| The Break-Up | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster |
|
| Directed by | Peyton Reed |
| Produced by | Vince Vaughn Peter Billingsley |
| Written by | Vince Vaughn |
| Starring | Vince Vaughn Jennifer Aniston |
| Music by | Jon Brion |
| Cinematography | Eric Alan Edwards |
| Editing by | Dan Lebental |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) | June 2, 2006 |
| Running time | 105 min. |
| Country |  |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $52 million |
| Gross revenue | $202,483,135 |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Break-Up is a 2006 comedy-drama film from Universal Pictures. The Break-Up stars Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Aniston, Joey Lauren Adams, Jon Favreau, Ann-Margret, Vincent D'Onofrio, Cole Hauser, Jason Bateman, Justin Long and Judy Davis. It was written by Jay Lavender and Jeremy Garelick, and directed by Bring It On's Peyton Reed.
Contents |
Plot
A bickering couple, Gary (Vaughn) and Brooke, live in a condo in Chicago. Both are driven in their careers, with Gary, an intensely proud Pole, running a thriving city tour business with his brothers, and Brooke working as a representative for her boss's art gallery. Early in the movie, their conflicts cause them to separate after a bitter argument. Their conflicts are largely due to Gary's immaturity; and, it seems as if differences, not only in Brooke's and Gary's individual personalities, but also in their social backgrounds, contribute to the division that becomes apparent between them. Brooke has applied feng shui books from her mother in the interior design of her and Gary's condo; her brother Richard is part of an a cappella group called The Tone Rangers; her friend Addie uses phrases of advice such as "Remember, we're always owning our actions, right? And we're always healthy with it, yes?"; and Brooke bemoans how many times she has dropped "hints about the ballet" to Gary, but to no avail. By contrast, Gary likes action-oriented video games, is an avid Chicago sports fan, and wants a pool table in the condo even though Brooke thinks a pool table would be more appropriate in a larger home. Although Gary believes he's fighting for the condo, it's Brooke who is fighting for their relationship to stay alive. However, the condo ends up becoming the subject of a war in which both try to outwit and outdo each other through blind dates, drunken parties, and broken promises. In the end, they agree to separate, both giving up the condo, selling it, taking their share of the money from its sale, and moving on with their separate lives. After Brooke and Gary have learned through a real-estate agent friend that a buyer has been found for their condo and that they have two weeks to move out, however, Brooke invites Gary to an Old 97's concert for which she had previously bought tickets for the two of them. Gary agrees to meet her there, but instead heads to his friend Johnny O's bar, making Brooke upset to the point of crying. This episode makes both parties even more aware of the seriousness of their conflict, and in spite of a subsequent effort by Gary to reach out to Brooke by preparing a surprise dinner in the condo for the two of them, their breakup has apparently become inevitable at this point. Gary, realizing what he has lost (and having matured a bit), returns to his business with new vigor while Brooke travels the world, eventually finding her way back to Chicago. At the end of the movie, they meet again by chance on the streets of Chicago. After some awkward but friendly catching up, they part ways but catch each other glancing over their shoulders and share a smile.
Cast
- Vince Vaughn as Gary Grobowski
- Jennifer Aniston as Brooke Meyers
- Joey Lauren Adams as Addie
- Cole Hauser as Lupus Grobowski, Gary's brother
- Jon Favreau as Johnny O
- Jason Bateman as Riggleman
- Judy Davis as Marilyn Dean
- Justin Long as Christopher
- John Michael Higgins as Richard Meyers, Brooke's brother
- Ann-Margret as Wendy Meyers, Brooke's mom
- Vincent D'Onofrio as Dennis Grobowski, Gary's other brother
- Peter Billingsley as Andrew
- Mary-Pat Green as Mischa
- Keir O'Donnell as Paul
- Geoff Stults as Mike
Responses
- The original ending didn't go down well with a test audience. As a result Universal Studios had to re-shoot. According to the Chicago Tribune: "the first ending made basically the same point in a slightly different way".
