The Breaker Upperers (2018)
Dir. Jackie van Beek, Madeleine Sami / Dur. 81 min
In A Nutshell:- The ups and downs of two friends who runs a business breaking up couples in unhappy relationships.
The Good:- It has a strong cast, many of whom will be familiar to anyone who’s watched a Taika Waititi film (as one of the of the lines in the film points out, it’s New Zealand, everyone’s bound to run into each other eventually); it’s a good high concept for a comedy; and it’s genuinely very funny. Writer / directors Jackie van Beek and Madeleine Sami also star and very much hold the film together with strong comedic chemistry between them but all the supporting cast also get their chance to shine (with a couple of celebrity cameos dotted in there too). It’s dry and deadpan but also silly and over the top when it needs to be.
The Bad:- I honestly can’t think of anything I disliked about the film. Well, OK, one purely subjective thing - a part of the film involves a Celine Dion song and I can't bear Celine Dion but the sequence was funny enough to power through that.
The Verdict:- It's a funny brisk comedy that zips along at a good pace with two strong central leads ably supported by an equally strong supporting cast. Go seek it out (Netflix have bought the rights to it - as they seem to have with around half the films I’ve seen so far - so it’ll be on there in 2019).
Festival Tidbit:- In the post-film Q&A, Madeleine Sami described the film as “womance” as opposed to a “bromance” and I think that’s a pretty accurate summation of the relationship between the core characters.
Next time:- Switching it over to the dramatic tomorrow with the new film from Ben Wheatley, director of Sightseers, Kill List, High Rise and Free Fire (and some Doctor Who too)
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