Break-Up, The (HD DVD)

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"The Break-Up" has been quite the popular topic among the netizens. Not because of the quality of the film, or the laughs it generates, but for a particular set of ahem, items. Jennifer Aniston´s items to be exact. Or even more precisely, the actress´s bare breasts. A little clip that was shot during the filming has been circulating and just as quick as it hits a web site, the lawyers that represent Ms. Aniston are quick to throw around a few legal terms and threats and demand that the associated pictures and/or videos are quickly removed. Though there has been some debate about the validity of the images and whether or not the items in question do truly belong to the actress, this has been one of the hot topics around the Internet. Of course, when the film released, it was a hot gossip paper topic as well for the romance between stars Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn. Rumors and gossip have followed this picture since its inception and though they have typically ended up being true, Vaugh and Aniston have went through a real-life break up and her breasts are becoming increasingly difficult to find on the Internet.

If you´d rather just sit down and enjoy the romantic comedy and forget about the romance that blossomed on the set or could care less about how Ms. Aniston looks topless, the film exists on both DVD and HD-DVD; the latter being one of Universal´s notorious Combo Format releases. I personally have to admit that "The Break Up" fell further down the backlog queue of titles I needed to review as the holiday season saw titles that were far more interesting to my own tastes, but with all the fuss about the pictures floating around cyberspace, I decided that it was time I sat down and watched the romantic comedy featuring us beer drinking folk´s favorite actor, Vince Vaughn and one of America´s sweethearts. Behind the gossip, there actually exists a movie and although Aniston is becoming increasingly popular for paparazzi photographs and her high profile breakups (did I mention Brad Pitt?), the actress formerly known for a hairdo and a role on the television show "Friends" is a good comedic actress.

For a comedy, "The Break-Up" was a frustrating mess that ended on a mixed-emotion note and led legions of us fellow men hoping Vince´s character would do his absolute best to crush any chance of getting back together with the grating manipulation and cruelty imposed by Aniston´s character. Many of us have been through break-ups with significant others that had similar themes behind the fight that occurs between Gary Grobowski and Brooke Meyers. As a book once said, Women are from Venus and Men are from Mars. The sexes are very different and communication and similar interests often cause conflict. Of course, when there is little communication and even less similar interests, a situation such as what occurs in "The Break-Up" comes to fruition. I had an ex-girlfriend that tried like hell to get me to give up on my video gaming habit, and I refused to take part in the local community theater. This was one of many bullet points that caused an uproar and an unhappy situation I deemed necessary to end. I just couldn´t see trading in "Ikaruga" for green tights and a wooden sword. Well, these types of common differences were what had driven Gary and Brooke apart.

After the fight, a little issue of an expensive and value skyrocketing apartment kept Gary and Brooke from jetting to separate living quarters. Brooke kept control of the living room and allowed her brother and his musical troupe her bedroom for musical rehearsal, while Gary moved everything into the living room, including a brand new pool table. Gary was more than content drinking beer, eating pizza and playing "Grand Theft Auto." Brooke was trying to torture Gary enough to drive him back into her arms. She didn´t want to lose him, but felt he needed to apologize, fit the mold she felt he should fall into and come rushing back into her arms. Gary felt very hurt and loved Brooke deeply. He had hoped things would work back together, but felt everything was finished and each act that Brooke put him through felt more like another nail being nailed into the coffin. The end result was that Gary´s life was suffering and he did not view Brooke´s ambitions as a hint to rekindle the relationship. When he finally became involved in communication and learned of what Brooke wanted, it was too late, as Brooke had become emotionally distant from the man he loved.

Vince Vaughn is an actor who perfectly portrays the everyman. He is not chiseled and does not possess fashion model looks. Vaughn has a bit of a beer gut, enjoys things that a regular guy things are great and it is easy to buy into his characters. Vince reminds me of many friends and to a point, myself. He seems like a guy who would have no problem helping hang some dry wall and then downing pepperoni pizza and Guinness. His appeal helps bring a male audience to watch a romantic comedy such as "The Break-Up," but also allows men such as myself to have a decidedly one-sided view on the break up. I was calling for Brooke´s head and wanted her friends to slap some sense into her. Yes, Gary was flawed, but he was a naïve guy who needed her to be more clear. This view towards the film´s plot made "The Break-Up" feel quite different than most romantic comedies and takes a look are far more realistic romantic occurrences in life. However, these are some very dumb characters. Whether they read a book about Martian men and Venetian women or just spent five minutes talking to each other, they both loved each other enough and should have easily patched things up. I guess that wouldn´t have made for a good Hollywood story.

Video:
"The Break-Up" is provided with an HD-DVD transfer on Side A and a DVD transfer on Side B. The 1.85:1 widescreen film is formatted with MPEG-4/1080p. The transfer on HD-DVD is clean, colorful and nicely detailed. The colors are highly saturated and substantially vivid. Through much of the film, the colors seem to jump out of the picture. Black levels are deep and true, while the whites are incredibly bright. With the vivid nature of the colors, the transfer holds up and does not allow for any bleeding between the hues. Detail was quite solid as well. When compared to the DVD transfer, the HD-DVD not only had more impressive colors, but also a finer level of detail. This wasn´t a day and night comparison, but it was certainly noticeable. Adding to the rainbow conquering colors and three dimensional level of detail, "The Break-Up" was born from a perfectly pristine print. There is no film grain, no scratches, no dirt; quite frankly, there are no flaws to be found in the entire film. This is one fine looking romantic comedy, even if you only get to gaze on Aniston´s curvy assets from the rear and miss out on the pirated images currently circulating the web.