'Breakin' All the Rules' Movie Review (2004)

By: Steve Davis
Published: Friday, May 14th 2004 at 12:00 AM

Jamie Foxx takes a break from his burgeoning singing career to get back to acting in Breakin' All the Rules. Foxx stars as a writer who after getting unceremoniously dumped by his girlfriend, is inspired to write a how to guide defining the "rules" on breaking up with someone. The book becomes a big hit, he becomes embroiled in a love triangle, and all parties involved break all the rules as they stumble toward love in this romantic comedy.

Foxx is great as Quincy Watson, the writer who goes a little crazy when his girlfriend dumps him. Morris Chestnut is Quincy's player cousin Evan Fields, who utilizes Quincy's guide to dump the women he is dating.

Gabrielle Union is stunning as the love interest Nicky Callins; she does her best to effectively play the two guys after her, and steals the screen and limelight away from these two macho guys, as they fight it out for her affection.

A big strength of this film is the writing done by Daniel Taplitz, the "rules" to breaking up, are ones we can all relate to. Such as, always break up at the other person's place, so you can control the time spent together after dumping the person, or change your voicemail so they do not obsessively call you over and over again, just to hear your voice.

There are more of these insights, and the movie does a great job of keeping the movie light and fun, while the characters are at times being cruel and ruthless. Chestnut and Foxx play off each other well, with the subplots acting as the drive for this movie, including a great tangent involving Jennifer Esposito and Peter MacNicol.

The movie has it's lulls, and some of the jokes miss their mark, but for the most part, Breakin' All the Rules is a clever, hip film that will make you laugh, and is definitely worth checking out.

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