Breaking Up with The Break Up?

'The Break Up', starring Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston tells the story Gary (Vaughn) and Brooke (Aniston), a couple that push each others boundaries so much that the film starts where other romantic comedies finish: a break up.

Where the title lacks in originality (even though it does set the tone of the film), the plot doesn't help the film's Oscar chances either. After another typical 'why can't you do one thing for me?' row, the couple call the relationship quits. However, neither want to sell their luxurious condo or move out, so they decide to live together even though they can't stand each other. How realistic!

Even the way Brooke and Gary meet is a pretentious cliché that many rom-coms possess, but at least they tried to make it less diabolical. But still, Gary buying a random stranger (sitting 7 or 8 seats down from him in a baseball game) a hotdog she didn't want, then trying to insist a date even though she was dating another man- is definitely not the worst start I've seen but that doesn't make it great.

However the film wasn't all awful, there are some more manageable moments that actually made me laugh in the least funny rom-com. Firstly, the reason of their argument. Lemons. The break-up is initially an argument about the amount of lemons that Brooke needs for a centre piece. I was delighted that the writers came up with a random start to a long chain of arguments in the film.

Also, the acting of Vince and Jennifer gives the movie some credibility, and some explanation on how it won two awards. The acting of the two protagonists makes the £10 I spent on the film nearly worth it. The acting makes it feel like they are a real life couple going through the break-up not on screen with a memorised script.

Sadly, the few good things about the film don't personally make up for the fact that the plot and some of the rarely seen minor characters are flawed. In some ways, it's not the idea of the plot that makes the plot horrendous, its the complete difference in job seriousness (Gary being a bus tour guide and Brooke an artist dealer) that does make you wonder to start with why they are together. Gary and Brooke are from two completely different worlds, with two different personalities and hobbies and in reality two people so different wouldn't make it past the first date.

In conclusion, 'The Break Up's' comedy gold, actually turns out to be comedy old in a film where the jokes feel like their from the 1700's. Even though it isn't the worst film I've seen, I wouldn't recommend it unless you love Jennifer Aniston or Vince Vaughn so much that you wouldn't mind enduring 104 minutes of plot disaster and a replaying argument that never seems to end.