I have been led astray. We all have been led astray. We are all doomed to be taken advantage of by the magic tricks of movie marketers at some point, but it is meant to be a ploy to get our butts into the seats to see shameful productions such as Gigli or Battlefield Earth, not intelligent and delightful comedies like The Break-Up. These marketers are trained to use smoke and mirrors to make a film that is one thing appear to be something else entirely. They reel us in with an excitement for special effects or a flash of humor and then slap us with melodrama and lowbrow satire. They are good, these Houdini's of the Trailer Park; they are very good indeed. And they have deceived us with something that I had previously held to be consistently predictable... A Vince Vaughn comedy.
We all held witness to the trailer for this film; the sadistic joy in watching a relationship fall apart at the hands of rousing banter from a deviously sarcastic egomaniac (Vaughn) and the girl next door, all grown up into the woman across the hall (Jennifer Aniston.) We all laughed through 60 seconds of animated anti-romanticism as clothes were hurled, punches were thrown, and quips were exchanged. The anticipation of the year's most colorful and entertaining romantic comedy was upon us, thanks to the obviously blooming on-screen chemistry between Vaughn and Aniston. And at that point we, the lovers of the romantic comedy, marked our calendars for June 2nd.
And what did we receive in return for our patience and our diligence to make it to the box office this weekend: something entirely unexpected. We get one of the most endearing and gut wrenching anti-love stories of recent history. Sure, there are all of the elements that you would normally desire from a great romantic comedy; Vince Vaughn provides his usual, unique brand of comedy to deliver yet another lovable jerk, and the absolutely darling Jennifer Aniston continues to shed her "good girl" Rachel Green image with a mature and emotionally charged performance. But it is the fact that the reality of the story hits you like a brick to face that makes this film so uncomfortable to watch yet so impossible to ignore. It reminds us that real life relationships are like the movies that depict them: you have to take the good moments with the bad. And thankfully this film is chalked full of great moments and solid performances, or else it would fall into the category of "just another romantic comedy."
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