SCREEN | Splitting Apart – 'We Broke Up' Camps Out

"We're just playing house."

Vertical Entertainment

The very accurately titled We Broke Up is director Jeff Rosenberg's indie romantic comedy about a couple breaking up. Comic actors Aya Cash and William Jackson Harper play Lori and Doug, a long-term romantic pair, who awkwardly end (and then reignite) their flailing coupling before attending her sister's destination wedding. It's a fairly typical sitcom-y premise for a relationship dramedy featuring some heartfelt performances.

With its strong comedian-centric sensibilities, the sort of rom-com gives off a true sense of emotional stakes that explain where the characters are in their lives and headspace. This kind of understanding allows viewers to really feel the dark humour and struggle of the otherwise usual comic situations of misunderstandings and anxieties.

Rosenberg and Laura Jacqmin's script sets up enough fun and happenstance for our characters and their supporting sidekicks to connect both a sense of fun and tension on a doomed wedding getaway set against the amusing backdrop of a summer camp. There's a charm that makes sense of the uncomfortable romance.

As it turns out, watching sad people deal with breaking up isn't exactly an immediately winning concept. However, Cash and Harper feel very much like a real couple dealing with actual relationship problems with a more comical bent. How their decoupling unfolds and the stark humour they derive ultimately makes for a mostly worthwhile affair.

We Broke Up is available to stream on various digital platforms and through video on demand.


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