Starring: Jackie van Beek, Madeleine Sami, James Rolleston, Celia Pacquola
Distributor: Madman Entertainment
Runtime: 82 mins. Reviewed in Jul 2018
| 
| 
‘The Breaker Upperers’ hails from a tradition of fun, quirky Kiwi films with the potential to strike it big internationally (or across the Tasman at least). It boasts a talented local cast, a likably off-centre premise and just enough emotional truths for it to be mildly affecting. It doesn’t scale the same peaks as recent Kiwi critical darlings ‘What We Do in the Shadows’ and ‘Hunt for the Wilderpeople’ (both written and directed by Taika Waititi, an executive producer on this film), but there’s enough skill here to warrant attention for the starring-writing-and-directing team of Jackie van Beek and Madeleine Sami.
Van Beek and Sami play Jen and Mel, a couple of friends who are in business together as the titular “breaker upperers”. For a fee, they will extricate anyone from their current relationship, and they pride themselves on doing so with minimal fuss and maximal effectiveness. Of course, they’re not averse to a bit of role play if they need to fake a significant other’s death or pose as a secret mistress (as an early, laugh-out-loud funny montage makes clear), but these packages demand a premium price point.
Jen and Mel first met when they discovered that they were both dating the same guy, Joe (Cohen Holloway). After mutually dumping him (a backstory creatively delivered via a hallucinated homage to a Celine Dion video), swearing off love and starting their business together seemed like the logical next step. Sure, their work might be a little cynical, but in their eyes, they’re helping people end unwanted romantic bonds cleanly and efficiently – the best result for both parties.
Mel, the more sensitive of the pair, starts to feel sorry for a clients’ spouse, Anna (Celia Pacquola, in possession of a great crying face), and thus starts an unusual friendship overshadowed by Mel’s hushed up career and her role in Anna’s split. On Jen’s mind is Joe, whose return to Auckland sends her down a path of fixation and possible relapse, despite Joe’s young family in tow. Throwing his rugby league-star heft into the complication is 17-year-old Jordan (James Rolleston, the hilarious lead in 2010 Kiwi breakout ‘Boy’), who requests their help breaking up with this girlfriend Sepa (Ana Scotney, making a strong debut), a young but fierce Maori woman amusingly flanked by an ever-present gang of friends.
The screenplay, penned by van Beek and Sami, has all the hallmarks of recent crossover hits from New Zealand. Its comedy is rooted in awkward pauses, bumbling dialogue, incongruous non sequiturs and sharp tonal shifts. Reframing the film as a sort of platonic romantic comedy, the beats – tension, a break-up, a reconciliation – are a little worn, which becomes more apparent as the energy of the first act wanes. Their observations always ring true emotionally, even when the plot gets a little more absurd (a deviation into a police station stretches credibility), though their story doesn’t plumb any challenging depths.
In front of the camera, the pair make solid choices to let the story breathe, their double act wisely pairing van Beek’s cooler, more manic presence with Sami’s gentler warmth. They’ve also surrounded themselves with a terrific ensemble of supporting players and cameos, including Rima Te Wiata as Jen’s hedonistic mother, Angella Dravid as a shy intern, and Rose Matafeo as a brazen checkout chick.
Even if it’s uneven and a little transparent, ‘The Breaker Upperers’ is good fun. That, and its admirable ability to depict female friendship in an insightful yet playful manner, make it a success. After ‘Wilderpeople’, Taika Waititi was lured into the world of franchise film making by Marvel Studios, resulting in the acclaimed, psychedelic rollercoaster that was ‘Thor: Ragnarok’. If Marvel ever tackle a female-led ‘Thor’ reboot down the line (see ‘Ghostbusters’ or ‘Oceans 8’ for precedents, or even a recent run in the ‘Thor’ comics), they could do worse than getting van Beek and Sami into the directors’ chairs. They might even throw the She-Hulk into the script for good measure, taking van Beek and Sami’s female double act into the stratosphere.
Callum Ryan is an associate of the Australian Catholic Office for Film & Broadcasting.
This New Zealand comedy-drama tells the story of two women, who develop an agency devoted to breaking couples up so as to move the people involved on to begin their lives afresh. Clients pay them to end relationships that the clients themselves have helped to establish. The movie was produced by the team that was responsible for “Hunt for the Wilderpeople” (2016). The same two women (Madeleine Sami and Jackie Beek) direct the film, as took the main roles, and wrote the screen play.
This is an absurdist comedy film that offers a cheeky spin on female friendship. Two women, Jen (Jackie van Beek) and Mel (Madeleine Sami), are bonded platonically together and have a hang-up about love and attachment, ever since they found out 15 years ago that they were dating the same two-timing man. After that happened, they decided to set up an agency entirely devoted to breaking up budding romances, and they make their living by being professional “breaker upperers” – giving the title to the film.
Jen and Mel successfully turn other people’s relationships into a profit making enterprise by strategically wrecking other people’s attachments. The two of them rationalise their agency by arguing that they are helping their clients end their relationships, because they are too weak to do it themselves. Business for them is booming.
One of their clients is a grief-stricken woman, called Annie (Celia Pacquola), who has no idea that her husband is living it up riotously and selfishly in her absence. They proceed to disabuse Annie by informing her that her husband has tragically passed away, so that now she can get on with her life. Mel and Jen dress up as policewomen to tell Annie the terrible news.
Another client, Jordan (James Rolleston), who is over-attached to his mother, thinks he has told his tough-talking girlfriend (Ana Scotney) that he has broken up with her, but his girlfriend doesn’t get the message at all, until Mel and Jen make it abundantly clear to her that she has been completely rejected. In the encounter, however, Mel romantically falls for Jordan which makes things awkward for Jen, and the future of the agency.
Without second thoughts, Jen and Mel are perfectly willing to act outraged lovers, fake deaths, invent pregnancies, and crash weddings to deliver unsettling, or even tragic, news. The golden rule for them is: never “get connected”, and Mel breaks the rule. The movie basically takes the form of a series of comedy sketches, which conclude with singing and dancing. The acting performances of Sami and van Meek, as Jen and Mel, are full of vitality that establishes the pair as likeable larrikins, and the movie is full of inspired silliness.
At times, the film pushes the boundaries of acceptable humour. This is illustrated, for example, when Jen and Mel fake drug-taking, and when they ply their cause by doing strip routines at a local police station. The script frequently goes close to the bone too as it plays loosely with gender. The film’s improvisation style, however, makes it clear that the scenarios are intended to be part of one huge, comedy romp.
This is a movie that is full of energy. It won’t be to everyone’s tastes, but its originality is obvious. It is weak on narrative, and its conclusion that the relationship between Mel and Jen has been strengthened by what has happened is ultimately unconvincing. Further, the golden rule of never getting connected conveys a very cynical view of human attachment. One most remembers, the zany, surreal antics, which make this comedy a very unusual one. The movie tries to preach the worth of forming meaningful relationships, but communicates that message in a quirky way that doesn’t quite make its intended dramatic point.
Peter W. Sheehan is Associate of the Australian Catholic Office for Film and Broadcasting
12 Random Films…
