queen co worker, played by Justin Long from Dodgeball (in this movie he has long, straight, black hair and looks like a Chinese woman.) Towards the beginning, there is a scene where Anniston and Vaughn's families meet at dinner and you realize how Vaughn and Anniston's relationship is slowly declining...that is where it lost its spunk. ^ that scene is about 20 minutes- the rest is boring and not funny.

As soon as they start fighting, the rest is them just whining and being mad at each other and thinking of ways to make each other jealous with Anniston going on dates and Vaughn having parties with his friends.From there, there is the occasional amusing line and the scene where you see Jennifer Anniston's butt.

Even after breaking up, they still live together in their apartment because they need a place to live, and they have continuous disputes about whose room belongs to who (annoying). Jennifer Anniston starts to realize that she wants him back and invites him to a concert for a casual date. He does not show up, and she goes home and cries and whines. He explains to her that he wanted to go but blah blah blah. She tells him (while crying) that all she ever wanted from him was a little appreciation. This hits Vince Vaughn and he shows his appreciation.

While she goes out one day, he cleans the house and makes dinner for her, and he does the "I love you, I'm never going to hurt you" cliché speech, and she has the non-cliché reaction- she tells him that she does not love him and they wind up selling their apartment. They both go their separate ways: he continues his tour guide business, and she travels for a while. They meet a few months after, and do the "it's good to see you! you look great! how you been?" conversation. You can definitely see that they are hiding their emotions behind their smiles and that they still want to be together. Then the best part of the movie happened. . . IT ENDED! I yelled "free at last!" after it ended.

The movie is tedious, boring, and not amusing.

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52 out of 91 people found the following comment useful :-
Tedious, drawn out, not funny, lame, uninspiring., 25 June 2006

Author: xolt from Australia

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Well well well, this film was simply atrocious. The worst film I have seen in the last two to three years.

The breakup advertised as romantic comedy is anything but. I can't begin to describe how disappointed I was sitting through this movie.

Nothing made me relate to the characters and their infantile behavior. They both came across as whining spoilt brats.

The pace of the film is slow and pointless. Arguments, shouting and bickering don't make for light or romantic entertainment.

Silly "votes" between good friends as to who is staying at the bowling game are just cringe factor, good grief do people really behave this way? certainly not my circle of friends. It was just embarrassing to watch.

Not much redeeming in this film a few short laughs, one of the better ones being when their real estate agent friend offers to sell their home and wants to do so at no commission. BUT unfortunately company policy wont allow it so he has to charge it hahaha that was the funniest bit in the film. How sad :( I would have given it one star except for that real estate agent part LOL.

AVOID THIS FILM AT ALL COSTS !!! A great gift for that person you don't really like but have to buy for appearances sake :)

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18 out of 26 people found the following comment useful :-
Give this movie a chance!, 25 August 2006

Author: PtownB5 from United States

This is not your garden variety romantic comedy, thank god! I loved the authenticity of this movie. I don't know anyone who has been in a serious relationship that wouldn't relate to this movie. Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston are superb- they are both so credible and organic in these roles. Not sure about the bizarre-ish people the characters may surround themselves in the movie- family, friends and co-workers definitely are weird- but maybe they serve as a springboard to really bring the 2 main characters to life. (maybe comedic relief, too) In any case, so refreshing to watch a movie that is realistic and unpretentious. The opening scenes are scrapbook photos when the couple were together- they were wonderful- the exact types of photos most of us have in our own scrapbooks. It isn't an indie art-house film, but a big production that doesn't follow a relationship formulaic predictor for ratings, insead it portrays arguments and a break up in a realistic way. Lack of communication, lack of effort, too much pride, battles over what isn't so important but seems so at the time- all that. I was also pleased that it didn't wrap up in a big red bow at the end like most Hollywood movies.

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15 out of 23 people found the following comment useful :-
A disappointment all around, but I expected that, 23 June 2006

Author: terulian_maveric from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Over a 2-day span, I went to go see this, and The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift. There was a 2-3 vote for Tokyo Drift over this movie, and in this case the majority was right. The storyline was overly cliché'd, and had far too many big coincidences. The acting, which some say was great, I found horrible. As usual, I found Vaughn and Aniston playing their usual characters. Aniston reminded me of "Bruce Almighty" and Vaughn reminded me horribly of my least favorite scenes of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith". The saving grace of this film was Vincent D'Onofrio, a superb actor, who pulled off his role extraordinarily well.

As for the plot... it's pretty much the title. But as for billing it as a comedy... It was funny, at points, and I'll admit that as a comedian, Vaughn shines, where some funny moments got me to look back at the screen, but the overall flow of the movie was lacking, and a good plot wouldn't need funny jokes to get my attention back. The ending actually surprised me, however, because it was not your typical romantic comedy ending. However, seeing as I wouldn't classify this as a "comedy" for most intents and purposes, that makes sense.

All in all, the mostly sub-par acting and the yawn-worthy script left much to be desired by this over-hyped summer film.

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41 out of 75 people found the following comment useful :-
What's so funny about screaming?, 12 June 2006

Author: dlinehan-1 from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This was truly one of the very worst movies I ever saw. Though it started on a promising note, after five minutes I found myself guzzling an extra-large coke, just so I would have the excuse of going to the rest room to get away from it.

My wife and I wanted a light-hearted evening away from the kids, and this movie looked promising. But light hearted it was not. We have a very peaceful life in our home, and I was unprepared for the amount of yelling that was dressed up as dialog. There wasn't anything funny about it. Probably 70% of the dialog consisted of people yelling at each other.

We were probably taken in by the trailers, which made the movie appear a bit humorous. The only problem is that all the funny parts were in the trailer. Nothing else was a bit humorous.

The only good parts were the first and last songs. The last one, "I Can See Clearly Now" made me see clearly why I should never go to an Aniston or Vaughn movie again.

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12 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :-
Horribly NOT funny, 22 September 2006

Author: herbertackermans from Netherlands

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This has got the be one of the least entertaining movies I've seen. Absolutely never ever had as little a shy smile on my face, there just aren't any jokes worth laughing about in this movie.

Both Vince and Jennifer's characters are not appealing to me. They are flat, undimensional and tiresome.

The antics shown are also completely un-inspired.

I was very disappointed by this movie.

The only thing I found refreshing, and here be spoilers, is that at the end, very UN-American, they don't get back together again.

But that isn't enough to warrant this movie a viewing.

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