The Heartbreak Kid

It’s not much of a stretch to label The Heartbreak Kid the most ineffective and flat-out dull effort from the Farrelly brothers, as the film, though cute and pleasant enough in its opening half hour, is almost entirely devoid of jokes that work or characters that are even remotely interesting. A remake of the 1972 Elaine May comedy of the same name, The Heartbreak Kid casts Ben Stiller as Eddie Cantrow – a 40-year-old bachelor who impulsively marries a beautiful professional (Malin Akerman’s Lila) and slowly-but-surely discovers that his new bride is essentially a complete nightmare. The film’s incredibly repetitive structure – much of the second act follows Eddie as he makes one horrifying discovery about Lila after another – is exacerbated by the dearth of laughs, with exceedingly few of the Farrellys’ patented gross-out gags managing to elicit even a chuckle from the viewer (and unlike their previous efforts, such shenanigans just feel desperate this time around). The subplot revolving around Eddie’s would-be relationship with a fellow vacationer (Michelle Monaghan’s Miranda) doesn’t fare much better, as the character has been idealized to the point of absurdity (ie she doesn’t seem to possess any flaws). And, of course, Miranda remains in the dark regarding Eddie’s marriage for an unreasonably prolonged amount of time, which ensures that even the dimmest of viewers will be able to anticipate the requisite fake break-up (and the fact that said fake break-up seems to last for a third of the film’s running time certainly doesn’t help matters). Stiller’s charismatic performance notwithstanding, The Heartbreak Kid comes off as an interminable and shockingly unfunny piece of work that has little to offer even the most ardent fan of the Farrelly brothers.

* out of ****