Last year alone, two movies about women writing breakup books and then dealing with the consequences were released. Down with Love tanked, but How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days was a surprising hit. Now in a textbook stroke of imitation, we have Breakin' All the Rules (PG-13).
What's the difference? Well, now it's a man named Quincy Watson (Jamie Foxx) whose book about the proper ways to break up relationships is causing problems. While the previous films were filled with white actors and sensibilities, Breakin' All the Rules features a distinctly African-American vibe. And, of course, there's the movie's title.
But come to think of it, that title is just one dropped g away from a trashy 1985 comedy about oversexed college students. On the surface, there isn't anything in Breakin' All the Rules that moviegoers haven't seen - and possibly ignored - before.
Gabrielle Union (Deliver Us From Eva) co-stars as Quincy's former lover; Morris Chestnut (Two Can Play That Game) plays his womanizing best friend. Even by identifying the supporting actors' most recent films, we get hints of the comical tone of Breakin' All the Rules. Bet on a radio-friendly soundtrack, too.
John Grisham, out of the big leagues
John Grisham has sold tens of millions of books, and movies (The Firm, The Pelican Brief, A Time to Kill, etc.) based on those novels have grossed nearly a billion dollars at box offices. How strange that his latest film project, Mickey (PG), couldn't find a distributor.
One reason may be that Mickey isn't a courtroom drama, as his most popular works have been. It's also an original screenplay by Grisham - his first official screenwriting credit after having his name removed from The Gingerbread Man a few years ago - without bestseller lists drumming up business before the cameras rolled. Mickey doesn't have anything going for it that Grisham's earlier screen works enjoyed.
What it does have is Harry Connick Jr. playing a single father on the lam from the law. His son (Shawn Salinas) wants to play Little League baseball, so dad falsifies documents, changing the boy's name to Mickey so he can play. It turns out that Mickey is over the age limit for eligibility, leading to a situation similar to the Danny Almonte scandal in New York a few years ago.
Grisham and director Hugh Wilson (The First Wives Club) have taken it upon themselves to find an audience for their studio-neglected film. They're releasing Mickey very slowly in a limited number of markets, hoping to generate the kind of grass roots support that made hits of My Big Fat Greek Wedding and, to a lesser degree, Bend It Like Beckham. Advance screenings for critics apparently are luxuries Grisham and Wilson can't afford.
