Movie Notes: The Heartbreak Kid
= 1 star
Starring Ben Stiller, Malin Akerman, Michelle Monaghan
Directed by Bobby and Peter Farrelly
Amazon Link
Synopsis
Eddie Cantrow (Ben Stiller) is forty, single, and lonely. He hastily marries Lila (Malin Akerman) whom he meets on a San Francisco street. Unfortunately, Eddie soon learns his new bride is not what he expected, and he’s increasingly distracted by Miranda (Michelle Monaghan) during his honeymoon in Cabo.
The Good
- The film starts out in rom-com mode with a pleasant set-up of a forty year old bachelor looking to get hitched ASAP. The whole theme of why older guys get cold feet and avoid marriage is worth exploring.
- Several neat San Francisco locations - Potrero Hill, a pier near the Ferry Building, Hyde street cable car, the exterior of Mario’s Bohemian Cigar Store, and bike riding over Crissy Field.
The Bad
- As soon as the honeymoon begins, the film starts going off the rails and never recovers. The initial subject of male insecurity is soon forgotten and buried under silly sight gags and compromising situations (deviated septum, horrible sunburn, senseless lies that return to haunt the wandering libido).
- There are two shockingly crass sex scenes that are meant to be funny, but frankly, I found them rather disturbing.
- I did get one big laugh near the film’s end when Stiller becomes a creepy stalker, because it was such a ridiculous place for this film to go, and it unfortunately went there.
- How much humiliation can one actor heap upon himself? Amid the constant abuse, Stiller looks bored, with an unintentional been-here-done-that kind of vibe. No surprise, since he has. I assume he got a hefty paycheck.
Conclusion
Skip it. This film definitely crosses into semi-so-bad-it’s-good territory but isn’t that bad.
The Farrelly brothers have been deservedly usurped by the Apatow machine for raunchy humor with heart, via wussy characters one actually gives a fig about.
Also, the “Ben Stiller meets constant abuse as he searches for love” has become an increasingly silly genre unto itself, in which Meet The Parents / There’s Something About Mary are still the best. Why even try to top them? It must be that paycheck.
IMDB: The Heartbreak Kid
Wikipedia: The Heartbreak Kid
Rotten Tomatoes: The Heartbreak Kid 29%
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Categories: 1 Star Movies, General, Movies :: Tags: 1 star, Ben Stiller, Bobby and Peter Farrelly, Malin Akerman, Michelle Monaghan ::
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