Breakin All the Rules (PG-13, 2004)

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.

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.

Studio: Screen Gems
Director: Daniel Taplitz
Cast: Gabrielle Union, Jamie Foxx, Morris Chestnut
Genre: Comedy
Run time: 90 minutes
Theatrical release: May 14, 2004
DVD release: October 12, 2004
MPAA Rating: PG-13
MPAA explanation: sexual material/humor and language