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List Price: $9.98 | | Label: Warner Home Video
Salesrank: 79419
Released: June 1, 2004 |
| Our Price: $3.56 |
| Used Price: $1.69 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Monica teaches, Steve's a photographer. They've dated more than two years. They're arguing, and she leaves for her apartment, only to return in a few minutes to say they should stop seeing each other. A few days later, they're back together, but within two hours, he takes offense at an off-hand remark, and the separation starts in earnest. They see other people, then, out of the blue, Steve asks Monica to marry him. She says yes, and a time of ecstasy begins: they interview strangers, asking them what makes a marriage work, and she moves in with him. Then comes the wedding, and when Steve freezes, anger rends the relationship again. Can harmony return?
Description of Breaking Up:
Steve (Russell Crowe) and Monica (Salma Hayek) make a dreadful couple. Something about Monica, a teacher, turns Steve, a photographer, into an insensitive jerk. Steve's behavior makes Monica clingy and hysterical. When the romantic "dramedy" Breaking Up opens, Steve and Monica are doing just that--breaking up. But every time they break up, one of them breaks down and calls the other to suggest, "Let's get together for dinner and talk." By now, they're so hot for each other that they tumble right into bed. As Monica puts it, "As the relationship has deteriorated, we f*** like monkeys!" Breaking Up is a very real portrait of an addictive love affair that strikes a decidedly familiar chord. How many of us have been through unhealthy relationships like this one? Crowe and Hayek are so credible that the movie is most compelling to watch. Their good times are achingly sweet. (When Crowe proposes marriage to Hayek in the back of a taxi, the heart of every female viewer is guaranteed to melt.) But can the good times make up for the bad? Using a mixture of filming techniques--montages, monologues, on-street interviews, plus straight-out dramatic scenes--director Robert Greenwald (The Burning Bed), and Pulitzer Prize-winning screenwriter Michael Cristofer (The Shadow Box), create a provocative, intimate, and erotic anatomy of the quintessential destructive relationship. --Laura Mirsky
Breaking Up Reviews:
Breaking Up (video with Russell Crowe and Salma Hayek) 
2007-02-07 - Just watched the movie "Breaking Up." Editing not the best. Watched the alternative/deleted scenes and felt one of the scenes should have been included in the movie to improve clarity. Highly recommended movie for Russell fans; he's adorable and very talented.
Great Movie, Actors, Performances, But May Be Hard to Watch 
2006-02-07 - Breaking Up is a movie either loved or hated by everyone who sees it. No one is indifferent. It's the story of a very dysfunctional, pain-filled, sexually charged relationship between two people, Steve and Monica (Russell Crowe and Salma Hayek, both still a few years away at this time from major stardom) who don't have the emotional maturity to handle their sexuality in a responsible fashion. They have great sex, savage each other emotionally, break up, come back together, have more great sex, beat each other up some more, break up...until they're both hurt so deeply they just can't hack it anymore. If you've ever fallen into this category, you're going to love this movie because you'll see yourself in the characters. Or you're going to hate this movie because you see yourself in the characters. Breaking Up is frequently quite funny, but it's "you laugh so you won't cry" brand funny.
Russell Crowe is just amazingly good as Steve, flexing the acting chops that shortly will be exposed to the world in Gladiator. One thing impressive about Russell in Breaking Up is he's not afraid to look bad - emotionally strung-out, tired, unshaven, fat, sloppy. He's completely believable as a guy whose horrible relationship skills are eating him alive.
Salma Hayek matches Russell talent for talent. Director Robert Greenwald tells a touching story about Salma's audition for this role. She came in, she read, and as she was leaving told him, "Thank you for letting me audition for this part, even though I know I'm not going to get it." When he asked, "Why wouldn't you get it?" she told him every part she'd ever gotten so far was a role specifically for a Latina. But that's not the case with Monica - she could be ANYTHING. When Salma received the phone call telling her she'd gotten this part, and realized she'd landed her first role based solely on her own talent with ethnicity not a consideration, she started crying.
