THE HEARTBREAK KID
US, 2007, 115 minutes, Colour.
Ben Stiller, Michelle Monaghan, Jerry Stiller, Malin Akerman, Carlos Mencia, Rob Corddry.
Directed by Peter and Bobby Farrelly.
The Farelly Brothers have made a name for themselves in movie comedy. They take ordinary situations – and then some! The then some is usually in the realm of crass jokes, especially bodily function jokes and pain jokes. Ben Stiller was tormented in There’s Something About Mary (probably their funniest film). Mental disorder and Jim Carrey were in Me, Myself and Irene. Obesity and Gwynneth Paltrow featured in Shallow Hal. Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear were Siamese twins in Stuck on You, probably their ‘nicest’ film.
This time they have gone back to an Elaine May film of 1972, The Heartbreak Kid, which was written for the screen by that master of the one liner and observer of the foibles of human nature, Neil Simon. There is still quite a bit of Neil Simon still there – and that is nice. But the rest is the Farrelly brothers reminding us of how much comedy has changed in three or four decades and how the ‘grossout’ jokes are not confined to grossout films.
That should serve as a warning to those who remember the original film with some affection and may not be prepared for all the innuendo (and explicit jokes and scenes) and the quota of crass – though many will miss two of the crassest jokes during the exodus, now seemingly mandatory, as soon as the final credits begin.
Having said that, Ben Stiller is always very good at playing the put upon victim (both physically and psychologically) and sustains his character here even though he falls out of love with his wife on their honeymoon and is attracted by a young woman visiting the resort. (Charles Grodin was the original shy and awkward heartbreak kid and Cybill Shepherd the girl of his dreams.) Ben’s father, comedian Jerry Stiller, plays his motormouth father. Michelle Monaghan is girl next door as the ideal but the show is stolen by Malin Akerman as the initially attractive wife who turns into a nightmare.
There is much to enjoy in this interpretation of The Heartbreak Kid, but…
1.The work of the Farrelly brothers? Comedy? Expectations? The grosser aspects of human behaviour? The original Neil Simon screenplay – Farrellys meet Simon? 21st century update and style?
2.The American cities and city life, the shops, the Californian countryside, the beach resort? Musical score?
3.The title, the application to Eddie, the irony?
4.Ben Stiller and his screen presence, persona, comedy, being put on? Working with his father, his father’s crassness, the jokes?
5.The plausibility of the plot? The touches of realism, the elements of farce, the slapstick comedy, the gross-out jokes?
6.Eddie in himself, forty, past relationships, inability to commit himself, his discussions with his father, his father’s crass talk and urging him on, the discussions with Mac, Mac urging him on, Mac’s own experience of marriage, his wife, his being at her beck and call, her phone calls? The wedding, his being sat at the table with the children, the discussions about whether he was gay or not, his story of his murdered wife? His former girlfriend, her speech, the put-downs – and Mac’s supporting them? His reaction?
7.His meeting Lila, in the street, the thief, the bag, her being upset, his dilemma as to whether to talk to her, going up to her, the discussion, her being attractive? Explaining about the shop? Discussing her with his father, his father’s plan? Her coming into the shop, the sale, going out with her? Falling in love, the wedding ceremony? The future becoming possible? His father’s support?
8.Going on the honeymoon, the reality of Lila, her continual singing, her previous drug-taking, the deviated septum, her being a volunteer rather than being paid for her ecological work, the sexual energy, her stubbornness, the sunburn and the repercussions? Her tantrums in the room? The effect on him, depression, phoning his father and Mac?
9.Miranda, a vision to Eddie, with the family, the elderly couple and the renewal of their vows, from Mississippi, the types, the family range, the welcome, the couple at the bar assuming that Miranda and Eddie were married, the drinks all round, with the family, their all telling their stories, jobs, shops and expansion, the jokes about the south? Eddie and the drinking, the attraction, going back to Lila?
10.The deception, with Uncle Tito, taking Max pornographic video and being caught by Miranda? His excuses? Tito and his helping him out? The attraction to Miranda, their being together, not telling her the truth? Miranda going on the trip, the twins telling the story, the family hearing it, the misunderstanding, his thinking that she accepted the truth? The consequences of the deception?
11.The Mississippi family, the businesses, those who were very proper, the renewing of the vows, the issue of the numberplates and the name? Their seeing Eddie and his wife together, the story, the truth, the violent reaction?
12.Lila, wanting to make up, his eventually telling her the truth? Her reaction? The divorce and getting the shop?
13.Eddie, the failure of his marriage, the failure of the relationship with Miranda? Going to Mississippi, trying to find her, the older relations urging him to go? His returning to the resort, Uncle Tito helping him, in a relationship?
14.The family returning, Miranda, nice, the possibilities – yet the irony of his having to separate from another girlfriend?
15.The incidental Farrelly jokes, on marriage, sex, violence, puritan attitudes, the donkey, the boy with the cocaine?
