The Heartbreak Kid
Posted by Josh Radde (josh@filmschoolrejects.com) on December 26, 2007
The Heartbreak Kid re-teams Ben Stiller with the Farrelly Brothers, who made Stiller a household name with There’s Something About Mary. However, this plays like the last notable Farrelly Brothers reunion: Jim Carrey in the tedious Me, Myself, and Irene six years after the classic Dumb and Dumber. The plot is ridiculous, the characters largely unlikable, and the comedy is forced.
The film tells the story of when Eddie (Stiller), an aging bachelor who can’t seem to settle down, meets Lila (gorgeous and scene-stealing Watchmen star Malin Akerman), the woman of his dreams whom he hastily marries. On their honeymoon, Eddie begins to realize just what kind of mistake he’s made by rushing into marriage with a woman he hardly knows and begins cavorting with Miranda (Michelle Monaghan), ANOTHER woman he hardly knows.
The entire thing is despicable. I know the Farrellys like to create likable guys and put them in shallow situations (kinda like the Farrellys own Shallow Hal), but Stiller just can’t sell it here. He and Monaghan have zero on-screen chemistry and Stiller has a hard time mustering up any laughs from the audience. His entire bit in this film is exactly the same as we’ve seen in every other Stiller movie for the last 10 years—the man has played the “let’s piss on this guy” bit to death. In fact, in this film he quite literally gets pissed on. The Brothers upped the ante with the gross-out schtick in Heartbreak; we get a mid-coital Lila shouting out hilarious things, a sun-burn gone completely out-of-control, several shots of a stallion mounting or de-mounting a woman, a jelly-fish attack, and Carlos Mencia as Uncle Tito (whose appearance is the epitome of gross).
There’s really no reason for why Stiller’s Eddie should have a happy ending, yet we know the Farrellys will give him one anyway even though he doesn’t learn his lesson by the film’s end credits. This is easily one of the worst movies I’ve seen this year. Even for Farrelly fans, any scene not involving Malin Akerman or “Daily Show” alum Rob Corrdry is a struggle to get through. The two of them account for nearly every real laugh in the film, yet we’re made to pity Corrdry and root against Akerman.
As for the DVD, it’s pretty bare. There are a few mini-documentaries in which the Brothers admit they really don’t know that much about directing. There’s even a moment where Peter Farrelly calls the sex scenes in The Heartbreak Kid revolutionary. It’s obvious to me that the only movies this guy watches are his own, because that’s all he talks about in these documentaries and commentary. There is one interesting feature on the DVD called “The Egg Toss” which is about how the cast and crew used to participate in egg tosses as a bonding experience. It also provides the only laughs on the special features which also have a lackluster gag reel and boring deleted scenes.
Plus, nothing on the DVD explains why they decided to use Queen/David Bowie’s “Under Pressure” in what has to be the most awkward song a soundtrack has ever contained. It’s baffling how bad this moment is in the film, I really want someone to explain it to me.
Movie Grade: D+
DVD Grade: D
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