The Heartbreak Kid in ten words or less: Eddie marries the wrong woman – with ‘hilarious’ results!
Ok, before you start reading this review, be prepared: This film features a vagina farting.
Still want to read on? Still want to watch it? Well, be prepared again – that isn’t even the horrible bit…
The Farrelly brothers have an impressive CV of writing and directing two out of the top five comedies of all time (No prizes for guessing which ones I’m referring to) but in recent years they’ve gone pretty soppy and tried giving their films cutesy ‘messages’ with the poor to average efforts of ‘Shallow Hal’ and ‘Stuck On You’, but the Farrelly brothers are back on form this time around with another madcap crazy gross comedy starring Ben Stiller. The Heartbreak Kid, whilst no Something About Mary, is an enjoyable madcap bound through the mundane and insane,
Eddie (Stiller) is a rejected pathetic weed who is moping around looking for romance and handily he chances upon a friendly, gold-hearted, stunning beauty called Lila (Malin Akerman) and due to some contrivances they end up marrying after 6 weeks. As soon as they are hitched and honeymooning, Eddie realises that his wife is just about the most messed up woman in the world; it’s like Just Married, but a million times better and funnier (which still isn’t saying much) Lila is in actual fact ludicrously stupid, using words like ‘inhabitate’, she is fucking petrifying in bed, and so, so, SO, annoying. I’d still buy ‘er a drink though. Having realised that he has made a pretty massive cock-up Eddie immediately falls in love with another woman and the traditional narrative of a rom-com kicks in: they exchange innuendoes, go on some themed date, have a montage of good times, a secret is discovered, then they get back together. It’s actually a lot better than I’ve made out, and here’s why:
Stiller’s funniest character for me, after White Goodman, is Tommy from Friends, a guy who is a fairly well-rounded person except that when alone with Ross Gellar, he turns in a sociopath, and there are moments in this film where Stiller has deliberately mimicked the rage he gave as Tommy, and the system of approach he has to the sheer absurdity of his ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’-style circumstances is first-rate comedy. It compliments the film so well.
Malin is the best frigging character in this movie. At first I said to a buddy whilst watching her, she could be the new Diaz. After seeing her whole performance, she’s definitely the new Faris. The film just loses momentum without her, she’s like Kramer from Seinfeld, as soon as she’s in the scene, the audience’s attention multiplies because she’s so larger than life
No one really cares about the story and after the first ten minutes of spot the Arrested Development-er (three, btw) thanks to the aforementioned eccentricity of Lila, the film gathers pace, however ends with a saggy, but nonetheless funny third act.
A friend mentioned disapproval of how the film doesn’t typically have an ending, but I believe she’s being unfair, as it’s fairly well placed in this film, with a surprising cameo from Eva Longoria, the audience were in titters and it was understood that the film had done all it had to do.
Initially I was joking with another buddy, just four hours before watching the film, how I’d never watch it, but that goes to show how wrong I can be. Now I’m encouraging that buddy to go out and see it.This film is far more enjoyable when with friends, although I can hardly think of a time when I have enjoyed a ‘Gross-Out Movie’ by myself, can you? - and I’ve read a lot of internet reviews, this film is getting a lot of unimpressed submissions, but what on earth do these people expect? Film is a pile of piss compared to the brilliant programmes on TV at the moment like Dexter, Lost, Jericho. There is simply no time to make a great, character realistic explanatory series of events in just two hours. That’s why all these shows span on and on for series on end. Prison Break has been picked up for five seasons, Heroes for ten. QED.
Grade C+
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