Heartbreak is Painful
There is no doubt that Bobby and Peter Farrelly have in the past made some hugely entertaining and memorable movies which often verge on the edge of decency with their like for outrageous jokes. In fact I thought that "There's Something About Mary", which saw the Farrelly's collaborate with Stiller, was funny and fresh. Unfortunately I don't think the same of their collaboration in "The Heartbreak Kid" one of the most disappointing comedies I have had the displeasure to watch for quite a while. Between over the top stereotypes, poorly timed and misplaced jokes as well as a liking for crude sex jokes "The Heartbreak Kid" really fails to deliver on all accounts.
After realising that maybe there is no such thing as the perfect woman, Eddie Cantrow (Ben Stiller - Night at the Museum) decides to take the plunge and after a brief romance he marries the gorgeous Lila (Malin Akerman - The Proposal). But as soon as the wedding is over Eddie discovers that maybe Lila was not the woman he thought she was and quite the opposite to what he thought. To make matters worse whilst on their honeymoon, Eddie meets Miranda (Michelle Monaghan - Mission: Impossible III) who is in fact his perfect woman.
It's difficult to know where to start with "The Heartbreak Kid" as I always try to find something about a movie which I like but there is absolutely nothing here that I could honestly say that I enjoyed. So I guess that means that I am only going to be able to say what I didn't like.
So first off and most disappointing was the comedy on show in "The Heartbreak Kid", it just fails. Many of the jokes don't just border on being outrageous they go well past the border and end up being unfunny. This is heightened by the amount of crude language which is used throughout the movie and I am not against or shocked by crude language. When Eddie and Lila get in the sack for the first time not only is it more visual than you would expect but also shocking in the numerous sexual references. It also doesn't help that most of the jokes are over long and so often go past the point of being funny and become annoying, such as Lila's incessant singing whilst in the car.
What is also disappointing is that there seems to be no effort to build up not only the relationships between the various characters but also are relationship with them. All I can think of is that the writers for "The Heartbreak Kid" and there was 5 of them, basically decided to ignore the need for building characters preferring to go down the route of how to embarrass them instead. By doing this it alienates the audience from connecting with them in any manner, which basically means you have no one to champion or feel for. It certainly doesn't help that the storyline for "The Heartbreak Kid" is as weak as the characters and at just short of 2 hours every part of the movie feels unnecessarily dragged out.
As for the performances, well I like Ben Stiller but not in "The Heartbreak Kid". I couldn't help feeling that he had just taken many aspects of his character from "Along Came Polly" and transplanted them on to Eddie. In doing this it just felt like we had seen it all before and he certainly doesn't bring anything new to the character. As for Malin Akerman as Lila, well she is certainly a game bird and is prepared to do pretty much anything in the name of comedy, just a shame it wasn't in the least bit funny. Finally there is also Michelle Monaghan who sadly gets to play an extremely bland character and fades into the background far too often.
What is very apparent that in "The Heartbreak Kid" the Farrelly's have gone out of their way to up the jokes surrounding the misfortunes of the characters. But in doing so it comes across as if they don't care in the least bit for any of the characters and are just there to satisfy their own sadistic whims. The jokes all feel a little too harsh and border on the side of torturous rather than funny.
What this all boils down to is that for a movie which was marketed as an outrageous rom-com and packaged to portray this as well "The Heartbreak Kid" certainly isn't very romantic and the comedy well for the most it isn't funny. Disappointing is really the only way I can describe "The Heartbreak Kid" and hope that if the Farrelly's and Stiller do team up again they will calm things down a little and pay a little more attention to story and characters rather than trying to humiliate them.
