Critic Reviews

The Breaker Upperers features a distinctly New Zealand style of comedy: dry, awkward and utterly hilarious. But directors, writers and stars Jackie van Beek and Madeline Sami still give this film a wild energy that’s absolutely their own, with jokes that take the audience from giggles to cackles to all-out shrieks.

Most importantly of all: it’s funny. Really, really funny, consistently and constantly.

The Breaker Upperers might suffer from a too-neat third act, but it wins hearts and hearty guffaws along the way.

It’s a terrific showcase for the duo and their entire cast, which, besides a pop-up bit from Clement, is curated from a local talent pool that Hollywood has yet to spelunk. After this, it should.

A marvelously kooky, occasionally laugh-out-loud funny buddy comedy.

The Breaker Upperers is a rude and rowdy Kiwi comedy about two friends who run a service that helps people get out of hard-to-end relationships.

This collaboration between Jackie van Beek and Madeleine Sami — who wrote, directed and star together — exhibits their fairly irresistible comic chemistry, even if the conceit of the movie wears a bit thin.

The Breaker Upperers is Sami and Van Beek’s show through and through. The film coasts off the energy and rapport of this affable pair, whose smart-mouthed performances are full of pep and fizz. What they lack in wit they compensate for with sheer likability.