The Break-Up Versus Mr. & Mrs. Smith
Oh, Brangelina and Vaniston…was that the name for Aniston and Vaughn? I can’t remember. I never really caught on to what their Hollywood nickname was. Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck really screwed it up for future Hollywood couples. We all know the next “it” couple will have an impending nickname to follow as soon as they are outed.
But I am veering away from my point – I recently realized that with the Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie movie and the Vince Vaughn/Jennifer Aniston movie, movie-goers have definitely got to have a clear favorite!! Why you ask? Because the movies are polar opposites in genre! Also, most people’s response to what they chose to be a better movie will immediately acknowledge what couple they are most in favor of.
What was my personal choice you ask? Well, let me start by saying that I did, in fact, view both movies. My viewpoint is definitely unbiased in terms of that. However, even though I had my favorite couple before I saw both movies, I went in with an openmind and wanted more than anything to be proven wrong with both films. Well, when comparing both movies, I have to say that Vaniston was the clear winner for me.
I thought The Break-Up was a bit more on the believable side than Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Okay, okay, okay. Let me explain what I mean by “believable” before I get comments telling me I didn’t understand what the movie was about. When I popped in the Mr. & Mrs. Smith movie, I genuinely wanted to be caught off guard with either the acting or the storyline. Unfortunately, I wasn’t. I think Pitt is a great actor too! I haven’t seen Jolie do anything that great since Girl, Interrupted, which I did love, by the way. I was ultimately disappointed by the poor acting and the less than average storyline. I didn’t care for the fighting scenes, which I normally look forward to. However, all in all, I just flat out did not like it.
Okay, now, The Break-Up was a far better quality of a movie but it still isn’t up there on my “To Buy” list. I absolutly love Vince Vaughn. I’ve been a fan of his since Swingers and usually watch all of his movies. His comedic timing couldn’t be better and that was my initial draw in watching this movie. Now, even though some of the stuff that Vaughn and Aniston do to each other in this movie as a revenge for not moving out of their condo (which is the plot for this particular movie) was a bit extreme and yes, even unbelieveable, I would have to say that they stuck to their guns in this movie and did what they do best.
I didn’t feel the “forced” acting vibe like I did in Mr. & Mrs. Smith. I just felt like in this movie it came a bit more natural and I actually wanted to know what’s going to happen to this couple? Will they actually stay together or break-up? Whereas in Mr. & Mrs. Smith, it came across more like, how the hell did they not know that they were married to professional assassins?! I just couldn’t get past that because even though the audience is “in on it” I mean, we’re not stupid!
In any case, I’m sure there are clear cut sides as to who liked which movie better. Both movies made a lot of money, with Mr. &Mrs. Smith in the lead – but that just means that there are more people out there without any taste. Perhaps they got caught up in the whole Brangelina moment.
On an unrelated fact – perhaps both of their movies have crept into the couples’ real-life relationships as a few magazines have recently released that Aniston and Vaughn may have perhaps called it quits. Well, it doesn’t change the fact that both of these movies were pretty much seen as going head-to-head with the Brangelina movie being released first and then the Vaniston movie being released earlier in 2006 as the lesser of two evils. Too harsh? I think not.
