Product Description

Monica teaches, Steve's a photographer. They've dated more than two years. They're arguing, and she leaves for her apartment, only to return in a few minutes to say they should stop seeing each other. A few days later, they're back together, but within two hours, he takes offense at an off-hand remark, and the separation starts in earnest. They see other people, then, out of the blue, Steve asks Monica to marry him. She says yes, and a time of ecstasy begins: they interview strangers, asking them what makes a marriage work, and she moves in with him. Then comes the wedding, and when Steve freezes, anger rends the relationship again. Can harmony return?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #57604 in DVD
• Brand: CROWE,RUSSELL
• Released on: 2004-06-01
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Dubbed in: French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 90 minutes

Amazon.com
Steve (Russell Crowe) and Monica (Salma Hayek) make a dreadful couple. Something about Monica, a teacher, turns Steve, a photographer, into an insensitive jerk. Steve's behavior makes Monica clingy and hysterical. When the romantic "dramedy" Breaking Up opens, Steve and Monica are doing just that--breaking up. But every time they break up, one of them breaks down and calls the other to suggest, "Let's get together for dinner and talk." By now, they're so hot for each other that they tumble right into bed. As Monica puts it, "As the relationship has deteriorated, we f*** like monkeys!" Breaking Up is a very real portrait of an addictive love affair that strikes a decidedly familiar chord. How many of us have been through unhealthy relationships like this one? Crowe and Hayek are so credible that the movie is most compelling to watch. Their good times are achingly sweet. (When Crowe proposes marriage to Hayek in the back of a taxi, the heart of every female viewer is guaranteed to melt.) But can the good times make up for the bad? Using a mixture of filming techniques--montages, monologues, on-street interviews, plus straight-out dramatic scenes--director Robert Greenwald (The Burning Bed), and Pulitzer Prize-winning screenwriter Michael Cristofer (The Shadow Box), create a provocative, intimate, and erotic anatomy of the quintessential destructive relationship. --Laura Mirsky

Customer Reviews

Misunderstood!
The adverse reaction to the movie by other reviewers makes me wonder. This movie ran alot like an independent film, and these types of films are not for eveyone. If you have ever been in a relationship that is full of fire but that cannot withstand the unfortunate weaknesses of human character, then you will understand, and quite possibly, as I do, think this was an excellent movie that was about real life. Not every movie should be larger than life, don't you think?

Give it a break!
Hey guys, give this poor little flick a break! In the first place, if you are a Russell Crowe fan, I think you'll just like watching him because, darlings, he's at least half of what's on the screen at a given time. Yes, many of the criticisms in the other reviews are valid, but my husband and I...married 38 years this summer...saw ourselves all through the movie. (He cried at the ending.)I think anyone who's been in any kind of long-term relationship could get something from it. Okay, the "talking to the screen" bits are annoying. I felt the "man-on-the-street" interviews were relaxed but went on a bit too long, yadda, yadda, yadda. This will not be on anybody's list of top 5 or even top 100 ever, but any movie where Russell Crowe licks someone's toes has to be worth a look-see and given a little slack!

Breaking Up
This film made me laugh, sigh, cringe and downright squirm as I watched it. It brought back way-too-vivid memories of the two great passions and subsequent breakups of my own life. The bathtub scene absolutely cracked me up, seeing what goes through a guy's head while he's acting all tough and "over it"- the camera angles are priceless.

While it may be uncomfortable to watch at times, this movie does a good job of telling its story in a way that will ring true with a lot of people. The characters are well played, not always likeable, but familiar in their actions. It left me with a sad ache, a small sense of relief, and maybe a bit of hope . . . .