I certainly agree that there's a lot of marketing hype involved. From personal experience, "breathable" fabrics keep me more comfortable, but I've also learned that they can't keep me perfectly dry, especially when I'm working hard and sweating a lot. And once you get close to freezing and below they don't work at all.
My biggest complaint with the waterproof bandwagon is that it's almost impossible these days to find a decent pair of hiking boots that doesn't have a fragile waterproof layer added that jacks the price up by $40.