The Break-Up
I almost always go to a movie with expectations. I might expect it to be generic-eye candy, Oscar winning, mildly entertaining, hilarious, corny, sentimental, depressing, realistic, or weird. Sometimes, I have my finger on the message before I even buy my ticket.
I almost felt like I could review The Break-Up without seeing it. "Cute, funny but not hilarious, repetitious with too many stereotypes, and mildly entertaining. Its message: You don't know what you have until you lose it; you don't know how much something means to you until you let it go." But The Break-Up didn't fit the mold I made for it. Though the comedy wasn't top-notch and the love-is-war scenes promised in the trailer were painful to watch, The Break-Up introduced deeper characters and ideas than I expected.
As promised, The Break-Up begins with the split between Jennifer Aniston's Brooke and Vince Vaughn's Gary. We catch their initial chemistry, see a montage of their love, then watch its demise. With their partnership just not working, Brooke wants out.
Almost everyone has been through a break-up. Sometimes it's mutual. Other times it comes as a surprise. Sometimes you know that it's really for the best. Other times you just don't want to let it go. More often than not, those sometimes and other times mix themselves together.
Although the scenes of Brooke and Gary trying to split up while still living together are painful, it realistically reflects the conflict in letting anything go.
For Brooke, pushing something away doesn't mean she still doesn't want it. For Gary, just because he won't admit that he misses what he lost doesn't mean he doesn't want it back. Both show how fighting to let go while also fighting to hold on wears a person's soul.
The message of most of the movie is, "You don't know what you've got until you have to let it go." But in the end, the movie also tells us that just because it hurts to let it go (and just because we don't know what to hold onto instead) doesn't mean we have to keep holding onto it.
Instead of falling into the formulaic ending of most romantic comedies, Brooke and Gary communicate authentically about holding on and letting go. Neither one is easy. And sometimes the choices we make surprise us.
I'm not sure I really liked the ending. I love it for not following the script that everyone, myself included, expected. At the same time, I hate it because it just feels wrong. But when it could have given us stereotype at least it gave us something more realistic.
The conflicted emotions and actions of The Break-Up are still there in the end. A decision has been made, life goes on, and freedom is found in forward motion. It made me think of the things we hold onto: people, jobs, locations, ideas, and beliefs. Many times we can't imagine life without them. Even though we all question our firmest handholds at some point. More often than not, those questions dissolve quickly, leaving our holds certain. But sometimes the questions linger and we see what life is like, and what we are like, without them.
Some people say letting go is an end. In many ways, it is. But as I watched of the final scenes of The Break-Up, I couldn't help but think that letting go is an opening for whatever is meant to be. In other words, just because we let go of something to find freedom, doesn't mean freedom won't bring it right back to us.
There are things worth holding onto in life. Things of so much value that they deserve to be fought for at any cost. But if anything is of true value, it's worth letting go. Anything really worth holding onto will bring us back to it. And as a person who questions, doubts, worries and wonders about every single thing I let go of and hold onto, that thought helps me rest a tiny bit easier.
I almost felt like I could review The Break-Up without seeing it. "Cute, funny but not hilarious, repetitious with too many stereotypes, and mildly entertaining. Its message: You don't know what you have until you lose it; you don't know how much something means to you until you let it go." But The Break-Up didn't fit the mold I made for it. Though the comedy wasn't top-notch and the love-is-war scenes promised in the trailer were painful to watch, The Break-Up introduced deeper characters and ideas than I expected.
As promised, The Break-Up begins with the split between Jennifer Aniston's Brooke and Vince Vaughn's Gary. We catch their initial chemistry, see a montage of their love, then watch its demise. With their partnership just not working, Brooke wants out.
Almost everyone has been through a break-up. Sometimes it's mutual. Other times it comes as a surprise. Sometimes you know that it's really for the best. Other times you just don't want to let it go. More often than not, those sometimes and other times mix themselves together.
Although the scenes of Brooke and Gary trying to split up while still living together are painful, it realistically reflects the conflict in letting anything go.
For Brooke, pushing something away doesn't mean she still doesn't want it. For Gary, just because he won't admit that he misses what he lost doesn't mean he doesn't want it back. Both show how fighting to let go while also fighting to hold on wears a person's soul.
The message of most of the movie is, "You don't know what you've got until you have to let it go." But in the end, the movie also tells us that just because it hurts to let it go (and just because we don't know what to hold onto instead) doesn't mean we have to keep holding onto it.
Instead of falling into the formulaic ending of most romantic comedies, Brooke and Gary communicate authentically about holding on and letting go. Neither one is easy. And sometimes the choices we make surprise us.
I'm not sure I really liked the ending. I love it for not following the script that everyone, myself included, expected. At the same time, I hate it because it just feels wrong. But when it could have given us stereotype at least it gave us something more realistic.
The conflicted emotions and actions of The Break-Up are still there in the end. A decision has been made, life goes on, and freedom is found in forward motion. It made me think of the things we hold onto: people, jobs, locations, ideas, and beliefs. Many times we can't imagine life without them. Even though we all question our firmest handholds at some point. More often than not, those questions dissolve quickly, leaving our holds certain. But sometimes the questions linger and we see what life is like, and what we are like, without them.
Some people say letting go is an end. In many ways, it is. But as I watched of the final scenes of The Break-Up, I couldn't help but think that letting go is an opening for whatever is meant to be. In other words, just because we let go of something to find freedom, doesn't mean freedom won't bring it right back to us.
There are things worth holding onto in life. Things of so much value that they deserve to be fought for at any cost. But if anything is of true value, it's worth letting go. Anything really worth holding onto will bring us back to it. And as a person who questions, doubts, worries and wonders about every single thing I let go of and hold onto, that thought helps me rest a tiny bit easier.
