THE BREAK-UP

Posted by: ann on: 7 August 2006

• In: thoughts
• 12 Comments

After all the hype, and having nothing better to do after an unscheduled and expensive Sunday shopping spree and a ladies who lunch typa thingy with mother, I then dragged her off to see said film… she treated me… isn’t that what mothers do as this mother knows only too well with her own offspring? That is why when my kids say, ‘fancy going out for dinner?’ this mother says ‘no’ because what they actually mean is ‘fancy taking us out for dinner?’

Okay… the film. I have read some of your comments on your blogs and I have read at least a zillion reviews online.

I was quite excited about going to see it even though I knew my ab fab fav actor was featured for barely five minutes. I am rather fond of Vaughn and Aniston as I have watched them mature over the years and enjoyed some of their previous work.

The film is bittersweet; more bitter than sweet, with two characters I did not care for. Brook was manipulative and whiney and Gary a manchild. Their siblings however stole the movie and far outshone the stars.

The dinner party scene with their families, I believe was the highlight of the whole film and that was early on. The family were far more entertaining than Gary and Brooke, although there was barely a peep out of Gary’s mother (at least I assume the little dark haired lady was his mother) nor a word from Dennis’ wife. Their brothers were all totally different and extreme in their personalities and behaviour, which made Gary and Brooke seem boring and devoid of colour.

Brook’s in the closet brother Richard was hilariously played by John Michael Higgins and his role was pure comedy. Gary and his brothers worked together in the family tour guide business. His brother Lupus (Cole Hauser) was an outrageous lecherous hedonist. His older brother Dennis (our Vincent) was controlling and awkward with two aims… a successful business on land, water and air and to be with his family.

As the film progessed, I empathised with Brook’s feelings of being taken for granted, it all seemed so familiar, but I lost patience with Gary and his puerile antics. His best friend Johny O, played by Jon Favreau, pulled no punches in telling Gary his faults and by the time the penny dropped it was too late.

Back to Vincent for a moment. In Thumbsucker I could easily picture him in Vaughn’s role as the teacher, although his portrayal of Mike Cobb was excellent. In The Break-Up he should have played Johny O a role I believe Vincent would have made his own that would have added much needed depth and humour to the film.

At the end of the day nothing changes… Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus and that about sums it up. If you haven’t seen the film in the cinema and are waiting to buy the dvd for our Vincent, I suggest you don’t waste your money. I am disturbed that Vincent was involved in this bland project and I do hope we get to see him in more weighty roles in the future.

Now if you really want a forum to talk about Vincent’s movies, be it at a basic lowbrow level like mine, or at a highbrow level…. I would like to you to visit Firefligh’s blog. She would like to talk to likeminded people about his films. You can find her on http://firefligh.blogspot.com and I highly recommend it.

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