Aniston and Vaughn's "Break-Up" mirrors real life

The movie, produced by and based on a story by Vaughn, concerns a couple, Gary and Brooke, who split after two years together. She likes to give dinner parties for her family. He doesn't like her family. He won't help her do the dishes and insists on looking at football all the time. In spite of the battling and the break-up, each refuses to move out of the condo. An "odd couple" existence develops.

Although we aren't supposed to ask "personal" questions, it's easy to get Aniston to talk about the general nature of a break-up.

"There should be a closure," she says, "so that you can move on. There should be a sense of why it happened."

In one of the movie's key scenes she says, "Yes, I think he should help with the dishes. I definitely like a clean kitchen before I go to bed. It would be nice if he just offered. Collaboration is a better word than compromise when it comes to saving a relationship. People expect the other person to be able to read their mind, and then they get upset because she can't."

She even has a nude scene in which she walks through the apartment, just to see if Vaughn's character is still interested.

"People keep asking me if I used a double. I didn't know that was a choice. Now I feel abused. Poor girl. I didn't have a nude double for that scene."

She says the rapport with Vaughn was immediate.

"From that first day when we did a read through of the script, I trusted him. Plus, he's very funny."

Vaughn's entry onto the scene ends Aniston's reign as the most-wronged wife since Eddie Fisher left Debbie Reynolds for Elizabeth Taylor in 1958. Reynolds, left to raise two children, was "America's sweetheart" until she married again. It took a near-fatal bout with pneumonia to return Taylor to favor. After almost dying, she even won an Oscar for a terrible movie, "Butterfield 8."

The players have changed, but the marital turnaround is still the same. The big-bucks nature of current media coverage, however, raises the stakes in the game. While some "sophisticates" pretend not to care about celebrities, magazine sales and TV ratings prove differently.

Vaughn is, surprisingly and currently, the biggest star in this lovers quartet.

After trying a career in serious dramas, he hit it big in comedies like "Old School," "Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story" (which grossed $114 million) and "Wedding Crashers,"' which is only the sixth R-rated film in history to pass $200 million domestically. "The Break-Up" is the first movie for his own production company. He wrote it with Aniston in mind but also with a great admiration for "The Odd Couple," one of his favorite comedies.

"Jen can hold her own in the tough scenes, but it's very important that she be very likable because she's playing a flawed character. I'll admit that I liked her right off, but as a person as well as an actress. We had a great time in Chicago during the filming. We went to Cubs games, to see Sue, the big dinosaur, and to Second City."

Yeah, but would you do the dishes and go with her to the ballet? These are issues in the movie. He shakes his head.

"Suddenly, I get the feeling you think I'm Dr. Phil. I don't like dishes, but as I get older, I'm getting better.

"I grew up with two older sisters, so I've always gotten along with women. For one thing, they were bigger than me. As you get older, you try to find better ways of communicating.''

As for the paparazzi outside, "It goes with the territory. We'll see how long it lasts. Not long, I hope."

Still, if Jolie and Pitt are watching, or care, Aniston and Vaughn left in separate cars, and 10 minutes apart.