Director Report Card: Peyton Reed (2006)

5. The Break-Up

When I made the decision to watch and review all of Peyton Reed's movies, I figured it would be a chore, one of those report cards were I force myself to watch a bunch of shitty movies so I can talk about two or three movies I really care about. I associated the director with underachieving romantic-comedies, the most mediocre of all big budget genres, and the sort of overly broad studio comedies that I hate. I had that presumption challenged by Reed's first two theatrical features, both of which were pretty good. The director actually has a sense of style. His movies had been surprisingly clever and fun up to this point, showing no contempt for their audiences at all. However, with “The Break-Up,” I finally got exactly what I expected.

Gary Grobowski, a Chicago tour guide, and Brooke Meyers, an art dealer, meet each other at a baseball game. While Brooke initially rejects the jugheaded Gary's aggressive courtship, she's soon won over. Several years later, the two are living together in an apartment and their relationship is beginning to strain. Gary frequently takes advantage of Brooke's patience and caring attitude and she finally gets sick of it. The two break up but continue to live in the same apartment, waiting until they can sell the expensive property. They find new, increasingly bitter ways to snipe at each other, sometimes attempting to win the other back, sometimes attempting to further push the other away. Yet can this relationship be saved at all?

“The Break-Up” wants to subvert the rom-com tropes. Instead of being about how a quirky couple meet cute, it's about how they break ugly. Instead of showing true love surviving through hardship, it's about how love isn't always enough to overcome challenges. However, Jeremy Garelick and Jay Lavender's script is ill-equated to handle such a serious subject. (Not that I blame Garelick and Lavender. This film has all the marks of being written by committee.) Instead of melancholy, it pushes hard on broad comedy. This results in characters that start out obnoxious and only grow more terrible as the movie goes on. “The Break-Up” soon degrades into awful people being awful to each other. It's 105 minutes of characters doing petty shit, in hopes of hurting the other person. That's neither romantic nor comedic and the movie isn't smart enough to be truly subversive.

“The Break-Up” was made right in the middle of that very strange time, after “Dodgeball” and “Wedding Crashers” but before “The Dilemma” and “The Internship,” when Vince Vaughn was a huge movie star. Gary is more-or-less the most extreme exaggeration of the traditional Vince Vaughn character. He's a guy who likes baseball, beer, and video games. He hangs out with his loud brothers, honking about sports and lady problems. He eats hot dogs and potato chips, doesn't clean up after himself, and doesn't respect or understand art and culture. In other words, he's a massive asshole. Because of the general broadness of “The Break-Up,” some of Gary's awfulness is justified as responses to equal awfulness. Most of the time, he's just a shitty jocko jerk-wad. Vaughn gives into his worst tendencies as a performer, mugging furiously as he plays an aggressively douchey guy who is presented as an everyman but is truthfully just a dickhead.

Opposite Vaughn at his worst is Jennifer Aniston at her most indifferent. Aniston is an occasionally compelling movie star but “The Break-Up” has her coasting in a serious way. By largely skipping the courtship part of the relationship, the audience is left wondering why an intelligent and upward woman like Brooke ever got involved with a lunkhead like Gary. Not that Brooke is much better. She's passive-aggressive, prone to emotional outburst, and a workaholic. Yet her crimes are much more minor than her boyfriend's. Aniston has a winning smile but makes no further attempts to liven up what is ultimately a character with little in the way of an inner life. It's amazing how little we learn about this woman and why she's attracted to this man. Mostly, Aniston is asked to march through a series of undemanding comedic set pieces: Bad dates with other dudes, throwing things, an extended waxing sequence. Which she can do, sure, but not in a way that redeems the middlebrow gags.

Like almost every shitty romantic comedy made in the last two decades, “The Break-Up” eventually reaches a point where it gets serious. Yes, I'm talking about the tedious end-of-the-second-act moment where the movie asks us to start actually caring about these two assholes. After an especially egregious act from Gary – practically having an orgy with strippers in the appointment – Brooke realizes she can't salvage this relationship. He, on the other hand, realizes what an unappreciative, immature fuckhead he's been and grows up instantly over the course of a few scenes. Unsurprisingly, this sudden maturation does not convince a girlfriend that he's abused for several weeks. Who can actually give a shit about this stuff? These characters are broad, cartoon characters. No attempt has been made to invest emotions in them, making their emotional conflict totally meaningless.

