Thursday night is meant to be Date Night. For the last little while Will and Marianna have been off to their Dodo's house (W) and Baba's house (M) on a Thursday night for a variety of practical and grandparent-need inspired reasons. So we have planned this to be our date night. However, due to a never ending list of stupid reasons we have yet to have a date on a Thursday night. Last night, for the first time, we managed to pull it off and it was lovely.

Movie Review: The Break Up (spoilers included, you have been warned)

I was expecting a chick flick romantic comedy but hoping for something a little better (being a fan of Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau's earlier work Swingers and Made; oh, and if you want to see VV in one of his first films, where he's at his kooky best you must see Clay Pigeons - a true indy classic). But, as usual, I digress. This is no lightweight comedy and a film I certainly wouldn't want to be seeing on a first, second or eighteenth date. After almost fourteen years in a relationship though I felt happy to see it with the man I love. It must also be said that this is definitely not a movie to be seen within twelve months of a break up unless you are the break-up-er and/or you are already blissfully happy in another relationship.

It is a film which is very funny in parts but the writing was very very close to reality (as I know it) and the tissues came out on more than one occasion. The story itself is simple, guy meets girl, guy and girl fall in love, fast forward a few years into the relationship, guy and girl are comfortable yet unhappy, he takes her for granted, he wants to be left alone, she has enough, break up ensues.

What made it so good for me was how well the dialogue reflected reality in terms of male/female miscommunication. There were a number of stand out scenes: the preparation for the dinner party at the beginning, the conversation about the pool table at the dinner party; the non-verbal communication when Brooke comes home to the aftermath of Gary's party; the scene in the bedroom at the end. This scene needs special mention because it really hit me as I watched how close to the bone it must have felt for Jennifer to play such a from-the-gut break up scene with what has been happening in recent years in her own private life. It must be impossible to emotionally seperate during the filming of such a scene and I had a whole lot of empathy for the girl at that moment.

Double spoiler alert!!!

The final scene was perfection. If they had got back together I would have lost all faith in the film. The scene where they meet in the street after being apart for some time was really beautiful. The overly bright, slightly forced smile on her face; the almost desperate, searching look on his face; the realisation that despite the friendly words they wouldn't see each other again. So bittersweet, so perfect. As Jeff Buckley would say "Oh, that was sooooooo real".

A final word must be saved for Judy Davis as Brooke's boss Marilyn Dean. What has happened to you Judy? Are you being eaten up by some horrific parasite which is shrivelling you up and causing you to look like a true head on a stick? Sure the look fitted the characted well and she was great as the acid queen Marilyn but my heart broke for the Judy Davis I remembered as Sybylla in My Brilliant Career all those years ago.