Brittany Brooks, a young entrepreneur, operates her own breakup business called “Splitsville, Inc.”. With the help of her two best friends, Robyn and Tiffany, she is a successful breakup artist—until another company starts to steal her clients.
After dumping Rick on behalf of his girlfriend, Brittany reluctantly falls for Rick. Brittany is later dumped by Rick’s assistant, Chuck, and learns that Rick is actually the owner of her rival business: E-Dump. Meanwhile, Ashley, Brittany’s sister, makes her new boyfriend, Mike, fall in love with her and then tells Brittany to dump him for her. The story hilariously moves forward as Rick continues to monopolize the breakup market, leaving Brittany out of a job, and Mike is determined to win Ashley back…
The Breakup Artist has a clever plot, and, despite some odd choices in character traits for supporting actors, it is funny. What is most concerning about the film, however, is the amount of sexual references that are made. Because the plot of the movie centers around online dating, it makes sense that “one-night stands” and inappropriate content would make their way into the storyline, but that does not make it any more appropriate.
Mild sexual references include statements about making “love in the back of a car,” saying “screw him” when someone is mean or hurtful, and alluding to brave men as “men with the balls to _____.” More severe scenarios talk directly about sex (i.e. mention Brittany and Rick making a “movie”) and include insults such as “so ugly Bill Clinton wouldn’t sleep with you,” alluding to doing it with someone’s mom, and “at least the man in my life doesn’t require batteries.”
In addition to inappropriate sexual statements, there are quite a few crude jokes in the movie. For example, one of the dumpees “farts a lot,” a heart is referred to as a “special ed organ,” Ashley notes that a larger girl “needs to get an eating disorder,” Brittany insults Mike by saying that Ashley doesn’t want a “guy who menstruates more than she does”, and there is even a reference to looking “like a Jew.”
Those are just the things that are said. There are scenes that show Brittany in lingerie on a bed with Rick, scenes with intense making out, scenes with inappropriate dancing, and a slew of other sexualized moments throughout the film. On another controversial note, Chuck is blatantly interested in men. He is seen being hit on by a guy and even on a date with another man.
Aside from all of the crude humor, The Breakup Artist is a comical and well-made movie. The film itself has great visuals and audio. The storyline is well planned, and the characters are well cast. However, it’s impossible to ignore the crude, sexual “humor” throughout the film, making this movie Not Dove-approved.
The Dove Take:
The Breakup Artist is a modern romantic comedy that focuses on instant gratification and relies heavily on social media and online dating apps to develop its storyline, leaving plenty of room for crude, inappropriate humor.
