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.

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 ****

It's Salma Hayak's birthday and i wanted something to watch. I found this unknown romantic comedy that looked interesting.

Hayak and Russell Crowe have been together for two and a half years. The only time their relationship works is when they are having sex. The rest of the the time they argue until one leaves. They can't understand why it doesn't work, no matter what they try. That's it. 90 minutes of them breaking up and getting back together to have sex and breaking up and getting back together. It was funny and interesting, and, since Salma was not out of my sight for more than 30 seconds the entire movie, it was satisfying. Not prurient, just satisfying.

What was most interesting is the fact that it was directed by Robert Greenwald. I have everything he has directed in the last four years: Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers (2006); Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price (2005); Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism (2004); Uncovered: The War on Iraq (2004); and Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War (2003). I have even seen films he has produced, but not directed like "The ACLU Freedom Files". I always thought he did documentaries about things that were wrong with America. I had no idea that he directed movies like "The Burning Bed" or Xanadu. Now I do.

I saw this film a few nights ago on TV and had never even heard of it?To see Selma Hayek and Russel Crow together got me more interested because they are not your typical Hollywood pairing. I read some of the reviews on this film posted here after I saw the film and I am really sorry for you people who trash this film, you are either so spolied and programmed by the fantasy of Hollywood films or just don't get it?. Rarely does film in Hollywood dares to go this deep about two people in a relationship and trial and emotional complexities that don't make any logical sense to any of us who have been in relationships that were hard to let go of.I think this film really appeals to more of a European audience than American, because you the US audience always wants to live in some kind of fantasy world, White Boy meets White Girl they fall in love and live happily ever after. Now, if something different comes along that requires your attention and becomes a little too real then you trash it.

What is even more sad that there is a hardly an audience for this kind of film in the US as it is in Europe. This was originally a play and that is pretty obvious from the fact its based on two people without the side kicks of friends in your usual gimmick movies. Some of the conversations may seem tedious and long at times but for those of you who have been involved in relationships that sometimes don't make sense then you can relate at because you can't make any sense out of human emotions then you would understand it and relate to it. I guess what made this film not as appealing to some like "Harry Met Sally" did is because it didn't have all the little cute scenes that like "Sally" pretending to have a orgasm in a restaurant; that's what sells in a Hollywood film but "Breaking Up" is not such a film and never pretended to be either, it was more honest than any film that deals with relationships than most films ever do in Hollywood and it doesn't have a happy ending either and this is where the US audience needs to GROW UP.

Selma Hayek really gave a great performance in this film, I am not even a fan nor did I ever like any of her films but I really thought she did a great job in this film, and so did Russel Crow. This film would not probably a choice for either of them today but trust me if there was a way to remake this film with two huge stars and add a some side kicks and slap a happy ending to it you, then suddenly people will be raving about it. I think this is a film that only appeals to those who can relate to it and appreciate its for the crazy and insane parts of any intense relationship. There is a line in this film where both characters years later say "..they never really understood why they even broke up?" and I think that was what this film was about; what makes any relationship work? and how do you make any logical sense of it when you are so caught up in it emotionally and how do you come out of it and deal with the pain and misery of loosing someone. Now, if you let go of your expectations then you might be able to appreciate this film for its honesty.

This is not a mainstream movie. This is the film of a play. And its excellent. I rented it because of the cast. I couldn't turn it off because of their truly awesome performances.

Monica is in love with Steve. Steve is in love with Monica. The only problem is, they don't know why. They don't know what questions to ask, of themselves or each other. They struggle with expressing what they believe is honesty. They wound one another raging against unmet expectations they've never admitted, thinking that such admissions would be contrary to their love. They're both too young to handle the intensity of their emotions, to understand what's happening.

This film is billed as a comedy. As a comedy, it fails miserably. Watch it instead as a tragedy, and you'll fall in love with it.