... Because It's Broken

Sigh. So breakups are never easy, and sometimes they're quite painful. The Break-Up is one of those. At the end of it you're mentally drained from having Vince Vaughn yelling at you and from watching Jennifer Aniston just completely beaten down and emotionally spent. (What, you expected this to be a happy movie? Silly you. It's called The Break-Up!) The film is so meanspirited and negative-toned that you don't even want this couple to get back together, unlike in some other movies with a similar plot that are sweet at their core. Sure, there are some good lines, but Vince Vaughn doesn't seem to have the same wickedly funny but good natured streak he had in Wedding Crashers. Here he's just cruel and stupid, and nowhere near loveable. And while it's good to see him and Jon Favreau back together on the screen, ultimately, all I could think of was: man-oh-man, did Jon Favreau ever get heavy. So that adds to the sad feeling after seeing this movie. I mean, yeah, Jen does looks great. And I got a good chuckle from Justin Long's performance. But because the movie is 10-15 minutes too long and at times it's just not funny (and not in a failed way), I'm still giving The Break-Up a C+.