A shapely, intelligent piece probing the placid surface of London’s trendy reputation to discover an array of 21st century maladies -- personal, social, political, criminal, even mental, but not, it transpires, dental.
Breaking and Entering (2007)
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work ![]()
Reviews Counted:121
Fresh:41
Rotten:80
Average Rating:5.2/10
Consensus: This class warfare drama feels contrived and superficial: characters don’t act logically as the movie manipulates them towards deconstructing various social issues.
Theatrical Release:10-11-2006
Synopsis: BREAKING AND ENTERING may lack the quality and scope of Anthony Minghella's previous work such as THE ENGLISH PATIENT and COLD MOUNTAIN, but it's an interesting, character-driven drama. Jude Law... BREAKING AND ENTERING may lack the quality and scope of Anthony Minghella's previous work such as THE ENGLISH PATIENT and COLD MOUNTAIN, but it's an interesting, character-driven drama. Jude Law (CLOSER) plays Will, a landscape architect who succeeds in business but finds his personal life is tougher to navigate. He has been with Liv (Robin Wright Penn, FORREST GUMP) for years, but it's difficult to connect with her due to her worry over her teenage daughter. When Will catches a teenage boy named Miro (Ravi Gafron) breaking into his office, he chases the thief home. He later meets the boy's mother, a Bosnian refugee played by Juliette Binoche (CHOCOLAT). His anger at Miro is quickly transformed into attraction to his mother, further complicating his relationship with Liv. This is Law's third teaming with Minghella (after THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY and COLD MOUNTAIN), and their partnership rewards the audience with a typically good performance from the actor. Wright Penn and Binoche also display the talent people have come to expect, but it's the supporting cast that shines here. As Will's business partner, Sandy, Martin Freeman plays second fiddle to Law, but he possesses a similar charm as his character on THE OFFICE. As a persistent prostitute, Vera Farmiga (THE DEPARTED) is one of the movie's highlights, providing laughter in what is largely a very bleak film. Gavron is a capable young actor as Miro, but his performance is most astonishing for his skills at the sport of parkour, a kind of urban acrobatics on display throughout the film. If only these characters were half as adept at life and relationships as Gavron is at leaping from building to building.... [More]
Starring: Jude Law, Juliette Binoche, Robin Wright Penn, Martin Freeman
Starring: Jude Law, Juliette Binoche, Robin Wright Penn, Martin Freeman, Ray Winstone, Vera Farmiga, Rafi Gavron, Poppy Rogers
Director: Anthony Minghella
Director: Anthony Minghella
Producer: Timothy Bricknell
Composer: Gabriel Yared
Studio: MGM
Reviews for Breaking and Entering
It's a smart film, but like much of Minghella's output, it is too polite to grip.
Full of interesting characters, intelligently conceived scenes and funny lines...
The film is saddled with a badly written, unconvincing ending that threatens to ruin the film completely - in fact, you're almost better off leaving the cinema ten minutes early and supplying your own ending.
Minghella returns to his roots for a moody and stylish London drama that's full of terrific scenes and strong performances. Although it's a little contrived and overwrought.
Though intricately plotted and well acted, Minghella's characters feel more like symbols than flesh-and-blood characters, and their travails seem designed to illustrate a lecture about privilege, injustice, cultural stereotypes and bourgeois complacency.
The complicated interactions involving class and culture that ensue between all these characters remain fascinating even when they seem overly schematic.
Though Binoche does very solid work, she can't sell the idea of her and Law as a couple; the chemistry isn't there. Not much else rings true in Minghella's screenplay, which is full of coincidences and speeches about race and class.
Everything in Anthony Minghella's Breaking and Entering is torn and in need of mending....And like the flaw's set within the confines of the film, the movie itself is in need of a little tinkering itself.
The pitch meeting must have been frightening: "Caché for fans of Chocolat."
Un drama urbano muy contemporáneo que explora superficialmente ciertas realidades sociales, pero que presta más atención a las crisis domésticas de sus personajes. Podría haber sido mucho más interesante.
Minghella signe une %u0153uvre enivrante énumérant avec tact et intelligence les valeurs d'honnêteté, de respect et de confiance découlant de chacune de ses résolutions de conflit.
Class friction and the ensuing cinema of paranoia evidence of the growing class divide on screen
...a handsome but regrettably underpowered and preachy movie about liberal white guilt.
Latest News for Breaking and Entering
March 18, 2008:
Anthony Minghella: A Tomatometer Retrospective
English filmmaker Anthony Minghella had a sparse but critically acclaimed career by the time of his passing today at the age of 54. We turn to the six films Minghella directed,... More...
March 18, 2008:
Anthony Minghella: 1954-2008
Anthony Minghella, the Oscar-winning director of The English Patient, The Talented Mr. Ripley, and Cold Mountain, has passed away at the age of 54. More...
July 30, 2007:
Frank Miller Faults Weinsteins for Sin City 2 Delay
While sitting on a Comic Con panel, Frank Miller was asked about the hold-up on Sin City 2. (Numerous times, probably.) And it looks like the celebrated author / artist /... More...
March 28, 2007:
"Indy 4" Casts Winstone as New Sidekick
Increasingly busy character actor Ray Winstone has joined the cast of the fourth "Indiana Jones" installment, due in theaters May 2008. More...
More DVDs
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 36% 36% | G.I. Joe: The Rise of … |
| 52% 52% | The Taking of Pelham 1… |
| 45% 45% | Ice Age: Dawn of the D… |
| 19% 19% | Transformers: Revenge … |
| 55% 55% | Orphan |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 98% 98% | Up |
| 88% 88% | Ballast |
| 67% 67% | The Merry Gentleman |
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
Sponsored Links
Around The Network
- Breaking and Entering at Rotten Tomatoes
- Breaking and Entering at IGN
- Breaking and Entering at AskMen
Fresh Links
Featured

Subscribe to RT's YouTube channel and don't miss a second of our cracking video content.

Follow Rotten Tomatoes and join us as we tweet about the week's releases.



Top Critic

