Pun Salad

I liked this movie quite a bit more than the critics did. Warning: I'm going to spoil the ending here. It's an (almost) totally believable demonstration of how two ostensibly happy people, Gary and Brooke, (played by Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston) let a minor disagreement put their relationship into the toilet, through unwillingness to compromise, game-playing and selfishness. And—unlike the normal romantic comedy—the film is honest enough to recognize there's no going back. Although both characters "grow", there's no way to glue their shattered relationship back together.

You wouldn't think that this could still be funny, but it is. The supporting cast is superb. Ann-Margaret plays Brooke's mom, yowza. Justin Long, who I thought was mediocre in Accepted, is great here, as Brooke's co-worker. [And he's even better in the alternate ending and a deleted scene on the DVD, so check that out too.]

In real life, however, you have to think that the Vince Vaughn character would have realized: Hey! My girlfriend looks just like Jennifer Aniston! And then proceeded to do the dishes, go to the ballet, and basically anything else she wanted.