Holly
06-14-2006, 09:02 AM
Today's movie lesson: suspension of disbelief.
If you've come within an inch of a gossip column in the past year, you know Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn are an “item,” despite their efforts to keep their off-screen relationship discreet. Oh, the irony, then, that the project that brought them together happens to be titled “The Break-Up.”
Actually, it's a credit to their acting skills that they have to portray two people on the downslide of romance, since their real-life emotions were going very much in the opposite direction at the time. In the movie, their characters have been together several years, and they have a take no-prisoners attitude as they try to divvy up what they've acquired in their shared time as they prepare to go their separate ways. The big sticking point? The condo each wants to hang onto.
There's no question Vaughn has substantial comedy capital going into “The Break-Up,” thanks to the huge success of “Wedding Crashers” last summer, but he doesn't get to slide merely on one-liners. The same goes for Aniston, who really has to put her humorous and dramatic sides together in depicting the residual hurt and pain of a relationship ending. Credit director Peyton Reed -- who had a rather perfect prelude to this picture by also making “Down With Love” -- with not always going for the easy laugh, or any laugh at all.
With all the attention that's been paid to Aniston and Vaughn (or “Vaughniston,” as some wags are now dubbing them), many moviegoers are likely to look for the sparks that started their relationship going. Again, they deserve kudos for not betraying that in holding true to the on-screen personas they're assigned here. They also have some great supporting actors to play off of, including two who have teamed with Vaughn before, Jon Favreau (“Swingers”) and Joey Lauren Adams (“A Cool Dry Place,” a quiet little gem that absolutely merits a DVD rental). Co-stars Judy Davis and Jason Bateman also make their marks.
There's more of an acidic content to “The Break-Up” than you might expect, but the fact that Aniston and Vaughn meet the challenge remains reason to cheer the movie. And since they evidently were anything but acidic toward each other when the cameras stopped filming, that qualifies for pretty loud cheers.
(Rated PG-13)
If you've come within an inch of a gossip column in the past year, you know Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn are an “item,” despite their efforts to keep their off-screen relationship discreet. Oh, the irony, then, that the project that brought them together happens to be titled “The Break-Up.”
Actually, it's a credit to their acting skills that they have to portray two people on the downslide of romance, since their real-life emotions were going very much in the opposite direction at the time. In the movie, their characters have been together several years, and they have a take no-prisoners attitude as they try to divvy up what they've acquired in their shared time as they prepare to go their separate ways. The big sticking point? The condo each wants to hang onto.
There's no question Vaughn has substantial comedy capital going into “The Break-Up,” thanks to the huge success of “Wedding Crashers” last summer, but he doesn't get to slide merely on one-liners. The same goes for Aniston, who really has to put her humorous and dramatic sides together in depicting the residual hurt and pain of a relationship ending. Credit director Peyton Reed -- who had a rather perfect prelude to this picture by also making “Down With Love” -- with not always going for the easy laugh, or any laugh at all.
With all the attention that's been paid to Aniston and Vaughn (or “Vaughniston,” as some wags are now dubbing them), many moviegoers are likely to look for the sparks that started their relationship going. Again, they deserve kudos for not betraying that in holding true to the on-screen personas they're assigned here. They also have some great supporting actors to play off of, including two who have teamed with Vaughn before, Jon Favreau (“Swingers”) and Joey Lauren Adams (“A Cool Dry Place,” a quiet little gem that absolutely merits a DVD rental). Co-stars Judy Davis and Jason Bateman also make their marks.
There's more of an acidic content to “The Break-Up” than you might expect, but the fact that Aniston and Vaughn meet the challenge remains reason to cheer the movie. And since they evidently were anything but acidic toward each other when the cameras stopped filming, that qualifies for pretty loud cheers.
(Rated PG-13)