On B List of Movie Reviews

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Break Up (1998)

Rate: 8
Viewed: 4/20

BreakUp
4/20: Bridget Fonda, who's normally a terrible actress, gives the performance of her career in Break Up, hitting the right notes of emotion.

It's a strange movie about domestic violence with touches of neo-noir. This one has three odd characters who are played by Hart Bochner, Kiefer Sutherland, and Steven Weber. Only Kiefer Sutherland's comes off as a good guy, but he should work on his empathy more.

There's some confusion about Jimmy's hearing threshold. Many reviewers think she's deaf, but it's not correct as she's hard of hearing which probably happened not long ago. Bridget Fonda is consistent about it. Her character is also dumb on many levels yet is smart when it comes to escaping which is part of the battered woman syndrome.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the TTY that was correctly used by Jimmy. Now, there are three modes of communication: Full, Voice Carry Over (VCO), and Hearing Carry Over (HCO). The first is for both ends who want to type to each other directly, the second is for talking on the phone while the other end sees the text of what he said (which is the method Jimmy used), and the third is for listening on the phone with the intention of responding back in text. The TTY isn't used much nowadays due to the advent of the Internet and Video Relay Service (VRS).

All in all, Break Up isn't everybody's cup of tea, but it's an interesting, well-done neo-noir thriller with a strong Bridget Fonda performance.