Friday, October 5, 2007

Movie review: The Heartbreak Kid

By Alex Bentley

The Heartbreak Kid

Single and indecisive, Eddie begins dating the incredibly sexy and seemingly ideal Lila. Fearful that it may be his last chance at love and happiness, with the encouragement of his father and his best friend, Eddie proposes to Lila after only a few weeks. However, while on their honeymoon in sunny Mexico, Lila reveals her true beyond-awful nature and Eddie meets Miranda, the woman he believes is his actual soul mate. Now Eddie must keep his new, increasingly horrid wife at bay as he attempts to woo the woman of his dreams.

Source: Cinema Source

• Showtimes and more on The Heartbreak Kid

Well, now here's a surprise. Almost a decade after their mid-to-late '90s heyday (Dumb and Dumber, There's Something About Mary), The Farrelly Brothers are finally back to making the type of movie they should've been making all along -- R-rated, raunchy, and flat-out hilarious. With their last few films (Shallow Hal, Stuck on You, Fever Pitch), the Farrellys had been trending ever closer to the middle, giving all the films some bite, but always kowtowing to the studios and the bottom line by never going too far and staying well within the relatively family-friendly PG-13 rating. But with the recent success of R-rated comedies (The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Borat, Knocked Up, Superbad), it was obviously high time for the Farrellys to get back to doing what they do best -- and, boy, did they do it right.

This time around they chose to remake The Heartbreak Kid, originally done in 1972 with Neil Simon writing the screenplay. That version was nominated for two Oscars -- that won’t be the case here, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t some great stuff in this version. Ben Stiller steps into the role originated by Charles Grodin as Eddie Cantrow, a perpetual bachelor who always seems to find fault in any woman he dates. Spurred on by an ex-girlfriend getting married and at the urging of friends and family, Eddie throws himself head-on into a whirlwind six-week romance with Lila (Malin Akerman). It’s only after they’re married and headed down to their honeymoon in Mexico that Eddie realizes he may have made a huge mistake. Luckily or unluckily, depending on your perspective, he meets Miranda (Michelle Monaghan) at the resort where they’re staying, and due to a series of Lila mishaps that keep her hidden in their room, he starts spending most of his honeymoon with the seemingly perfect Miranda and her family, who are at the resort for a family reunion.

The first and most important thing the Farrellys did right is cast nearly every role just right. Stiller has perfected his bumbling shtick over the years and he puts it to great use here, going back and forth between trying to woo Miranda while also trying to comfort Lila, who can’t seem to get out of her own way. As you can imagine, Eddie essentially abandoning his wife on their honeymoon would tend not to make him the most likable character. But the nature of the film and Stiller’s personality keep you from focusing too much on this idea, along with increasing proof that Lila is far from the woman he thought he was marrying. Stiller’s father, Jerry, plays his dad here, which should’ve been written into movie law a long time ago. His supportive yet explosive advice to his son provides the film many of its funniest moments – no comic actor can combust quite like Jerry Stiller. Rob Corddry of The Daily Show fame pops up every now and then as Eddie’s best friend, and brings down the house every time. Akerman is extremely game as Lila, taking great amounts of punishment for the sake of comedy. And Monaghan plays her role exactly right – sexy, but not overly so, fun, and engaging. In other words, it makes perfect sense in the movie that Eddie would risk his already-rocky marriage for someone this enticing.

But it’s the Farrellys’ sense of humor that keeps the film going from beginning to end. They have a knack for taking a small throwaway moment early in the film and turning it into a huge punch line toward the end. You could never call the Farrellys subtle, but they definitely reward you for paying attention to everything their characters say and do. Two moments, if not more, will have audiences gasping for air from laughing so much, and I can’t even begin to describe them because of their filthy nature (okay, here a couple of hints: One involves Eddie and Lila’s first attempt at sex, the second involves Eddie, Lila, and a jellyfish. The latter is as shockingly hilarious as the infamous “hair gel” incident in There’s Something About Mary). What probably makes The Heartbreak Kid funnier than it has a right to be, though, is that the vast majority of its best moments have not been seen in ads. That’s right, the Farrellys were clever enough to put in enough so-so funny moments so the marketers could have something to chew on, and then saved the really good stuff for moments that could never see the light of day outside of the theater.

One significant failing of the film, however, is that there is precious little sweetness to balance out the distastefulness of Eddie’s actions and overall raunchiness. This doesn’t affect the majority of the film, but the climax is relatively anticlimactic because of that lack. But if you can ignore that and just focus on hilarity going on throughout, you’ll be greatly rewarded.

Related stories

• Movie review: Eagle Eye (Sept. 26, 2008)
• Movie review: Forgetting Sarah Marshall (April 18, 2008)
• New on DVD: Rush Hour 3, Eastern Promises and The Heartbreak Kid (Dec. 26, 2007)
• Movie review: Loaded, including interview with filmmaker/actor Erick Gosse, actor Joel Bryant and producer Brandon Jones (Oct. 17, 2007)

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• Arts > Movies / Film > Mainstream Movies