10 Things We Should Do Before We Break Up

The gods of alphabetical Sky movie watching decided that "10 Things We Should Do Before We Break Up" should be the next film I watch. A romantic comedy(-ish) starring Christina Ricci and Hamish Linklater.

Abigail (Christina Ricci) meets Benjamin (Hamish Linklater) on a blind date and despite both their acknowledgements that their relationship wouldn't work, a fact they detail at length on their first date, they spend the night together and Abigail becomes pregnant. Abigail already has two children from her first marriage and is unwilling to allow the childish and petulant Benjamin any further into her life, but eventually she relents and tries to manage their unusual backwards relationship.

So, I put comedy in the opening paragraph, but I'm not sure that's really right. There are romantic elements, and there's the capacity for a few of the scenes to be charming or humorous, but it's not really a comedy. It might have been, if for a small tonal shift in the Benjamin character, but really he's just too awful to be considered a comedic character. Self-sabotaging his relationship as he bumbles through a failed life, acting as if calling himself on his behaviour is in any way comparable to dealing with it. Ricci's performance alongside him is fine, if occasionally a little unlikely that she'd tolerate some of the earlier behaviour prior to it coming to a head. Overall, it's a reasonable, if slightly dull indie drama.

But there also are several bizarre scenes with Abigail's best friend that feel like coded lectures on anti-abortion themes, so much so I wondered if this was a Christian movie at one point during them.

With a 70 minute running time you'd think this would be on the short and lightweight side, but the opposite is true. Two very fine lead performances and a grown-up approach to its subject give us a poignant snapshot of a relationship. Things may not work out the way we want them to, but that's what happens when a film maker tries to give us a slice of life instead of crowd-pleasing cliches. And Galt Niederhoffer deserves particular credit for telling the story with economy. It would have been easy to pad it out with another 10-15 minutes to give it a more conventional running time, but that would have detracted from an intelligent, worthwhile movie.

I'll be honest, I didn't expect much when I dared to watch this film, in fact, from the very first scene I thought "Gosh, this seems like one of those cheesy and nonsense Lifetime movies" (and it's kind of like that), but even though I would not say this is the greatest movie ever, I would neither say it's a terrible one; "10 Things We Should Do Before We Break Up" is an actually interesting movie for a good hour, seriously though, I'm the most impatient person and I didn't feel like "OMG, end up already" since it's in fact a pretty short movie. Talking about a deeper manner, characters are not great though and a lot of people say they're actually unbearable, I might not disagree but at least I'd say they're not perfect but human.

The plot is simple but slow for almost an hour, the final stage of her pregnancy goes very fast and we, as an audience, just feel really cold about it, the finale is just "meh", I'd say is unpredictable because I never thought they would dare to end it just like that like I get the fact they're not meant to be, but there's no catharsis, neither an evolution of the characters. By the end, I was just like, "Really?"

Anyway, I'm giving it a 4 since I liked the first part, only that.

Abigail (Christina Ricci) is meeting her friend Kate at a bar. It's actually a setup for a blind date with Benjamin Conway (Hamish Linklater). He suggests making a list of ten things to do before they break up. It leads to an one-night stand and a pregnancy for the mother of two.

This is an indie. It's a relatively short indie. I don't sense the chemistry between Ricci and Linklater. They have some cute scenes but non of them achieve relationship takeoff. These are two good actors who are keeping their energy at a medium and that makes their relationship a bit at a medium. When a downturn happens, it doesn't have quite the shock value. The one truly off-putting scene is the best friend. I don't get her attitude. The scene crashes headlong into politics and I don't get it. I don't know anyone like this person. The movie is not fun enough. When it's edgy, it gets awkward. I love these two actors and it's not their problem. The title is fun but the ten things don't matter. This indie has a few interesting ideas and two good leads. It also has a few bad ideas and the leads aren't maximized. Even the closing text frustrated me. Maybe it would be better to have an actual scene to depict their relationship.

Undecided over this film. It's a great story line except the ending is very abrupt. When the end titles were rolling I was left asking was that it. In one way I can say it's not your typical film where everything has a happy ever after ending but it just left me wanting to know more.

I did have to force myself to watch the first 10 minutes and after that I couldn't turn it off.