If you’re thinking about filing for divorce, if you’ve already filed, or if you’ve been served with divorce papers, you may be looking for a little light-hearted humor with movies about divorce, or maybe a caricature of a break-up that is so much worse than your situation that oddly enough, you feel better. In any event, divorce and break-ups have been well played-out in t.v. shows and in movies. Below are the top seven movies about divorce and breaking up.
#7: First Wives Club (1996)
The First Wives Club is a revenge romp comedy film based on the best-selling 1992 novel of the same name. The film stars Diane Keaton, Goldie Hawn, and Bette Midler. The story is about three divorced women who seek revenge on their ex-husbands who left them for younger women. The movie had mixed reviews upon release, but now has a cult following (not surprisingly among divorced middle-aged women).
#6: Down With Love (2003)
A fun commentary on dating and relationships, Down With Love stars Ewan McGregor, Renée Zellweger, and David Hyde Pierce. The film is a colorful and heavily-stylized take on the early 1960s in New York City, with nods to modern design, beatniks, and the sexual revolution. The movie features a clever and hilarious relationship scheme between a feminist advice author and a playboy man-about-town.
#5: The Break-Up (2006)
The Break-Up isn’t technically a movie about divorce because the two main characters were never married. But it’s a very funny look at breaking up. Admittedly, the critical reviews were mixed. But Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn create some decent laughs in this excellent “anti-romantic comedy” which features a light and humorous take on a break-up of two younger people living in Chicago.
#4: The Jerk (1979)
The Jerk isn’t a film about divorce or even relationships. However, the film features one of the single best scenes in American cinema on divorce and breaking up. The “This is all I need” break-up scene between Steve Martin and Bernadette Peters has been played at divorce seminars for attorneys as an example of how parties to a divorce behave when finances ruin a relationship.
#3: Kramer v. Kramer (1979)
Released the same year as The Jerk, Kramer v. Kramer is not a comedy, but rather an intense drama about divorce and–specifically– child custody. This is one of the best movies about divorce in American cinema. Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep both gave extremely powerful performances as parents battling over their child. The movie has recently re-entered the news cycle as details have been released on the intense and harsh method acting Dustin Hoffman used while shooting the film. The film won 5 Oscars, another 31 award wins, and 15 nominations.
#2: Irreconcilable Differences (1984)
Irreconcilable Differences takes it’s title from the legal phrase, “irreconcilable differences”. This phrase is often required or otherwise used in pleadings for divorce cases as a basis for divorce (i.e. the parties have differences which cannot be reconciled, and therefore the marriage must be dissolved). This is one of the best movies about divorce in American cinema. The movie stars Ryan O’Neal, Shelley Long, Drew Barrymore, and Sharon Stone (in her first real hit). The movie opened to mixed reviews, but was a staple on cable t.v. for years. It’s probably one of the most contrived movies about divorce in this list, but Drew Barrymore really shines as the child caught in-between two oblivious parents.
#1: The War of the Roses (1989)
The darkest of the divorce dark comedies, this movie makes you laugh when you probably shouldn’t be laughing, and it may also make you cry. The War of the Roses stars Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, and Danny DeVito who all previously had excellent on-screen chemistry in the films Romancing the Stone and The Jewel of the Nile. If you only have the heart or the stomach to watch one movie about divorce and a relationship gone south, this is the one.