Love has no rules; neither does 'Breakin'

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By Chris Hewitt
Saint Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press

Posted: May 14, 2004

A friend recently suggested that the title "Breakin' All the Rules" is so generic it could refer to 90 percent of the movies in theaters. Julianne and Pierce, Jesus Christ, Denzel — they're all breaking or, rather, breakin' all the rules. Luckily, the movie is better than the title.

Mostly, that's because its inventive cast seems to be having such a swell time hanging out. "Breakin"' has tons of quippy dialogue, not all of it sterling. But it comes at us so quickly, and from such likable actors in such pretty rooms, in such spiffy shirts (and with Heather Headley doing such a blistering version of her "He Is" in the background of one scene), we can't help but like it.

The ease with which Jamie Foxx and Morris Chestnut chitchat about skin color and dating rules convinces us of their affection for each other. So does the speediness of the banter between Foxx and Gabrielle Union, as a woman Foxx accidentally falls for when he's supposed to be helping Chestnut give her the heave-ho.

"Breakin"' has one of those synthetic, only-in-the-movies plots involving mistaken identities and missed connections and, at first, that's annoying. But the tone is so relentlessly, farcically unreal that you surrender to the silliness, just like you do in Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream."

That's what "Breakin"' is sayin': Romance is so random it might as well happen because of pixie dust or arrows dipped in secret potions. Who knows why we fall in love? And who cares? Just as long as we do.