Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston play former lovers - and now hostile roommates - in Universal Pictures' "The Break-Up."

Breaking up is so very, very hard to do, or so claims a pop standard of yesteryear. At times, you'll feel the same way about watching "The Break-Up." It's so very, very hard to do, too.

Bad buzz has been circling this Vince Vaughn-Jennifer Aniston comedy for months. Is it as bad as feared? Not quite. Is it better than expected? Not much.

The film is a wildly uneven human comedy without recognizable human characters. Vaughn's Chicago tour guide Gary Grobowski is a selfish oaf through 99 percent of the movie, while Aniston's art gallery salesperson Brooke Meyers is an indecisive whiner. Maybe Brooke likes Gary because he always gives her reason to whine.

In any event, their meet-cute introduction, coupling and happy moments are revealed quickly. Then the movie gets down to the nasty business of their break-up, and the whole thing starts to drag. They share a condo and must continue to do so. Of course, they do everything possible to make each other miserable. The audience feels their pain but not in the manner intended.

Inevitably, with its strong cast, "The Break-Up" has genuinely funny moments. Vaughn is co-producer and co-writer and, just as inevitably, has the best lines and the most footage. Some of his riffs are first-rate, even when Gary's comic abrasiveness grows more abrasive than comic.Despite Brooke's heavy whine factor, Aniston manages to be appealing and occasionally even vulnerable. As celebrity followers know, the co-stars have danced around the topic of being an item. Here, their personal chemistry is OK, but it's not sizzling.Virtually all the supporting characters fall into carefully packaged "types." The film is cast so lavishly that a silken and satiny Ann-Margret has little more than a walk-on as Aniston's aggressively agreeable mother.Other cast members are more fortunate. John Michael Higgins is hilarious as Aniston's brother, who adores entertaining a captive audience with a cappella selections from his all-male singing group, the Tone Rangers. The always-welcome Judy Davis is flamboyantly fabuloso as Aniston's nostril-flaring, tyrannical boss. Vincent D'Onofrio has always been a master of body English, and his awkwardness as Vaughn's hard-working brother is good physical comedy.But then, the movie goes back to Brooke and Gary, and the laughs start to fade.Director Peyton Reed gets off to a promising start with a well-orchestrated dinner party fiasco. Otherwise, his direction is as inconsistent as the script. Like so many contemporary movies, "The Break-Up" doesn't know when to call it quits, and the film finally expires after several false endings. The movie also rivals "The Da Vinci Code" as the season's most verbose talkfest.Ultimately, "The Break-Up" may serve you best by reminding you of how good "When Harry Met Sally ..." was.