2K Replay: The Break-Up

 by Adam Riske

Nominated for “Favorite On-Screen Match-Up” (Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn) at the People’s Choice Awards. They lost to Keira Knightley and Johnny Depp for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.

• Best Scene/Moment: Any scene with Jon Favreau (who’s really funny in this) and Vince Vaughn.

• Best Song: “You Oughta Know” by Alanis Morissette.

• Best Merch: A “3 Brothers Bus Tours Dickies Jacket…” for $65.00. Omg. This is a production crew jacket from the making of the movie with cartoon caricatures of Vince Vaughn, Vincent D’Onofrio, and Cole Hauser for their fictional tour guide business. I almost wanted to retire this category and then I saw this and I know now I can never do that or I’d miss finding merch like this, which is G-D tier.

• Director Grade: The Break-Up was directed by Peyton Reed.
Great Movies: N/A
Good Movies: Bring It On, The Break-Up, Yes Man
OK Movies: Down with Love, Ant-Man and the Wasp
Bad Movies: Ant-Man
Unseen By Me: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
Overall Grade: B-

• Double It with This 2006 Movie: Stranger Than Fiction

• Year 2006 Movies to Trailer Before Them: Friends with Money, The Holiday, The Lake House

• Ella McCay or The Break-Up? The Break-Up

• Mall Movie? No. This would play the fancy theater in town because Jennifer Aniston isn’t mall enough and “the town” would take Vince Vaughn more seriously now because Wedding Crashers made so much money and people who play golf also liked it and not just frat bros.

• Only in 2006: Being a part owner of a Chicago tour guide company being treated like a game-changing business venture.

• Scene Stealer (tie): Jon Favreau and Vincent D’Onofrio, who’s doing a thing in this movie and it’s fascinating.

• I Miss: Being able to like Vince Vaughn without feeling slightly dirty about it.

• I Don’t Miss: Vince Vaughn’s Julius Caesar haircut which is so bad that I’m surprised it was allowed in a studio film.

• 2006 Crush: Jennifer Aniston.

• 2026 Crush: Joey Lauren Adams.

• What I Thought in 2006: I remember thinking The Break-Up was a good drama that was mistakenly marketed as a comedy, which was the main reason I was mixed on it at the time.

• What I Think in 2026: The Break-Up is a movie that’s really grown on me over the years, and I really like it now. I was wrong thinking it wasn’t enough of a comedy (there are a lot of moments that go for jokes) but I still think it’s a really good relationship drama at times that takes the situation seriously and doesn’t cop out at the end. The two leads are very good in this.