| The Heartbreak Kid | | Print | |
| Written by Kevin 'BDK' McCarthy | |||||||||||
| Tuesday, 09 October 2007 | |||||||||||
It is definitely safe to say that the Farrelly
Brothers (Peter and Bobby) are two of the best comedy directors around. Their résumé of films is just phenomenal.
They used to do a lot of R-Rated comedies, but they have
mainly been doing PG-13 films for a while.
Therefore, he felt really good about being able to do an R-rated film
again so they could be as dirty as they wanted to be.
The Heartbreak Kid stars Ben Stiller (There’s Something About Mary, Meet the Parents), Michelle Monaghan (Mission Impossible 3, Mr. and Mrs. Smith), Carlos Mencia, Marlin Akerman (Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle - she was the hot blonde who was married to the ugly tow truck driver) and Jerry Stiller (“Seinfeld”, “The King of Queens”). A note before I get into the review of the film: The Heartbreak Kid (2007) is a remake of an earlier film with the same title from 1972. Both films are based upon a Neil Simon screenplay.
On that same day, which happens to be Valentines Day, he meets a woman named Lila. They fall in love and after six weeks they get married. The reason for the rushed marriage is that Lila’s job was calling for her to move to Holland and if she was married she would not have to go. Eddie and Lila decide to take a three week honeymoon to Los Cabos, Mexico. Everything seems perfect until their carride down. Eddie starts to realize that his wife is really annoying. When they finally get down there, they have sex for the first time and she is an absolute freak. He basically hates her guts and wants out of the relationship. One day, she gets badly sunburned and has to stay indoors for a while. While Eddie is out and around he meets a new woman named Miranda (played by Monoghan). He immediately falls in love with her without telling her that he is married and on his honeymoon. This obviously creates tension and the rest is history. The Review: Overall, I thought the film’s first thirty minutes were the best part. After that, the comedy seemed to die down a little and get more serious. There is nothing wrong with that. It was just the fact that the first thirty minutes of the film had me laughing out loud over a dozen times and at one point I literally had a tear coming down the left side of my face because I was laughing so hard. The first thirty minutes are non-stop. The rest of the movie still has funny moments but they are kind of dispersed throughout. Once it gets into the fact where he has to start lying to people, it becomes more serious. One thing I will say was that the film definitely did have some classic zingers. Listen for some of them during Stiller’s sex scenes with Lila’s character. I heard one critic say that this was the Farrelly brothers best work since There’ s Something About Mary. I could not disagree more. I thought that Me, Myself and Irene was way funnier and more classic than The Heartbreak Kid. Dumb and Dumber and There’s Something about Mary will always be their best work, though. The Verdict: I was actually excited to the film and it just turned out to be very average. It really is the perfect rental. There is no need to run out to theatres to pay the full ticket price. Wait for the DVD, hence the 3 BDK rating. One really quick thing that I wanted to point out is when they put fake porn titles in the movie, usually one of my favorite parts of comedies. Sometimes, these writers come up with the best porn titles based on movie names. There was a classic one in The Forty Year Old Virgin and it related to Harry Potter. The one in this film revolves around the movie Remember The Titans. It’s definitely a good one! NOTE: Also, make sure you stay after the film is over. There are two extra scenes that are buried in the middle of the credits and at the end of the credits. The first scene really is not that great but the last one is definitely funny. The only reason I knew to stay was that someone else told me. |
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It is definitely safe to say that the Farrelly
Brothers (Peter and Bobby) are two of the best comedy directors around. Their résumé of films is just phenomenal.
They used to do a lot of R-Rated comedies, but they have
mainly been doing PG-13 films for a while.
Therefore, he felt really good about being able to do an R-rated film
again so they could be as dirty as they wanted to be.