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Movies / On DVD / Breakin' All the Rules
Breakin' All the Rules

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Breakin' All the Rules (2004)

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Reviews Counted:85

Fresh:28

Rotten:57

Average Rating:4.8/10

Consensus: This formulaic screwball comedy is weighed down by a contrived, overly complicated plot.

Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for sexual material/humor and language

Runtime: 1 hr 37 mins

Genre: Comedies

Theatrical Release:May 14, 2004 Wide

Box Office: $11,827,301

Synopsis: Things are looking bleak for Quincy Watson (Jamie Foxx, ANY GIVEN SUNDAY and BOOTY CALL). His company is firing people left and right and his heartless fiancée Helen (Bianca Lawson) has just taken... Things are looking bleak for Quincy Watson (Jamie Foxx, ANY GIVEN SUNDAY and BOOTY CALL). His company is firing people left and right and his heartless fiancée Helen (Bianca Lawson) has just taken off for Paris with his best man. What else is there to do but sit around the house in an old bathrobe writing anguished letters to Helen that express just how bad he feels over how tactlessly she broke the news to him? His cousin Evan (Morris Chestnut, CONFIDENCE, HALF PAST DEAD) is a magazine publisher who convinces him to take the letters and turn them into an instructional book about how to scientifically and skillfully break up with someone. When the book hits the bestseller list, Quincy is suddenly regarded as an expert on the subject. Both Evan and Quincy's former boss Philip Gascon (Peter MacNicol of ALLY MACBEAL fame) enlist his help breaking things off with their girlfriends. Quincy even agrees to meet Evan's girlfriend Nicky (the lovely Gabrielle Union of BRING IT ON and DELIVER US FROM EVA) in his place, but Nicky recognizes him from a TV interview about his book and immediately suspects (correctly) foul play. So, she decides to play her own game by introducing herself to Quincy as someone else. BREAKIN' ALL THE RULES is a head-spinning yarn of mistaken identity that has everyone in the movie in a convoluted tailspin. It's a charming, clever, and complicated tale of love, sex, and romance. This comedy of errors has a lot going for it, including an up-to-the-minute hip-hop and R&B soundtrack with some cool Middle Eastern dance grooves and some old school tunes to boot. [More]

Starring: Jamie Foxx, Morris Chestnut, Gabrielle Union, Jennifer Esposito

Starring: Jamie Foxx, Morris Chestnut, Gabrielle Union, Jennifer Esposito, Peter MacNicol, Bianca Lawson, Jill Ritchie, Heather Headley

Director: Daniel Taplitz

Director: Daniel Taplitz
Screenwriter: Daniel Taplitz
Producer: Lisa Tornell
Composer: Marcus Miller
Studio: Screen Gems

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Release:

Jan 11, 2005

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Reviews for Breakin' All the Rules

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41 - 60 (sorted by date)
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch | comment Comment
05/14/04
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Denver Rocky Mountain News | comment Comment
05/14/04
Robert Denerstein
Robert Denerstein
Denver Rocky Mountain News
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Despite what the title suggests, it's the good old-fashioned virtues that make Breakin' All the Rules better than most romantic comedies.

Full Review Source: Boston Herald | comment Comment
05/14/04
Paul Sherman
Paul Sherman
Boston Herald

The plot is silly -- mistaken identities and misunderstandings have several characters unknowingly sleeping with each other's partners -- and gets sillier as it goes.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Daily News | comment Comment
05/14/04
Gary Thompson
Gary Thompson
Philadelphia Daily News

Whatever might have been raunchy-cute has been edited out of it. It's a movie with a lot of very good-looking people trying to find something funny to say or do.

Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel | comment Comment
05/14/04
Roger Moore
Roger Moore
Orlando Sentinel

It just keeps building on an extremely complicated sitcom plot ... and the gorgeous, charming cast just keeps hitting scene after scene out of the park.

Full Review Source: Oregonian | comment Comment
05/14/04
M.E. Russell
M.E. Russell
Oregonian

In their scenes together, Foxx and Chestnut trade sly one-liners like front-line horn players in an intimate jazz club, while Union is given her best showcase yet for her comedic timing.

Full Review Source: Newsday | comment Comment
05/14/04
Gene Seymour
Gene Seymour
Newsday
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

For all the labyrinthine liaisons, the plot is as predictable as a rainforest weather forecast. There are, however, enough bright ideas and zippy lines to keep things on the fresh side.

Full Review Source: Newark Star-Ledger | comment Comment
05/14/04
Lisa Rose
Lisa Rose
Newark Star-Ledger
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

For the most part, Breakin' All the Rules feels like a Richard (Love Actually) Curtis film but without the inventiveness and wit.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
05/14/04
Jonathan Foreman
Jonathan Foreman
New York Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Packed with enough muddles and mixups to stock a French farce (or a middling UPN sitcom), Rules coasts amiably on without striking any real sparks.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
05/14/04
Elizabeth Weitzman
Elizabeth Weitzman
New York Daily News

Content to offer an endless string of mistaken identities and contrived misunderstandings in the vein of a failed TV sitcom spinoff like The Ropers.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Daily News | comment Comment
05/14/04
Glenn Whipp
Glenn Whipp
Los Angeles Daily News

It isn't great by any stretch, but it could be just the escape for anyone hoping to avoid the big-budget blockbusters currently using up all the available oxygen.

Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
05/14/04
Liz Braun
Liz Braun
Jam! Movies

An amiable little sex romp with a few real surprises when it comes to leaving everyone with a smile on their faces.

Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
05/14/04
Louis B. Hobson
Louis B. Hobson
Jam! Movies

Delivers the goods in formulaic fashion, but enjoys an edge thanks to a fast-paced story and, more importantly, the casting of Foxx as the romantic lead.

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
05/14/04
Jennie Punter
Jennie Punter
Globe and Mail
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

In romantic comedy, it's all about the chemistry. Jamie Foxx and Gabrielle Union have just enough to make Breakin' All the Rules worth seeing.

Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press | comment Comment
05/14/04
John Monaghan
John Monaghan
Detroit Free Press

It's a disturbingly conventional and painfully cliched bore that doesn't violate any existing cinematic rules, except maybe that romantic comedies are supposed to be funny.

Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
05/14/04
Jeff Vice
Jeff Vice
Deseret News, Salt Lake City

The movie depends for its success on the likability of Jamie Foxx, Morris Chestnut and Gabrielle Union, and because they're funny and pleasant, we enjoy the ride even though the destination is preordained.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
05/14/04
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It's all incredibly routine fare, borrowing as much from the old Doris Day and Rock Hudson comedies as from their numerous knockoffs.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
05/14/04
Wade Major
Wade Major
Boxoffice Magazine

As date-night piffle goes ... it's thoroughly engaging.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
05/14/04
Ty Burr
Ty Burr
Boston Globe

The personable, good-looking cast helps things along somewhat but Daniel Taplitz’s script falls short of success.

Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews | comment Comment
05/14/04
Robin Clifford
Robin Clifford
Reeling Reviews
 
 
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