Breakin' All the Rules!
—Overview
—Trailers, Photos
—About this Film
—Spiritual Connections
FUNNY - And I mean truly funny . . . all the way through the movie. Breakin’ All the Rules doesn’t just try at comedy, it nails it. Its fresh discussion of love and honesty, as well as its consistent delivery of good humor, promise viewers an hour and a half of well-spent dollars. I typically experience a low payoff from comedies and had expected something simple like How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days, where the burned lover makes a healthy living off his/her jaded view of love. However, the love triangle between the main character, Quincy, his cousin, Evan, and the beautiful girl-in-the-middle, Nikki, hinted at a quick-paced plot, so I thought I'd give it a chance.
Briefly --
Quincy, the hard-boiled lover, hasn’t met his cousin Evan’s girlfriend, Nikki. Thinking Nikki is about to break up with him, Evan sends Quincy to meet her and “talk him up� to keep her hanging on so that he can break up with her first. Like a gossiping female, Quincy instead spills the entire story to Nikki, whom he believes to be someone else. The pursuit of true love begins . . .
The treatment of "love" in this film is an honest discussion of modern-day romance. The breakup that scars Quincy and drives him to write the Breakup Handbook comes from his girlfriend, Helen. She accuses him of not being grand or sweeping, and lacking drama in their relationship. Though we laugh at her dramatic delivery of the breakup, the belief unfortunately survives the humor. Our culture does view true love as grand and sweeping, and that belief carries us away on a myriad of emotional highs and lows that take us down a passionate road while seeking self-praise. If we are not being constantly admired, indulged, or raised up on a pedestal, then we must not be experiencing true love in our relationships. Hogwash! (Pardon the use of excessive southern language.) Let’s take a look at what Christ himself said about love.
Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for a friend. –John 15:13
If you love me, you will obey what I command. –John 14:15
Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you . . . if you love those who love you, what reward will you get? –Matt. 5: 44 (vs.46)
These four verses alone should fuel a heated discussion of just what exactly Christ thought about love.
Writer/director Daniel Taplitz courageously exposes the erroneous notion that love is purely self-indulgent. Quincy states that falling in love is blissful insanity. He later tells Nikki one of the strangest things he knows: people can’t bite through their own skin, because they are too selfish. Self-preservation is king. He goes on to say that if you are “in love� (by the modern standards) and you’re not selfish, then you must be crazy—the idea being that people must be partly insane or else truly in love to allow hurt to themselves for the sake of another person. Point well delivered. Modern day “love� is not love at all, because it demands sacrifice rather than offering it.
True love is both ordinary and extraordinary when it comes to sacrifice. It is ordinary because it tolerates the mundane flow of everyday life and does not demand constant ego-feeding. It is extraordinary because it requires, and willingly makes, painful sacrifice at critical points in life -- and the other person is the one to reap the benefits of that sacrifice. God’s love is ordinary because He patiently and gently leads each of us through this dark, confusing world that He already knows inside and out. God’s love is also extraordinary because he gave his very life for that process. For more discussion of just what love is, ask a neighbor who is suffering, a lover who has hurt you, your family who needs your help, and your God, whose name is Love.
The film ends happily, as all comedies should. It gives us a breath of laughter, a dose of reality, and a candy-coated ending that makes us smile. Be sure to check it out!
LINKS
—Overview
—Trailers, Photos
—About this Film
—Spiritual Connections
