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Movie break-ups: Bitter, bitter, bitter!

Breaking up is hard to do, even more so when the split is nowhere near amicable. The Break-Up, the new Jennifer Aniston/Vince Vaughn flick about a warring couple who want to quit each other but not their posh condo, is sure to be a bitter brew. But Vince and Jen aren't the first on-screen lovers to part ways with all sorts of pain, vitriol, nastiness and possible pyromania. Not so much fun for them, but crazy cool for us to watch. And we like to watch.

(enlarge photo) Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas in 'The War of the Roses' (1989). Read reviews of 'The Break-Up' movie

Here are five movie break-ups worth watching:

1. The War of the Roses (1989): Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas use their sexy Romancing The Stone chemistry for evil, in this story of a couple who used to be mad for each other but are now mad at each other. Big time. Like, pretending to have fed your husband his beloved dog, mad. Now that's nasty.

2. Othello (1995): Poor, sad bald military man Othello (Laurence Fishburne). He's got evil sidekick Iago (Kenneth Branagh) telling him his wife, Desdemona, is stepping out on him — and fake proof. So he ends the relationship by smothering her. And we don't mean with too much attention.

3. The Philadelphia Story (1940): Previously uptight heiress Tracy Lord (Katharine Hepburn) uses a break-up technique so tricky that only pros should try it — when her icky fiancée George (John Howard) tries to dump her the day of their wedding because he thinks she's cheated on him, she effortlessly tosses it back with a "I didn't, but if you don't trust me, I'm dumping you." Genius!

4. Boomerang (1992): Angela (Halle Berry) and Marcus (Eddie Murphy) do wind up together at the end, but she dumps him fantastically in the middle for sleeping with Robin Givens (!) When he tries to tell her he loves her, she pokes him in the forehead with her finger and says "Love? Love should have brought your a— home last night." And he knows she's right, the weasel.

5. Waiting To Exhale (1995): Technically, Bernie (Angela Bassett) isn't the one who breaks up with her vile, doggie hubby, John (Michael Beach), but she certainly punctuates it — with some lighter fluid all over his expensive suits and his car. Some say it with flowers. Others say it with fire.