Film: Private misfortune can certainly result in a powerful career boost, especially in Hollywood. This experience could make now also "Friends" darling Jennifer Aniston. Regardless of the enormous success of her TV series and the constant media presence of her private life, her cinema career has been rather insignificant so far, despite some notable successes. After her divorce from Brad Pitt, which was extensively celebrated in the tabloids, Aniston suddenly had all the sympathies on her side, which certainly contributed to the fact that her current film "Breakup with obstacles" could quickly crack the 100 million dollar mark in the USA despite rather poor reviews.
However, the film is falsely advertised as a loose romantic comedy. Who expects typical Hollywood banter here accordingly, will certainly be disappointed. Because the "romantic" part of the story is briefly ticked off right in the opening credits and then the film title is already program: Almost 100 minutes long, the viewer now witnesses the rather unattractive separation of Gary Grobowski (Vince Vaughn) and Brooke Meyers (Jennifer Aniston), who are caught up in the daily grind after several years of relationship. Suddenly, little quirks become triggers for big fights, until one of them leads to the couple's breakup. Too bad neither of them is willing to leave the apartment they share. And so begins an emotional showdown, a "breakup with obstacles".
Director Peyton Reed, who delivered more conventional fare with the comedies "Girls United" and "Down with Love", reveals some very real, unlovable relationship truths in his latest film. It's at times extremely funny, at times sad, and at times almost uncomfortable to watch - and at times all of the above. For example, when Brooke gets an intimate shave with the amusingly named Telly Savalas (the bald actor was Jennifer Aniston's godfather) in order to beguile Gary, or when the latter wins over Brook's new beau thanks to his fondness for video games, it's extremely amusing for the audience to watch. But when the two quarrelers throw their shortcomings at each other, there is really no room for comedy anymore.
Although they are a couple in real life by now, the spark between the two main characters may not really jump over to the viewer. What sounds rather negative in the first moment turns out to be a blessing for the movie in the end, because not the beginning, but rather the end of Gary and Brooke's relationship becomes really believable. The two leads deliver very good performances, with Vaughn playing to his strengths more in the comedic scenes, while Aniston dominates the action in the more dramatic moments. The real problem with the cast comes when the film becomes increasingly dull and hopes of a couple reconciliation finally fade. Both Gary and Brooke now go out of their way to break each other's hearts - and the meanness that then follows is actually hard to take from the two sympathetic actors. Moreover, this is also where the film loses its previously existing grip on reality and overshoots the mark too often, making it difficult for viewers to maintain an emotional connection to the main characters until the compelling conclusion.
Whenever the mood between the two becomes too depressing, the wonderful supporting cast comes into play, all of whom lend the film its quite comedic potential. Whether Justin Long ("Voll auf die Nüsse"), Jason Bateman (known from the comedy series "Arrested Development") or Jon Favreau ("Daredevil"), they all ensure that there are also numerous relaxing moments within the cinematic separation for the viewer. Particularly outstanding, however, is Vincent D`Onofrio, who may be familiar to VOX viewers from the series "Criminal Intent". D`Onofrio puts in a very understated, endearing performance as Gary's brother Dennis that is one of the film's very big highlights (even though D`Onofrio is on screen for maybe just 10 minutes total!)
"Separation with Obstacles" is - despite defying some conventions - an all-around American film. Yet the realistic, dramatic tone of the story is repeatedly lightened by amusing interludes and the play with various clichés. This often works, but unfortunately not always. And so the flick seems too indecisive at some points, the staging gets increasingly bumpy and seems to lose the clear line, which is still followed very well at the beginning. These especially in the last third emerging weaknesses make "Trennung mit Hindernissen" ultimately only to good average goods, whose good intentions but should certainly be appreciated with a viewing of the DVD.
Picture: Although the colors are well mixed and also the contrasts are very good, the picture quality has some visible weaknesses. These primarily relate to the sharpness level, which clearly could have been better in many scenes. At least, however, the picture is completely clean and therefore receives a well-deserved: good!
Sound: Here, of course, the dialogues are in the foreground and since these are very well mixed, there is no reason to complain. The music provides pleasant spaciousness from time to time, but otherwise there are no effects worth mentioning. Good!
Extras: An annoying trend is becoming apparent at supplier Universal. Either the DVDs are released in Europe without any bonus material at all (such as with "American Dreamz" or "Inside Man") or with significantly fewer extras than in the US (such as with "München"). This is also the case with "Separation with Obstacles". The US DVD, for example, has an audio commentary by the director, which is much more informative and better than the one by Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston, which was also adopted for the German DVD. The two leads deliver a strangely bored, uninspired and flat commentary that really isn't one of their stellar performances. Also missing from the German disc is the making of, an interactive tour of Chicago where individual cast members introduce sets and locations, a lengthy improvisation by Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau, and a featurette on the a capella troupe featured in the film.
Making it onto the disc is an amusing alternate ending, which was cut because it doesn't really harmonize with the tone of the film. But it's nice that the viewer gets to see it here. In addition, there are a few nice unreleased scenes (about 8 min.), as well as some extended (about 2 min.) and spoiled moments (about 12 min.).
Conclusion: A good film that was billed as a loose comedy and therefore disappointed many moviegoers. Nevertheless, it is worth watching, as the film offers quite a few truths about the cosy togetherness between men and women, which are rarely seen so honestly in Hollywood films. Technically, the DVD is okay, but that only a small part of the extras of the US disc for the German DVD was taken over, is disappointing.
OT: The Break Up
Director: Peyton Reed
Number of discs: 1
Languages: English, German (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Subtitles:German, English
Image Format:16:9 (1.85:1)
Extras: Audio commentary, cut, extended and spoiler scenes, alternate ending
FSK: Ages 6+
Length: approx. 102 min.
Regional code: 2
Ein Artikel von Frankfurt-Tipp
