Breaking Up

Steve is a photographer, Monica is a teacher. They don't get along. So it's time for them to break up. Watching two people try to break up for nearly two hours (fortunately, that included lots of commercials) is not my idea of entertainment. Unless they are funny, which these two generally were not.

The film showed promise. At the start, both characters are talking to an unseen interviewer or counselor, or maybe just to the camera (they also talk just to the camera in a later scene). They are giving good performances at that point. Then things go downhill quickly.

The film was not a total waste of time.

The best part of the movie had Steve and Monica doing what appeared to be a documentary, shot in black and white, where they interviewed ordinary people on the street about male-female relationships. These people seemed real and may in fact have been real (they certainly weren't shown in the credits). One little girl said the best thing to do with a man was 'dump him in the garbage'.

Also good: a sequence of fantasies about what the wedding might be like, inside a church, involving a demented minister, an Einstein lookalike, and Steve and Monica both lying on couches with a psychiatrist between them.

Salma Hayek looked good in a swimsuit. Too bad that was only in a fantasy (Steve's, actually) where a Fabio type with Schwarzenegger muscles was bench pressing her.

Several scenes had really good music, most of the good music being real jazz. There was also 40s-style easy listening. And then there was contemporary music that didn't appeal to me at all. (Well, what can you expect when the man in charge of music led Devo?) One scene was spoiled for me when the trumpet and the stand-up bass were cut off prematurely when the couple started bickering again.

I'm not sure what this meant, but several sequences other than the 'documentary' were filmed in black and white with no dialogue from the characters on screen. Two had quick editing and gave the impression of quality. One had Steve and Monica in a restaurant with a series of different dates, in what appeared to be just a few minutes as the camera went back and forth between them.

The only way this could have been a good movie is if it was in fact one of those art films that appeals to the people who go to coffee houses and listen to poetry. I'm not one of those.

What was the point of making this movie. I can't think of one. The movie stars two big name actors but all that happens is they break up get together break up get together.... We get some silly scenes such as Steve in the tub picturing Monica with a guy at the gym. It was obvious the two didn't belong together, so why should the audience care if they break up. That was part of the problem with it besides it just being a stupid idea for a movie.

FINAL VERDICT: Not to good. Don't expect the Russell Crowe from Gladiator in this. I don't recommend it.

i have decided to write a review motivated by an unfairly low mark this movie has. negative votes are made by people who give 1 to likes of 'memento' and 8 to 'death race 2'. most of negative voters are clearly unable to get the point of this movie.

it is a movie for mature audience. it speaks on a level which requires personal experience of love and its losing.

it is a very honest movie which takes you on an emotional roller coaster whose main plot is summarized in the title. the directing is somewhat dated, but efficient, and the movie never becomes dull. the plot should not be read as an exercise in depicting reality, and the director follows the approach faithfully. still, the movie hits the nail on the head in the overall.

both leads have performed an excellent job!

The first time I rented this movie, it seemed a bit annoying because of all the arguing, etc., but it entertained me enough to give it a second look and I ended up buying it. It speaks to the need in all human beings to love and be loved and all those weird things we say and do to somehow keep it from happening to us. I felt like I was in the front row of an off-broadway play and admired the characters so much for having to learn all that dialogue and have no other actors to share the load. My favorite scene is the middle of the night at Monica's place when Steve is quietly trying to leave and the ensuing conversation they have. The very last scene was open to the viewer's own feeling - we know they were each other's one true love but we had to decide what their future held (Personally, I think they ran in to each other in New York - in a taxi - after their children had grown and their first marriages were over and lived happily ever after - unmarried, of course!) Great acting by Salma Hayak and Russell Crowe.

A few technical flaws along the way, but all in all the way the music played with the scenes, a good dose of humor, and the realistic love scenes pretty much rounded out the on again/off again true love relationship Monica & Steve aspired to. *** out of ****

I found this movie rather uncomfortable viewing and I wondered why the two protagonists were a couple in the first place. There was a lot of confrontation and restless, irritable behaviour and this rubbed off on me. The theatrical origin is clear, as it is in such films as Two Girls and a Guy, and the atmosphere is claustrophobic - this may be intentional. I bought this movie because I wanted to see Russell Crowe's work outwith Gladiator and LA Confidential, and this character is definitely different. Russell plays an American and I think he gave a good performance, as did Salma Hayek. See this film for the sake of the stars or if you need to deal with your anger about breaking up, but it is not a relaxing experience.