SITE TOOLS
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Breakin'
All the Rules, 2004, 85 minutes, Rated PG-13
By Ramona Prioleau
For
anyone who has been in love or seriously in like, limiting the pain
that can accompany relationships is important. Most want to enjoy a
good thing while it lasts, but escape a bad thing with one's dignity
in tact and with as few emotional scars as possible.
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Psychologists
(armchair or otherwise) and those with the marketing savvy to craft
bankable brands have flooded the market with relationship guides to
assist those clamoring for insight to find that good one and
overcome
that bad one.
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Ostensibly
adding his voice to the legions in the relationship advice industry is
Daniel Taplitz, writer/director of Breakin' All the Rules. Breakin' is
a romantic comedy of errors in which its protagonist, Quincy Watson
(Jamie Foxx), is unceremoniously dumped by his lover. Quincy heals his
broken heart and finds closure by penning a guide to successfully
firing
your mate in a way that limits breakup fallout.
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Although humorous at
times, the film's formulaic approach to the boy meets girl tale
weakens the underlying interesting set up of an embittered journalist
writing a roadmap to purge relationship demons. The film's creative
premise is primarily hampered by Taplitz's run-of-the-mill direction
of the tale for cheap laughs. So hackneyed is the comedy that it is
told with the often used devise of a liquored up urinating dog.
However, what Taplitz does well is craft a
mainstream narrative that just happens to feature African-Americans.
But the project may have appeared to vanilla for the film's backers as
the movie was released with an abbreviated present participle in its
title and with music that is selected to root the film in an
African-American context.
In addition to lending an urban edge to the
romantic comedy, the placement of the musical tracks also conform
smartly with the featured couples blossoming romance. While disposable
hip hop tracks with a slightly misogynistic bent play during their
first encounter, Heather Headley performs her heart pounding ballad
"He Is" as Quincy and Nicky's relationship shift to a higher
plain.
Breakin's ensemble cast delivers strong
performances, but Jaime Foxx and Gabrielle Union are given the most
room to work their craft. The role of Quincy in one in which Foxx
cinematically gets to play the romantic center and he does so without
an over reliance on his comedy. As Quincy's love interest Nicky
Callas, Union portrays a less controlling, somewhat whimsical and
needy woman who discovers a manipulative streak when she gets even
with her devilishly sexy cad of an ex-boyfriend (Morris Chestnutt as
Evan). M
May 2004
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