Review: Breakin' All the Rules (** 1/2)

BREAKIN' ALL THE RULES
A film review by Steve Rhodes

Copyright 2004 Steve Rhodes

RATING (0 TO ****): ** 1/2


BREAKIN' ALL THE RULES, by writer and director Daniel Taplitz, is an
easy-going romantic comedy that goes down as smoothly as a glass of Scotch,
the drink of choice of most of the story's likeable characters. Handsomely
shot and respectably acted, the movie's main disappointment is that it never
amounts to much.



The story, which sometimes calls to mind a Shakespearean comedy in basic
premise, involves three couples and several cases of mistaken identities
that aren't fully revealed until the last act.



As the story opens, Quincy Watson (Jamie Foxx) is in the process of being
dumped by Helen Sharp (Bianca Lawson), a girl whom he thought that he was
going to marry. Quincy is a handsome guy with a disheveled appearance.
Always awkwardly adjusting his ill-fitting clothes, Quincy is most notable
for his haircut, which looks like it used to be a small Afro until he stuck
his finger into an electrical socket.



A writer by trade, the distraught Quincy pours himself into his work,
producing a best-selling book called the "Breakin' Up Handbook" on how to
end a relationship. Since Quincy is an expert, his publisher, Philip Gascon
(Peter MacNicol), asks Quincy to help him in breaking up with his possessive
girlfriend, Rita Monroe (Jennifer Esposito). Quincy is also asked by his
best buddy, a hunk named Evan Fields (Morris Chestnut), to help in breaking
up with his girlfriend, an equally gorgeous woman named Nicky Callas
(Gabrielle Union). The confusion about who is who starts when Nicky cuts
her hair short, which she says makes her look like "Halle Berry's Yorkshire
Terrier." Going to meet the long-haired Nicky, Quincy, who doesn't
recognize who she is, falls for her. Nicky figures out what is going on and
introduces herself as Mary. Meanwhile back at Quincy's place, Rita comes by
to see him, and Evan, who happens to be there at the time, ends up telling
her that he is Quincy. And so on.



As the game of musical relationships plays itself out, we are never bored
yet never completely engaged either. By the time, the fairly short movie
comes to its predictable conclusion, we find that we've been pleasantly
entertained but never wowed. BREAKIN' ALL THE RULES doesn't break any rules
at all. It's just a by-the-numbers romantic comedy. Wait for video.



BREAKIN' ALL THE RULES runs 1:25. It is rated PG-13 for "sexual
material/humor and language" and would be acceptable for kids around 11 and
up.



The film is playing in nationwide release now in the United States. In the
Silicon Valley, it is showing at the AMC and the Century theaters.



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