Team Aniston.

Okay, I admit it: I think I may have been wrong. I've been yammering on for years about how on the opening weekend of a movie, all of the profits go to the studio, but as the successive weeks go by, the percentage which goes to the theater gets higher and higher. So, why go on the opening weekend? Why not wait until you've had a chance to read some reviews, and if you still really want to go, then you can be sure that your money is supporting your local theater?

After thinking about this, and discussing it with several other people, I've decided that it actually doesn't make that much of a difference. First of all, the percentage change is not that great -- the bulk of the ticket price will still always go to the studio and distributor. Second of all, the place where the theater makes the bulk of their money is from concession sales. So if you really want to support your local theater (and keep in mind of course that most theaters are not owned locally but are national chains), then go whenever you want, just be sure to buy a $4 bottle of water while you're there.

That said, I went and contributed to "The Break-Up" being the number one movie at the box office this weekend. And, yes, I bought a $4 bottle of water. Christine went with me, which was fun -- we don't get many chances to just hang out. And since we're both moving in the next couple of weeks, this was probably our last chance to do it!

The movie was pretty good. There were a number of very funny moments, and the acapella version of "Rainbow Connection" over the credits was worth the whole price of admission. I thought Jennifer Aniston acquitted herself quite well. The reviews have been somewhat negative toward her, saying that her character was unlikeable, but I think that's kind of the point -- the character has gotten herself to a place in her life where she has become unlikeable. She isn't sure how she got to that point, and she wants out. The first and easiest way to make a change like that is to break up with your significant other. It's a fairly real situation (one that I've been in myself), and if I have any complaint about the movie, it's that she's TOO likeable at the beginning.

The other part of Jen's problem is that this is definitely Vince Vaughn's movie (he co-wrote it, too, in case you didn't know). She really should be only a supporting character, and I suspect that the girlfriend's role might have started out that way before Aniston signed on. This is essentially Vince Vaughn's "Punch-Drunk Love." That movie took Adam Sandler's comedic persona, the man-boy with an unpredictably violent temper, took it to a logical extreme, and examined the consequences of that behavior. "The Break-Up" does the same thing to Vaughn -- takes his quintessental guy's guy; that sports-lovin', beer-drinkin', video-game-playin' motor mouth; and wonders what would happen when that guy got into a relationship. Sure, he's charming as can be, but really only in small doses. Once you're living with him, a lot of that charm starts to wear a little thin. And what happens is: he gets dumped.

By the end of the movie, of course, he realizes his mistakes, learns a lesson, and we're left with the tacked-on happy ending that test audiences demanded. But all of this felt very real to me. I really liked the script, though it was not nearly as funny as I think most people will anticipate. They are looking for "Wedding Crashers 2," but they're getting something a little closer to a Gen-X "thirtysomething." I understand how likeable people can take step after step that each seem completely reasonable, yet lead them somewhere they never expected to be. And I understand how hard it is to come back from that place, and how sometimes it's easier to hate the other person than to work things out. The characters also get bad advice from their best friends, which is a fairly common and real problem, I would imagine : )

Roger Ebert said in his review that he didn't like them as a couple, so he was never rooting for them to get back together. But I think he missed the point. The movie is called "The Break-Up" for a reason -- they're NOT good together at this point (although it would have been nice to see a little more backstory about when they were good together), and the best possible thing for them IS to break up. You should be rooting for them NOT to get back together. Then they might actually learn something from the experience. And they do.

[Update: here's a link to a great review of the film from the Onion AV Club that feels the same way I do, and says it more eloquently.]