The Break-Up

A number of you are not going to like this, but "The Break-Up" is honestly a very unpleasant and unfunny movie that may end up being the biggest disappointment of the summer.

Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn star as Brooke and Gary, a couple on the verge of breaking up. Complicating the matter is the fact that Brooke still loves Gary but won't tell him, and Gary is too confused by Brooke's actions to figure out what it is she wants. Making matters worse is that they share a great condo in Chicago and neither is willing to give it up to the other.

There are probably five pretty funny moments in the movie, but those are countered by some very nasty and unpleasant arguments between the two main characters. What could have been a hilarious dinner where both families meet for the first time turns into a very uncomfortable shouting match. It's really the tone of the two actors that turns this movie for the worse. Had these moments been played sarcastically, I would have laughed. As it is, the emotion between the two is painful to watch. I nearly expected them to become physically abusive toward each other.

Capping it off -- WARNING! POTENTIAL SPOILER AHEAD; READ AT YOUR OWN RISK! -- is the ending. On one hand, the director takes a bold move and avoids the sappy cliched ending that everyone expects. On the other hand, though, is that when we don't get that ending, we realize that's what we truly wanted to see and we feel cheated by not seeing it. The audience in my theater left greatly dismayed. I disagree with news articles suggesting that Jennifer Aniston finally has a hit, as I suspect most went to see Vince Vaughn. Sadly, we don't get to see the type of character from him that we enjoy watching. "The Break-Up" is more of a breakdown. I give it a C-.

"The Break-Up" is rated PG-13 with a running time of 106 minutes.