In the latest film from The Farrelly Brothers™, Ben Stiller plays a man who marries the woman of his dreams (Malin Akerman) and honeymoons with her in Mexico, only to discover that she's not the lovely girl he thought she was. In fact, he doesn't like her at all. She's horrible. He's just made a very bad decision. And then he finds the real girl of his dreams holidaying at the same resort... This is a remake of the 1972 hit starring Charles Grodin and Cybill Shepherd.
The Farrellys add a liberal dose of additional bad taste to the original, including (tucked in among the final credits as a reward for folks who stay to the bitter end) an envelope-pushing sequence that may be looked back on as the first example of mainstream bestiality...
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What's missing is heart, and without it the film falls flat. Running out of steam, particularly in the final act, Stiller, in what seems like a desperate attempt to keep the momentum going, gets more and more hyper. It isn't engaging emotionally, the film becomes almost cruel rather than coarse, and Stiller makes an unfortunate transition from a normal guy surrounded by eccentrics into a nut himself.
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The jokes cross back and forth across the boundaries of good taste and bad and not always to mine... although special points are awarded for original use of a portuguese man-o-war jelly fish...
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Obviously, "The Heartbreak Kid" is a Farrelly Brothers movie; nobody expects a corporate sensitivity training video. But there's something surprising about the undercurrent of hostility and disgust that runs through it. Even at the most innocuous moments, you wonder if you haven't walked into a Neil LaBute movie by mistake...
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For all its fluffed moments and saggy end, how many other films this year feature a donkey with an erection...
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Stiller seems to realise that the comic material is falling flat, ramping up his performance to ever more frantic levels. The movie becomes increasingly uncomfortable and grotesque with more than a whiff of misogyny that even a cameo from Eva Longoria can't distract from. There are a few visual shocks designed to jolt you into laughter, but the dull humourless bits between drag on too long...
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The Heartbreak Kid offers up a handful of sharp laughs as Eddie tries to trade in old for new, but not enough to distract from his unsympathetic character... But the sunny setting, attractive leads and reasonably involving story help make The Heartbreak Kid a watchable frippery...
Full reviewThe Heartbreak Kid (2007) is available to stream in New Zealand now on Google Play and Apple TV and TVNZ+.
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