Aniston and Vaughn May Regret 'Break-Up'

June 2, 2006 — -- Movie critic rule No. 1: Never give Vince Vaughn a bad review. He's funny, great in "Wedding Crashers," and he's got guts.

Vaughn took a real chance with "The Break-Up," a movie that changes the rule for romantic comedy. And you know that rule: Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl. That's a movie people want to see.

Vaughn calls this an anti-romantic comedy: Boy doesn't like girl. Girl doesn't like boy. They break up. It doesn't work. But listen, Vince, this isn't a bad review, it's a mixed review.

The main reason you never give Vince Vaughn a bad review: He's 6 feet, five-inches tall.

In "The Break-Up," the boy-meets-girl part happens so quickly we never see them happy. Except for the fact that Vinafer is a real couple -- and Vince may be the funniest actor making movies today -- we can never figure out why these characters like each other.

Vaughn plays a chauvinist pig who never does the dishes or picks up his clothes. He plays video games all night. We want Jennifer Aniston to leave. All night, I kept expecting Gloria Steinem to sneak into the theater and whack him.

Aniston and Vaughn do break up, but they won't move out of their condo. This is where the film should be fall-apart funny. There are funny bits, and to his credit, Vaughn doesn't go low. There's no raunch. But the comedy turns to drama. It's well-done, theater-quality stuff. Still, when you see a break-up movie, you expect something like last summer's "Mr.& Mrs. Smith."

Vaughn had a part in "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," and he was great and the movie was a huge hit because it's not a break-up movie. It's a love story. "The Break-Up" really is a break-up movie.

Want to see two people not talk to each other? You don't have to go the movies. You can go to any bar on Third Avenue starting at 7 o'clock tonight. And they give you free peanuts.

It's a shame, there are a lot of good things about this film, but people get mad when you show them the wrong movie. Grade: C+