Audience Member
There are many reasons for me to give this movie a score of 4 out of 5, at first I may have given this movie only a score of 2 out of 5 but after I watched it twice and did a bit of research I believe this movie deserves some real credit. Breakup buddies is much more then a crude comedy about a man trying to accomplish a one night stand during a divorce, it is filled with personalty and character development. Ning Hao is a renowned director in China that believes that film has the ability to represent culture and also can show the various aspects of the people that live in the era. This movie does a fantastic job showing the lives and difficulties of people living in modern China. It uses elements of suspense, and drama and also gives some surprising plot twists that leave viewers shocked. The way that we see Geng Hao and Kang Xiaoyu story lines finally connect is shocking, no one expected her storyline to take place in the past. I also felt this changed my opinion of her as a character, at first I thought of her as a good person and then I changed my opinion of her to someone who probably has lower morals then Geng Hao and Hao Yi because of her decision to leave Geng Hao. In addition the movie gives its audience the ability to see the depth of how Chinas culture is changing. We get to see the country side and suburbs and the way that the dropout couple was included showed us the situation of some of the younger generation in China. Geng Hao and Hao Yi has some questionable moral standards that I feel reflect the changing culture in China, but in the end the theme of this movie shows us how these characters have very good qualities and I assume are overall good people. I felt the shots that were shown were very good and the use of the camera angles to depict their read trip was amazing. The sights that are shown are beautiful and I am glad that the director picked Dali to shoot the end of this movie in. Dali was gorgeous and shows the audience a more cultural China mixed with the modern people. The very end of the movie ties up the storyline well and shows why Kang Xiaoyu probably divorced Geng Hao. In this scene she tells him that she heard that he was getting back into singing and then asks him why he ever gave it up. He said to her it was because he needed to make a living, she told him that there is more to life then just making a living. I believe that she left him probably because he gave up his passion for money making and then she fell out of love with him. This is a great message to the audience to not give up on their passions. This was a fantastic movie!
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/20/23
Full Review
jesse o
It's so weird to see a comedy that completely misses the mark as much as this one that also, by the end, has some pretty insightful things to say about marriage, divorce and the experiences that both things bring, whether painful or joyful. It's not that this film was ever bad, though I think its approach certainly needed work, but it's just painfully unfunny. To some people that would equal a bad movie, but it doesn't, at least in my view. Cause some comedy films offer so much more than just laughs. I liken this film to 50/50 without the cancer elements. I realize this is a poor comparison, considering that I absolutely adored, but the idea is similar. Guy sees that his best friend is going through a rough time, so he tries to get his friend out of this slump by trying to fix him up with various women. In 50/50, however, this is handled in a really poignant manner, where it was just that Seth Rogen, who's trying to get Joseph Gordon-Levitt, his best friend to be cheerful in the face of something as serious as spinal cancer and in this movie it's just used as an excuse to shoot some unfunny skits. Like there's no real sense of connection or friendship between Zheng Xu and Bo Huang, the leads in the film, and I blame the writing for this. By and large, the leads in the film are presented as really unlikable to be honest. Bo, the has-been singer, for being an asshole to almost everyone he meets and Xu, the best friend, for kind of being a sexist pig. And this is a problem in characterization, cause I've seen Bo Huang numerous times before and he's a really talented actor, particularly at comedy and Zheng Xu I've seen only once before, that I remember, but I can't recall if he is any good or not, so I tend not to blame the cast for that, they were just doing what they were told. So you have two incredibly unpleasant characters and you're watching them in an unfunny comedy, that's just a real bad combination. It makes watching this movie, not necessarily a chore, but something I just wish I wasn't doing. There's also a female character, a 'always a bridesmaid never a bride' type, who's travelling to Dali to get a renewed sense of purpose. And they show you these two journeys and you're kinda curious how they come together in the end and that is, actually, one of the better things about the movie, how they go about telling this story thinking it's from one perspective when really it's from another and I really liked it, because it's one of the few things that the movie gets right. The third act of the movie is also the funniest. Those were the only moments in the film that earned a legit laugh. And here's the thing, there's actually a good idea here, but there's a good idea here for a drama and not necessarily a comedy. A man who's slowly unraveling as a result of his divorce and you get to see how he gets lower and lower and even more pathetic as the film progresses. Like he's trying to get out of the shadow that was his divorce and trying to get into the light. As cliche as that sounds, it's one of the film's themes. It's not a world changing idea, but it is a good one and it might've been a good movie if it was a drama instead of a comedy. But the thing is that, I'm sure, this was supposed to be a drama as well. Sadly, though, the movie is too goofy to be dramatic and too dramatic to be goofy, if that makes sense. There's some clear identity issues here. I know two stars is a bad rating to some people, but it's not to me. I mean it is a 4 out of 10 if you really think about it, and that's not very good. But, to me, two stars means that the movie may not be good, but at least it's watchable and you're able to get through it without much problems. I'm afraid to say, however, that that's not the case in this movie. This is a bad movie that's slightly elevated by a surprisingly good third act. But it's simply not enough to elevate what is one of the more unfunny comedies I've seen in a while. I can't exactly recommend it, but at least the third act actually does something worthwhile. There's better stuff out there for you to watch.
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
Full Review
Audience Member
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Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/12/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Rename it Fuck buddies....
Rated 0.5/5 Stars •
Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars
02/19/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Very difficult to add an honest review, as the English subtitling was surprisingly shoddy, making it very difficult to pick up intricacies within the overarching plot, but "Breakup Buddies" delivers plenty of laughs with some heartfelt moments as well.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/03/23
Full Review
Audience Member
It's good movie but the English subscription lost 90% fun.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
01/28/23
Full Review
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