While we're on the topic of Salma Hayek, let's take a moment to recognize just how impressive she is, both as an actress and movie star. Really, she stands out from her peers in the actressing profession. In my opinion, there are three areas in which actresses (or actors, for that matter) can be so impressive it makes them a star: face, figure (the least important of the three, though certainly we shouldn't underestimate the fact that people enjoy looking at nice bodies), and acting talent. It's not necessary to have all three to be something of a success. Being really outstanding in any one of the three (except figure alone) and, eh, okay in one of the others can do it. Be impressive in more than one area and we consider that performer truly exceptional.
As moviegoers we've all seen actresses with a beautiful face and figure but not much acting talent. But we want to see them anyway (at least for awhile) because they're so much fun to look at. When that happens, we get Pamela Sue Anderson. Then we have actresses who aren't much in the sex goddess category, but their acting talent is so profound we find them fascinating anyway. When that happens, we get Kathy Bates or Judi Dench. If an actress has a fantastic face, decent acting skills but not much of a bod, we consider ourselves lucky and make her a star. When that happens, we get Michelle Pfeiffer. Once in a great while, along comes an actress with a great face and figure combined with solid though not Academy Award-level acting skills. When that happens, we get Marilyn Monroe or Catherine Zeta-Jones and rave about them. And then, a few times a century, there's an actress who has it all: the face of an angel, a body to match AND absolutely impeccable acting skills. When that happens, we get a young Bette Davis - or Salma Hayek.
Breaking Up was shot on a tiny million-dollar budget. At one point, while shooting a kitchen scene where Salma is chopping carrots, they had to stop filming for half an hour while someone ran to the grocery store because they didn't have enough carrots. Now THAT'S low-budget. There are very few special effects, very little in the way of Hollywood flash. Hell, aside from a few walk-ons, Steve and Monica are the only characters in the film. This is an actor's movie, it stands or falls on the strength of the work of the two main players. Fortunately, from our "main players" in this case we're getting early, exquisite work from two future stars.
Good movie but they should have kept the original VHS cover
2004-07-14 - have you seen the original VHS cover? it screams sexy! When they converted the movie to DVD they made it seem sad. just go to the VHS version and take a look. There's a shot of sexy salma lying on a bed talking on the phone in a tight top giving you come hither looks! Also a nice romantic shot of the couple. the front cover text reads
When the sex is great.
When the passion is intense.
When the love is strong.
It's time for...
Breaking Up
now that's sexy!
The DVD on the other hand is sad, sad, melancholy. two forlorn lovers. they have that same shot on the VHS version, but it's on the back on the box, not the front cover. They completely removed all the text. Also on the disk itself they show them arguing. this is sexy Salma. I don't want to see a picture of her arguing on the disk!(there is some of that in the movie, but there is also a lot of making out!) They kept a slightly different shot of them on the inside cover, but it's not exactly the same powerful shot used on the VHS cover. Also they say something like
"Rich in both comic asides and emotional fisticuffs, Crowe and Hayek are perfectly matched"
matched? fisticuffs?! what happened to the sexy stuff?
I have noticed they are getting rid of a lot of the sex appeal in movies that used to be acceptable and commonplace when they convert a movie to DVD now(2004). politically correct.
just show their heads. They frown on showing anything too sexy now. Unlike prior to the mid 90s when it was ok to show sex appeal.
But the DVD picture quality is great, so that is a fantastic improvement over VHS . Good movie.
Crud Galore 
2003-11-11 - Whoever counselled Russell Crowe to take on this role needs to be shot and Crowe needs to rethink keeping that person on staff.
Crowe is so much better than this cheesy material. Thank God in the past few years he has been getting much more juicier and respectable roles offered to him that showcase his immense talent.
As for Salma Hayek, never liked her and possibly never will. She was much too annoying for my taste and I never did get any sense of natural chemistry between her and Crowe. Perhaps they both knew what crud it was and did it only for the paycheck, not caring about even attempting to make it believeable.
The actual premise could have been interesting but all the powers-that-be created was a very forgettable waste of good film.
Not a lot of story, but the scenery is great! 
2003-04-15 - If you love either Salma Hayek or Russell Crowe, buy this film.
It didn't win any awards, because it's a "B" movie, but I've paid for and watched a lot worse. Crowe and Hayek worked hard at being a couple in love and it's fun to watch. It's almost as if they were on opposing roller coasters, one at the top while the other was at the bottom.
