An unromantic discomedy
Sunday evenings are always a tricky time. Exhaustion after the weekend sets in and the impending reality of a Monday morning in the office starts to bear down as a heavy, heavy reality. Standing in the movie rental store last night (Sunday night) my flatmate and I decided that we’d rather opt for something light-hearted and less intelligent to wile our Sunday night away with relative ease. Our selection: “The Break-up” starring Jenifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn. A light-hearted romantic comedy, right? Wrong…If anything, this film is best described as a romantic comedy turned inside-out. It’s an unromantic discomedy!
Now, I’m perfectly ready to admit that my reaction may have more to do with my current emotional state than much else, but that movie, was one of the most harrowing cinematic experiences I have ever endured.
I have to give it full credit. It moved me, and Jenifer Aniston was amazing.
Without giving away the plot, the movie kicks off with a couple who clearly have a few little problems. They fight; it’s actually kind of funny. They start to play the kinds of silly games people play in those situations, and it’s still funny. Then there comes a point where the constant fighting starts to really break you down. It gets quite serious and really exhausting to witness.
At the end of the movie you’re just left with this overwhelming notion that all human relationships, particularly romantic ones, will always disappoint you. That ultimately, these ideas and dreams we have about these loves we will find, and have, are just that: ideas and dreams. It’s so depressing.
Their relationship ends (that’s no major plot reveal: the movie is titled “the breakup”) and it ends for the right reasons. They love each other but they can’t satisfy each other or lead full lives together, so it ends.
The worst thing is how sad and ephemeral love is. How the shadow of a love can linger with you, but the actual occurrence of love between two people can fade so fast. There’s a scene at the end where the two of them run into each other on the street after some time has passed. They agree that it’s been so long since they’ve seen each other, that they have so much to catch up on, but the truth is they don’t. They actually have nothing to really say to each other at all. It’s horrible, and so depressing. Oy…
posted by Nick Carraway at 5:16 AM
6 Comments:
i totally agree with your post Kirb's, i was expecting a serious comedy. I mean, it has Vince Vaughn in it, he is always funny. i was left with a very sad heart and puffy eyes.
Let's face it... this movie can be commended for the portrayl of real relationships. It braks downt he contruction of fairy tale love and illustrates, as you said, that love is ephemeral and what is even more evident- there are very few happy endings in life. Sorry that movie made you sad, but I like it when there is a bit of reality shown in american movies. That is why I actually enjoyed it.
p.s maybe this has soemthing to do with my cynical state of mind ;)
I haven't seen the movie in question but I have to admit that I have only heard negative feedback, and not because it's depressing and cynical about love, but because it's just plain bad. It clearly does provide some fod for thought though since for some reason i have found myself i discussions about this flick countless times over the past year. Which allows me to venture the following - when they see each other at the end, isn't the implication that they're going to get it on again, cf Faisch's take? I don't think it's a bad thing if not. Personally I found the ending of Kissing Jessica Stein far more depressing in a weird way.
The ending, in fairness, is left ambiguous. They bump into each other on the street, each has clearly moved on. They have a slightly stilted, although possibly warm interaction where they claim they have so much to talk about and she promises to come and see him at work. They part and there's a cheesy movie moment when they look back at each other as they walk away.
So the possibility is defs left open that they could see each other again and hook up. But if you've ever interacted with an ex like that, you know that those promises are pretty false. You feel you should see them again, but it's too painfull and aukward. You feel you should have so much to talk about because you once shared everything, but the truth is that you've moved on and they don't need/want/warrant those intimate details anymore.
In many regards the notion that they may have got together is even more depressing, because on some level it means that Jen sold out on her notion of what an ideal relationship is and settled for a dude that really digs her, but a relationship that isn't great.
As I said before, may be a very mocabre view on the whole situation, granted.
I totally disagree - in my opinion the ending is definately implying they will get back together. Sorry Kirbs, I thought the movie was really bad. It totally set out to manipulate people into a 'wow, this movie is so true-to-life, so different from normal romcoms' blah blah blah mindset in a totally blatent way. Thats why i liked the ending, because it finally let go of the attempt to be less shallow than most, and admitted to what it really was - just another crappy Jennifer Aniston "comedy".
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