Box Office
The romance/comedy film has proven to be very successful grossing over $203 million world-wide. It has grossed a total of $118,703,275 in the American box-office. Nacho Libre was originally scheduled for release the same date as this film, but was delayed, and instead, opened on June 16, 2006 in the United States.
Music
- The first song selection, coupled with snapshots of the then-happy couple, was Queen's "You're My Best Friend." Also featured in the film are the songs "Story of My Life" by Social Distortion, "Boogie Nights" by Heatwave, "You Oughta Know" by Alanis Morissette, "Time Bomb" and "Salome" by the Old 97's, and Queen's "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" sung by Dwight Yoakam. The closing song, which may portend the future of their relationship, is Johnny Nash's, "I Can See Clearly Now", a hit of 1972. In the trailer is another song by Social Distortion - "Ball and Chain."
- One of the film's scenes is set at a concert performed by alternative country band, Old 97's in Chicago's Riviera Theater.
- The song "Timebomb" by the Old 97's was also featured in the movie Clay Pigeons, which also starred Vince Vaughn.
- The Tone Rangers is the name of an actual a cappella group in Washington, D.C., who are thanked in the credits.
Trivia
- Vince Vaughn's step brother has an appearance in the opening credits in a picture with Aniston and Vaughn. He is dressed as the Leprechaun for the Notre Dame game.
- In some scenes, Gary plays video games on his PlayStation 2. The list of games he plays includes Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Fight Night: Round 3, and 2006 edition of Madden NFL.
- Vince Vaughn gained 26 pounds for the role. However, the intentions of this are not certain, as Vaughn was reported to have gained weight as a result of his recent decision to quit smoking.
- Brad Ausmus, Todd Hollandsworth, Rickie Weeks, and Derrek Lee are a few of the actual Major League Baseball players seen throughout the movie at Wrigley Field or on Gary's television.
- The baseball game Gary watches on television throughout the movie was between the Chicago Cubs and Toronto Blue Jays and was played in early June of 2005.
- Aniston wore Generra Jean throughout the film.
- Gary talks about getting hopped up and making bad decisions on the Three Brothers boat. In Wedding Crashers, Vince Vaughn's character Jeremy Gray says, in a rant about blind dates, that he's just wondering if he and his date will get hopped up enough to make some bad decisions. In both The Break-Up and Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Vaughn's character tells a child that their parent(s) do not really love them.
- After Brooke mentions that she noticed Gary lost weight, Gary says to her that he's "one of those people who's thin but doesn't have a muscle on their body." This is said by Vaughn during a bonus feature on the Dodgeball DVD.
- In the club, Lupus sarcastically asks Gary if he will be arrested for "being awesome." In a deleted scene from Old School, Vince Vaughn asks Luke Wilson the same thing.
- Vince Vaughn acted with Jennifer Aniston's ex-husband, Brad Pitt, in Mr. & Mrs. Smith, the year before this movie was released.
- This is the fourth time Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau have been in a movie together (after Swingers, Made and Rudy). Although in the previous films Favreau played the straight-laced guy while in this film Vaughn is the straight-laced man while Favreau offers to break into Aniston's e-mail and tells Vaughn he will "take care of" her new boyfriend.
- This is the second film to co-star Vince Vaughn and Justin Long. The first was Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
- Vince Vaughn met Jennifer Aniston on the set for the movie, and were romantically involved since then until December 2006.[1]
- In one scene, Jennifer Aniston's character Brooke is told by her boss to request "The Telly Savalas" at the waxing parlor. In real life, Telly Savalas was best friend to Aniston's father, as well as being Aniston's godfather.
- In the movie they can be seen drinking from cups with the Notre Dame insignia on it possibly homage to the movie Rudy in which both Vaughn and Favreau appeared
References
External links
| Preceded by X-Men: The Last Stand |
Box office number-one films of 2006 (USA) June 4, 2006 |
Succeeded by Cars |
