Stiller's timing rescues the first half, but his character is so dislikeable that the movie has nothing left going for it when the punchlines dry up, except for some smirking cynicism about relationships.
The Heartbreak Kid (2007)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:14
Fresh:5
Rotten:9
Average Rating:4.4/10
Consensus: Despite some amiable performances, The Heartbreak Kid is neither as daring nor as funny as the Farrelly Brothers' earlier films.
Theatrical Release:05-10-2007
Synopsis: The Farrelly Brothers add their trademark bounty of bodily functions to this remake of Elaine May's 1972 comedy, THE HEARTBREAK KID. This time around Ben Stiller plays Eddie Cantrow, a 40-year-old... The Farrelly Brothers add their trademark bounty of bodily functions to this remake of Elaine May's 1972 comedy, THE HEARTBREAK KID. This time around Ben Stiller plays Eddie Cantrow, a 40-year-old bachelor who is tired of having his foulmouthed father (Jerry Stiller) and henpecked friend (Rob Corddry) give him a hard time for not being married. So when he meets the seemingly perfect Lila (Malin Ackerman), he decides to marry her--despite knowing her for only six weeks. On their honeymoon in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, he realizes his mistake when Lila reveals her true colors, which turn out to be quite ugly. While Lila recovers from a sunburn, Eddie meets fellow vacationer Miranda (Michelle Monaghan) and falls in love. He must break the news to both women before they find out the truth. After the more standard romantic comedy of FEVER PITCH, Bobby and Peter Farrelly are back to the gross-out comedy that made them famous in films such as THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY. This is the first time they've re-teamed with Stiller since that landmark film, and it proves a far better marriage than Eddie and Lila's. Ackerman may be most famous to date for a small role in HAROLD & KUMAR GO TO WHITE CASTLE, but she's fearless in this part. The Farrellys have always been fans of bodily humor, and Ackerman's Lila gets to be the butt of the joke most often, largely thanks to her character's deviated septum. There are several moments here that threaten to top the infamous hair-gel scene in THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY as far as groans and giggles go. [More]
Starring: Ben Stiller, Michelle Monaghan, Malin Akerman, Jerry Stiller
Starring: Ben Stiller, Michelle Monaghan, Malin Akerman, Jerry Stiller, Rob Corddry, Carlos Mencia
Director: Peter Farrelly, Bobby Farrelly
Director: Peter Farrelly, Bobby Farrelly
Screenwriter: Scot Armstrong, Kevin Barnett, Leslie Dixon, Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly
Producer: Ted Field, Bradley Thomas
Composer: Brendan Ryan, Bill Ryan
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Reviews for The Heartbreak Kid
The Farrelly brothers are back with their most satisfying comedy in a long while.
The disappointing upshot is that there is more calculated crudity than joie de vivre.
Lumpy and sour. A few good laughs, but mostly this is just uninspired, and deeply cynical to boot.
The film’s best moment by far comes from Eddie’s under-the-thumb buddy Mac (Rob Corddry), who advises that the key to a healthy marriage is to ‘plaster on a smile and wait patiently for the sweet embrace of death’.
For all its fluffed moments and saggy end, how many other films this year feature a donkey with an erection?
The sunny setting, attractive leads and reasonably involving story help make The Heartbreak Kid a watchable frippery.
If The Heartbreak Kid doesn't go totally wrong, its big problem is that doesn't really go anywhere. It just sort of lies there, like dumb Lila on the beach, waiting to turn gold.
It'd be nice if the 2007 Heartbreak Kid had some idea of the moral stakes involved, instead of playing everything for no-brain farce.
[The Farrelly Brothers'] squeamish, childish fascination with bodily ickiness, when crossed with the iffy sexual politics of the original, yields a comic vision remarkable for its hysterical misogyny.
A grim, shrill, deluded and incredibly depressing movie, so bewilderingly mean-spirited that the trademark Farrelly Brothers gross-out scenes feel like the sweetest.
Farrelly brothers films are looking better and better, but aren't nearly as funny as their grungy early films that hit with the stealth and vigor of guerrilla commandos.
Uproarious romp, grounded in believable if gleefully implausible human behavior, is a model of comic timing.
Latest News for The Heartbreak Kid
March 04, 2008:
Rush Hour 3 Takes '07 DVD Rental Crown
It may not have been quite the box-office phenomenon that its predecessors were -- and critics may have disliked it enough to keep it down at 20 percent on the Tomatometer --... More...
November 28, 2007:
Mr. Skin Reveals Top 20 Nude Scenes of 2007
In an age of fast-rising Hollywood production costs, the young actresses who strive to keep movie budgets down -- specifically in the wardrobe department -- deserve to be saluted. More...
October 24, 2007:
Farrellys Fight for Three Stooges
The Three Stooges was supposed to be the Farrelly Brothers' next movie after The Heartbreak Kid in the vein of the old Stooges shorts. Sounds like a much better idea than Stuck... More...
October 21, 2007:
Besides the morally-objectionable storyline, the Farrellys are up to their usual tricks. This means they fill the screen with gratuitous nudity, gross-out bodily function humor, graphically-depicted soft porn and meanspirited potshots at assorted ethnic g ![]()
More...
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