If one were to take a heart-warming love story and interject a slew of crude humor and bad plot points, the result would be The Heartbreak Kid.
Fortunately for the Farrelly brothers, the film's dual directors famous for modern classics such as Shallow Hal and Dumb and Dumber, this predictable comedy formula is widely accepted among American moviegoers just looking for a few unabashed laughs.
A remake of the 1972 film written by comedic genius Neil Simon, The Heartbreak Kid stars Ben Stiller (Night At The Museum) as Eddie Cantrow, a San Francisco sporting-goods storeowner whose biggest fear is tying the proverbial knot. That is, until he meets Lila, a dazzling environmental researcher (Malin Akerman, The Brothers Solomon).
After just six weeks of dating, and at the urging of his best friend and father, Rob Corddry (I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry) and Jerry Stiller (Hairspray) respectively, Cantrow "takes the plunge" and marries Lila.
However, from the moment of marital consecration, the normal Lila takes a turn for the psychotic, revealing a series of crazed quirks, ranging from singing obnoxiously in the car to peeing on her husband's stingray wound in front of resort guests.
Cantrow's situation grows stickier as he meets the real girl of his dreams, Miranda (Michelle Monaghan, Gone Baby Gone).
Unlike the original Heartbreak Kid, which warranted two academy award nominations for best supporting actor and best supporting actress, the remake runs into problems with both its cast and script.
Heartbreak is the second film Stiller has made with the Farrelly brothers. The first was There's Something About Mary, in which Stiller's nuances worked well for his character. Stiller also worked alongside a cast of terrific comedic actors.
Stiller doesn't fly solo in this movie either, with Corddry by his side. On the other hand, the wonderful supporting work is not enough to save Stiller this time.
His portrayal of Cantrow, filled with both overacting and a false sense of character, proves yet again that Stiller has been playing the same character for most of his acting career.
Throughout the film, whenever Stiller has an intimate moment, he looks far from genuine. As expected, near the climax of the film, Stiller breaks out into his clich?(c) frustrated rant at some unfortunate annoyance, this time a Mexican Mariachi band.
Stiller's performance, or lack thereof, is not helped by the appearance of Carlos Mencia as hotel clerk Uncle Tito. In the film, Mencia sports a fake mustache and even faker jokes, not much different than his Comedy Central sketch show Mind of Mencia.
And yet, the film's fault lines do not entirely lie on the actors. Though a step up from disappointments such as Stuck On You, the Farrelly brothers make a few near-fatal mistakes in the development of their script.
On several occasions they incorporate incidents simply for the sake of getting a cheap laugh, completely ignoring the fact that they have drastically changed the dynamic of the plot for a single joke.
But even with its flaws, The Heartbreak Kid offers enough charisma to get audiences stomping and clapping along.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
