Breakin All the Rules would work well as the second half of a double feature with Raising Helen, as both pictures appear to have graduated from the school of mechanical screenplays. This isn't altogether a bad thing, as some of this romantic comedy is surprisingly fun.

Breakin' All the Rules features Jamie Foxx as Quincy, a successful editor for a magazine called Spoil. Quincy slips into a horrible funk after he is, without warning, dumped by his fiancee. After a short drinking binge, he decides it's time to put his life back together, and he starts by writing a book called "How to Break Up With Your Lover". The manual serves as a sort of therapy for Quincy but then soon begins to fly off book shelves.

The plot thickens when Quincy's best friend Evan (Morris Chestnut) enlists him to help strengthen the bond between he and his own girlfriend Nicky (Gabrielle Union). The plan is that Quincy will meet Nicki at a bar and talk up Evan, in hopes that she will think more highly of him. However, as you may have already guessed - when the two hook up, they become smitten with each other.

I'm paraphrasing of course as Breakin' All the Rules turns into a screwball sitcom style comedy with several characters and many cases of mistaken and hidden identities.

Jamie Foxx is very appealing. He's really become quite the actor since his In Living Color days. It was a fiery dramatic turn in Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday that really showcased his talent. And while he has only given us hints of what he's capable of (see Ali and Redemption), things certainly seem to be looking-up this year with a co-starring role in Michael Mann's thriller Collateral and a much buzzed-about turn as Ray Charles in a bio-pic called Unchain My Heart. His role as Quincy in Breakin' All the Rules certainly isn't one of depth, but the actor is likable, and the film greatly benefits from his involvement.

Gabrielle Union too is a welcome presence in Breakin' All the Rules. This is a rather thankless role (as is the case with most of the female parts in this picture), but she does generate chemistry with Foxx, and she's breezy and charming enough to make the silly proceedings watchable.

I also enjoyed Peter MacNicol as the nebbish head of Spoil magazine. This guy is afraid of his own shadow. In fact, he's so terrified at the thought of confrontation, that he hires Quincy to fire unwanted employees instead of doing it himself. During one point in the picture, he becomes so angry that he attempts to get physical with Quincy, and this ends with hilarious results.

Breakin' All the Rules struggles to rejuvenate a tired formula. We've seen this stuff dozens of times, and usually, this type of picture is only going to work if the leads can generate enough charm to draw us in. Unfortunately, try as they might, Foxx and Union are only able to take the material so far. And in the end, I couldn't stop from telling myself; "If these characters would have just told the truth, none of this crap ever would have happened." But then, if these characters would have been honest with each other, we wouldn't have had a movie would we?

The upcoming Raising Helen also suffers from obvious mechanics, but for the most part, that particular movie manages to stay out of stale sitcom land. Breakin' All the Rules throws in everything but the kitchen sink culminating in a screwball climax that really goes too far, even by dumb comedy standards.

I didn't hate Breakin' All the Rules. Some of it did bring on a smile, but after it was over, I immediately had to write this review for fear that I would forget what it was about if I waited too long. This is fast food cinema, and for those of you who've seen Super Size Me, you know that too much of this is not a good thing.