Breakin All the Rules (PG-13)

Not much worth seeing in this mess of a movie.

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Movie details

Studio: Screen Gems
Directed By: Daniel Taplitz
Cast: Jamie Foxx, Gabrielle Union
Running Time: 90 minutes
Release Date: 5/14/2004
Video/DVD Release Date: 10/12/2004
Genre: Comedy
MPAA Rating: PG-13
MPAA Explanation: sexual material/humor and language

Parents need to know

Parents need to know that this movie has sexual references and situations that are close to the R-line for a PG-13. There's also crude bathroom and sexual humor. It's supposed to be funny that an elderly man repeatedly asks someone to hold his private parts, and there are jokes about crabs and groupies and a discussion of sexual fantasies. Characters use some strong language. Characters drink a lot, especially when upset, and there are repeated jokes about giving liquor to a dog. And the movie seems to approve of manipulation, lies, and using jealousy to get someone to make a commitment. One strength of the movie is its portrayal of attractive and capable minority characters.

Families can talk about Quincy's comment that "Falling in love is blissful insantity, but breaking up is a rational act," and "love doesn't care about honesty; it cares about itself," and his cousin's comment that "on a date, it's all dishonest." What is the best way to break up with someone?

Message
Violence
Sex
Language

Message

Social Behavior:

The movie seems to approve of manipulation, lies, and using jealousy to get someone to make a commitment.

Consumerism:

Drugs/Alcohol/Tobacco:

Characters drink and smoke.

Violence

Comic scuffle.

Sex

Strong sexual references and situations for a PG-13.

Language

Some strong language.

Common Sense says

What's the story?

Reviewed by Nell Minow

In BREAKIN ALL THE RULES, Jamie Foxx plays Quincy, a magazine editor who is about to propose to his girlfriend when she dumps him. So he writes a book about how to break up with a girlfriend, based on research he had to do for his boss about employee termination, and it becomes a best-seller. Quincy's cousin Evan (Morris Chestnut) thinks his girlfriend Nicky (Gabrielle Union) is about to break up with him, so he sends Quincy to break up with her first. Not knowing who she is, Quincy begins to fall for her. Meanwhile, Rita (Jennifer Esposito), the gold-digging girlfriend of the big boss at the magazine, mistakes Evan for Quincy, and jumps into bed with him to prevent him from helping the boss break up with her.

Is it any good?

Bright stars can't save this over-plotted and under-directed romantic comedy. The few good ideas and funny moments are outweighed by too many "none of this would have happened if people had been logical and honest" complications and too much unnecessarily ugly attempted humor. Once Quincy's book hits it big, the movie lurches into a leaden daisy-chain of mistaken identity mix-ups that hold the interest of the characters on screen much longer than they do the audience's in watching it or mine in explaining it.

Fox, Chestnut, Union, and Esposito are all exceptionally talented, attractive, and fun to watch. They give the material far more than it deserves. But director Daniel Taplitz is too attached to his own screenplay and gives more time to each of the increasingly tedious developments than they require, breaking some important rules himself -- the ones about how to make a movie worth watching.