But, ya know, “The Break-Up” does earn points for not totally wimping out. The movie delivers on its title. This is a film where the couple breaks up. Even when it seems like Brooke and Gary are going to reunite, “The Break-Up” backs off slightly. The movie ends with the suggestion that they are still attracted to each other and cuts it off there. There's no redemption, no sweeping romantic music, no reconciliation. That's a surprisingly subtle move for a film that has been anything but up to that point. Granted, the general low-brow quality of the rest of the movie makes the ending totally unearned, resulting in a somewhat sour conclusion. Yet I most nod at the fact that “The Break-Up” does manage to successful confound expectations, at least in one regard.

But, yes, for the most part, this is a painfully unfunny comedy. Most of the jokes boil down to worn-out cliches about the differences between the two genders. Shit like dudes do not listen to women or women snipping at their fat, dumb-ass boyfriends. The kind of nonsense you can see on a four-in-the-morning re-run of “King of Queens” or “Yes Dear.” When its not doing that, it's throwing out overly loud gags about acapella singing or throwing things. I laughed during “The Break-Up” exactly three times. There's a truly unexpected gag where Vaughn is suddenly, violently beaten up. Almost as if the film itself hates this guy and wants to batter him. A reaction shot that depicts Gary's idea of a feast – potato chips and bologna, still in its packaging – made me chuckle slightly. As did Jason Bateman's character, the couple's real estate agent, offering them relationship advice but only through the prism of real estate acumen.

Bateman is one member of the movie's seriously overqualified supporting cast. Jon Favreau re-teams with Vaughn after “Swingers” and “Made” and seems to enjoy hanging out with his old buddy. If Vaughn is everything that's unappealing about this type of “good ol' boy palooka” character type, Favreau represents a far more amusing version, quiet but principled in his own bro-y way. Vincent D'Onofrio appears as the oldest of the three brothers, doing what he can to bulk up a totally empty part. Justin Long is mildly amusing as Aniston's Sassy Gay Friend, at least hamming it up in a ever-so-slightly-fun way. Joey Lauren Adams gets to embrace her bitchy side as Brooke's most sardonic friend. Ann-Margret plays Brooke's overly serious artist boss, a character that might've been funny in a movie less bereft of wit than this one.

So, through it all, is there any sign at all that the energetic, likable director that made “Bring It On” and “Down with Love” directed this one? Not really! Peyton Reed's visual sense is comparatively subdued in “The Break-Up.” In fact, considering the movie is largely confined to one location, it looks and feels a lot like a sitcom. There's an attempt to bring some moody lighting to the cramped apartment location but it's barely noticeable. Reed brings one or two whip-pans or a mildly energetic opening montage to the material. There's also a lengthy rock concert scene, which I suspect might've been inserted by the noted music enthusiast behind the camera. Otherwise, absolutely anyone could have directed this movie.

“The Break-Up” would be a huge hit in 2006, earning over 200 million dollars against a 59 million dollar budget. I owe much of this success to audiences really wanting to see Jennifer Aniston naked. “The Break-Up's” blockbuster status would also prompt Vince Vaughn to star in similar garbage like “Couples Retreat” and “Four Christmases.” It's easy to see why Peyton Reed would sign onto a project like this. His last movie, a passion project, was basically a flop. If “Down with Love” had an extremely limited appeal, “The Break-Up” was an easy crowd pleaser. With the middlebrow romantic comedy quickly becoming an extinct genre, as mainstream studios realize women like big budget action movies just as much as men, the film represents a time capsule... But not a good one. In fact, if you want to go back and see why the rom-com is such a widely loathed genre, “The Break-Up” offers a good example. The humor is largely obnoxious, the emotions are maudlin, and the performances are lazy. [Grade: C-]