Mel and Jen are two women who run a business known as “The Breaker Upperers”. When people have fallen out of love but don’t know how to break the relationship news, these ladies are at your service for a price. Whether it’s dressing up as police officers to announce your loved one has gone missing, staging a pregnancy or fatal death, or even just dressing up as Mexicans with a guitar singing on your doorstep singing “hey it’s over, move on”, they deliver.

While business is good and Mel and Jen have what they feel is a fun and joyful partnership, they soon realise things are not all well personally and for some of the recent cases they have yet to complete. One example, in particular, follows a teenage boy in high school who wants to break up with his tough and somewhat scary girlfriend.

I enjoyed the concept of this film and the idea of Jen and Mel’s business. Within the opening credits, we gather that the two have been working together for quite some time. I couldn’t help but to feel like we missed something from the word go though… how long have these two known each other? And how did this business come together? We’ll never know, but there was a missed opportunity as far as the story goes. Funnily enough, it’s moments like those that would have made a more magnificent tale for sharing on-screen.

Our two leading ladies do work incredibly well, and I couldn’t fault the friendship that had been going for quite some time. I also found it funny to see Mel and Jen trying to assist a young 18-year-old footballer, who manages to bring a few laughs. One example includes him explaining that he tried to break up with a girlfriend (or GF) by merely using Emjoi’s (? ? ?) and couldn’t understand why his girlfriend didn’t take the hint that thing were over. Apart from the basic chuckles, the film is honestly trying to mostly get laughs by the use of strong, tasteless sexual content. The film also has a couple of sex scenes which surprised me given the film’s M rating. While some will find this type of humour enjoyable, I struggled to find fun in the sexual references as many jokes felt they were way over the top and didn’t always land. The comedy style here is mostly “shock factor”.

In regards to the opening, the film gives a different taste and direction as the film progresses. One example (minor spoiler) includes Mel and Jen pretending to be police officers and walk into a police station. When the two are discovered to be fake by a real female officer, the female cop suspects they are simply strippers. Jen and Mel do a silly dance together (again, they’re in a police station), and then they go about their business, and we jump to the next scene. But not to worry- pretending to police officers and stripping around in a police station is perfectly fine without any fines or punishment.

As for the film’s plot, it is overall messy. Within the film’s ending, there are some excellent outcomes with selected characters. Still, once again, many aspects that are introduced in the movie don’t have any purpose nor do certain characteristics learn what I felt were vital critical lessons. Specific topics and issues just get brushed off and left out. Like I said, it’s just messy.

Overall, this film presented itself with an amusing and unique idea. Its opening scene alone displays such cleverness and humour, but sadly the film decides to go down the path of using a substantial amount of sexual fun which doesn’t always land the big laugh. There are also some jokes which feel incomplete. I was also unsure if certain moments were just played out in a character’s imagination, or if they happened. I would have preferred a film that showed how these two met and started a humorous business. Instead, we get our leads delivering mostly tasteless sexual humour or being careless to other people. I also felt there was a lack of resolution for characters that were introduced and later forgotten. As for laughs, sure, there are some chuckles to be had, but it did leave me surprised by its final M rating.

3.8/10

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Review Written by Peter Walkden