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★★★★☆
7 October 2018
A movie review of THE BREAKER UPPERERS. |
“What you don’t do is call the office,” Jen (Jackie van Beek)
My face is hurting I've been laughing so much. THE BREAKER UPPERERS is a comedy filled to the rafters with jokes. (One bum note: rom-coms, bromances, please stop using the same narrative device of falling out and getting back together.) The opposite of Will Smith's HITCH (2005), Mel (Madeleine Sami) and Jen (Jackie van Beek) have an anti-dating agency. Their business forcibly uncouples irreversibly. In the era of ghosting, the duo provides a service for cowards who don't want to dump their significant other face to face.
After becoming friends on discovering they were dating the same douche bag, who was cheating on them with each other, Jen and Mel made a pact: No romantic emotional attachments. You know the agreement is going to get broken by one, and sunder the friendship temporarily. It is the only cliché in the runtime. They have been disillusioned, which can only have been enhanced by working with selfish clients. Mel is celibate, while Jen has meaningless hook ups. The sex scene with Tinder date Jermaine Clement (FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS, GENTLEMEN BRONCOS) is hilarious. It is so awkward that maybe it’ll make you feel better about your sex life?
My face is hurting I've been laughing so much. THE BREAKER UPPERERS is a comedy filled to the rafters with jokes. (One bum note: rom-coms, bromances, please stop using the same narrative device of falling out and getting back together.) The opposite of Will Smith's HITCH (2005), Mel (Madeleine Sami) and Jen (Jackie van Beek) have an anti-dating agency. Their business forcibly uncouples irreversibly. In the era of ghosting, the duo provides a service for cowards who don't want to dump their significant other face to face.
After becoming friends on discovering they were dating the same douche bag, who was cheating on them with each other, Jen and Mel made a pact: No romantic emotional attachments. You know the agreement is going to get broken by one, and sunder the friendship temporarily. It is the only cliché in the runtime. They have been disillusioned, which can only have been enhanced by working with selfish clients. Mel is celibate, while Jen has meaningless hook ups. The sex scene with Tinder date Jermaine Clement (FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS, GENTLEMEN BRONCOS) is hilarious. It is so awkward that maybe it’ll make you feel better about your sex life?
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I am not a fan of the cinema auteur theory, but surely writers-directors-stars Madeleine Sami and Jackie van Beek fall into the categorisation? They seem to love a montage, and deliver the best since TEAM AMERICA: WORLD POLICE (2004). The opening is a laugh-out-loud snapshot of relationship reprehensibility, facilitated by them. From fake deaths and fake pregnancies to impersonating a police officer, how is what they do legal? The scene in the police station has to be watched through your fingers. Also, New Zealand is hardly population dense, how can they not be recognised all the time? Especially as they and live work together. I don’t want to be churlish, these are minor queries, just strap in for the ride and enjoy.
They have a blast doing their job. And it pays well. The base fee seems to be NZ$1000. The plot finds Mel losing her taste for it, the way Martin (John Cusack) did as a hitman in GROSSE POINTE BLANK (1997). When she meets Anna (Celia Pacquola), Mel wonders if the line they peddle, about their method allowing the dumped to get closure, is in fact accurate. Also, like GROSSE POINTE BLANK, there are plenty of colourful characters, who feel rounded even though in supporting roles. Jordan (James Rolleston) as a naïve rugby-playing himbo is the standout. Though props have to go to his no-nonsense girlfriend, Sepa (Ana Scotney), and Jody the intern (Angella Dravid).
The LOLs are not just superficial, subtle social commentary is present. At Jen’s parents (her mother is both pretentious and does coke), photos hang on the wall of Jen with an ex. Jen says why does she have to be with somebody? There are lots of witty observational asides wrapped in jokes, from a person not feeling complete unless partnered up, to diversity, etc. Mel at a dinner party talks about a lesbian X-MEN with a character called “Vulva-rine”. (Who wouldn’t want to watch that comic book spin-off?! Executive producer Taika Waititi got given THOR: RAGNAROK, why not Sami and Beek get the keys to the mutant franchise?)
Everyone is comically dorky, reflecting the real world. I am guessing most of us would like to be cooler than we are. Who actually feels they have their sh*t together all the time? An entire self-help industry is thriving. Maybe if we are more regularly shown it’s fine not to be perfect, we would all be a little more at peace? The film taps into the fear of being vulnerable in front of another.
So many one-liners. I found THE BREAKER UPPERERS needs a re-watch, because the audience kept laughing over the next joke.
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