Do you guys remember the good ole days of the early 2000s when Vince Vaughn owned comedy? From “Old School” to “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story,” and “Wedding Crashers,” it seemed like if you wanted to see a comedy, you had no choice but to hop aboard the Vince Vaughn train! With his fast talking, smart ass antics, Vaughn was poised to be the next legend of comedy. But then “The Break-Up” came. A life-imitating-art-imitating-life in-your-face meta-attack starring Vaughn and his at-the-time fling Jennifer Aniston.
In 2006’s “The Break-Up” Vaughn and Aniston…well, they break up. As someone who has lived this type of scenario over the course of a crazy six-week period, let me tell you first hand, it’s not fun. Nor should it be. And in a cruel twist of fate, neither is “The Break-Up.” What worked so well for Vaughn in the previous year’s “Wedding Crashers” just misses the mark over and over. Maybe it’s me, but I prefer his character in that movie and his other movies from that era. It’s hard to root for him in “The Break-Up;” if only for the fact that the smoke-show of Jennifer Aniston is someone who Vince Vaughn should never-ever-ever break up with. And all because of lemons?
Vaughn and Aniston deserve better—and are capable of doing better. I believe a better script that played more to their strengths could have provided a better template for these two to work with. There are scenes when Aniston’s character goes out on dates to try and make Vaughn jealous, and everything surrounding these scenes are the strongest points of the movie. They prove a great mix of comedy and heart; and had the rest of the movie followed in that way, you’d have a far more successful movie.
When all is said and done on the career of Vince Vaughn, “The Break-Up” may very well be mentioned among his classics. This may only be the case, however, due to his inconsistent (and at times uninspired) work that followed. Films such as “The Internship,” “Fred Claus,” and “Unfinished Business” only helped to solidify the fact that this once up-and-coming heavyweight of the comic world had gone astray.
However, you cannot deny that Vince Vaughn has a charm and capability, that, given the right work and platform, would be able to really hit it out of the park. With that in mind, it’s hard to fully break up with him, even if leaving “The Break-Up” is a no-brainier.
