The Break-Up
2006
**
Director: Peyton Reed
Cast: Jennifer Aniston, Vince Vaughn, Joey Lauren Adams, Cole Hauser, Jon Favreau, Jason Bateman, Judy Davis, Justin Long
Gary and Brooke meet in the pre-credit teaser. The title scene montage shows us the highlights of the subsequent two years, and ten minutes in they're breaking up and commencing a fight over their apartment. Even if you're not hoping for a darkly comic story about the end of a relationship à la The War of the Roses, this gutless comedy disappoints. The film presumes that we want the couple to reconcile, but we don't even understand how these two mismatching individuals got together in the first place. It looks like the story ends with dignity, if not for the final scene. As for the performances, Vince Vaughn is his usual tiresome self and Jennifer Aniston seems out of her depth.
