Reviews
DVD Review - “The Heartbreak Kid”
The Heartbreak Kid, heralded pre-release as an hysterical Ben Stiller / Farrelly brothers reunion, hit theaters with the kind of thud that’s usually reserved for new Larry the Cable Guy vehicles, and it suffers from the same problems that typically plague dreck like Witless Protection: it’s stylistically undistinguished, suffers from terminally slack pacing and execution, and is vaguely offensive without ever actually being funny or memorable. That being said - I actually enjoyed a fair amount of this picture.
Watching The Heartbreak Kid is kind of like hanging out with your old buddies from high school - the guys that cracked you up in the lunchroom but whose humor hasn’t evolved much since those days. When I was fifteen, I thought There’s Something About Mary was the funniest mishmash of raunch and sentiment ever committed to celluloid; then, at a certain point, my sense of humor mutated, and things like subtlety and depth became more relevant to me than bodily fluids. The Farrelly brothers have definitely churned out some funny stuff (most notably Kingpin, their indisputable masterpiece), but The Heartbreak Kid will probably serve as their nadir in the court of public opinion, a two-hour lump of lukewarm misogyny, racism, and sub-Mallrats recurring jokes. The heart can’t help but sink any time the name “Carlos Mencia” appears in the opening credits of a feature film, and there’s no real point in me trying to argue that this flick delivers anything other than what you’re expecting. But. . .
This definitely isn’t the worst comedy ever made (that honor still goes to anything with Ashton Kutcher’s name above the title - whichever Kelso-centric slab of mediocrity you happen to be watching at the moment will suffice), and it’s fairly enjoyable in the way that 95% of all generic romantic-comedies are. Heartbreak Kid even has a slight edge, as the filmmakers value the “comedy” integer of that equation far more than the “romance.” There are slight laughs to be had here, and they come in at fairly regular 20-minute intervals - and you can certainly crack yourself up by yelling “That’s not fuuuunny, Carlos” at the screen whenever Mencia shows up as “Uncle Tito.” Ben Stiller is his usual affable self - never really “funny,” or even “particularly engaged in the movie happening around him,” but he’s such a familiar face at this point, and his vehicles have become so boilerplate, that there’s a certain comfort to spending a couple hours with the dude. So, really, this isn’t very different from anything else you’re spending four bucks to rent. It’s neither mind-blowingly brilliant, nor spectacularly bad; it’s just sort of there. You could do worse on a Saturday night.
But - here’s the inevitable caveat which kept the picture from performing at Mary (or even Stuck On You) levels: the brothers Farrelly take a beautiful, sweet actress like Malin Akerman and then spend over ninety minutes humiliating her at every possible turn, never once letting her play anything other than an abrasive, hysterical, coke-addled crackpot. To be fair, they allow her about fifteen minutes at the beginning of the movie to flaunt her natural charms, but as soon as the plot machinations kick in, she’s required to be as disgustingly subhuman as current MPAA guidelines will allow. It’s a shame that the Farrelly brothers find this kind of stuff funny, and even more shameful that an actress of such obvious strengths would sign up to be portrayed this way. The final, ironic twist is that Akerman is far more engaging and talented than Michelle Monaghan, who delivers a performance even more lifeless than the one she offered up in Gone Baby Gone.
Anyhow, that’s the gist, for anyone who might still be interested in checking this out despite it’s tepid box-office showing. I would recommend you spend some time with the original version, directed by Elaine May and starring Charles Grodin, which is by all accounts a vastly superior film, with real satirical teeth. Unfortunately, that film is no longer available on DVD, unless you’re willing to shell out over $50 for a used copy on eBay. If you like Ben Stiller, or your just enjoy sporadically funny comedies in general, it might be worth the couple bucks you’ll shell out to give this a look-see. But if you’re in the mood to see a movie that’s compelling, funny, and smart, walk a few rows down and pick up a copy of The King Of Kong.
Carlos Mencia’s not in that one.
Discussion
2 comments for “DVD Review - “The Heartbreak Kid””
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I’d rather watch a double feature of Employee of the Month and Good Luck Chuck than watch this piece of crap.
Sometimes, it amazes me what you waste your money on, first it was this, then it was a disgusting $27.00 bottle of campari that tastes like a diabetic pissed in a robitussin.
Whoa whoa whoa, ese. I didn’t spend a dime on this “piece of crap.” Josh received it free from FSR and then passed it on.
And the Campari was a little “tax refund” gift to myself. It’s not like I’m drinkin’ three bottles of that shit a day - NyQuil is cheaper. And tastes better.