Breaking Up

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!

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 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.

I'm conflicted about this film.

The two leads have zero chemistry together, which gives their messed-up relationship no credence whatsoever. In real life these two would have never gotten together in the first place. Someone decided two "on their way up" stars should make a movie, and it wasn't a great decision. They do their best, but it fails to carry the movie.

I liked the script though. Sometimes relationships aren't a clean breakup where people just decide that they want to be out. There's indecision, better the devil you know, maybe it's not so bad after all, the uneasy feelings of breaking it off permanently. This film encapsulates all of that. It does feel a bit repetitive for all the breaking up and getting back together, but it's perfectly captured.

Hated the direction! Inexplicable moves from colour to black-and-white, weird camera angles, lighting changes, jumping from one shot to the next. I suppose it was meant to feel jarring and analogous to the relationship being portrayed, but it was super annoying and discombobulating for the viewer. Ultimately this is the thing that made me give this film such a low rating. It felt like the director was trying to be edgy (in a very 90s way) but it did not work at all.

Not a great movie. I wished I liked it a lot more, but unfortunately the pieces just don't fit.

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.