Starring: Ben Stiller, Malin Ackerman, Michelle Monaghan, Jerry Stiller
Directed By: Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly
Written By: Scot Armstrong, Leslie Dixon
Released: 2007
Grade: C-
The Heartbreak Kid is the latest film by the Farrelly Brothers, who have really seemed to have lost their touch. Ben Stiller is really just the same as characters he has played many times before like in Along Came Polly, There’s Something About Mary, and Meet the Parents. There are some great talents in the film, but most really are taken advantage of. I went in to The Heartbreak Kid expecting to hate it. Surprisingly enough, I did actually enjoy it and quickly became engaged in it. This was at the beginning though, when the film is much more solid and likeable. Once the honeymoon begins the film severely suffers and ruins what it has built up.
The way the film ends is truly horrible. After everything blows up in his face and both women know the truth that he has been married and has been chasing after someone else, neither wants anything to do with him. Eddie doesn’t have his passport anymore so he has to be smuggled back in to the country to get Miranda back. She is already married and tells Eddie that she doesn’t want to be with him anymore. After 6 months of feeling miserable, Eddie moves to the spot where he vacationed on his honeymoon and opens up a shop there for beach gear. Miranda comes there for the next year’s reunion. They are finally getting together and everything is right. Until we find out that Eddie has a girlfriend and today is their anniversary. He is now doing the same exact thing with her that he did with Lila. What is really horrible about this is the same exact dialogue, word for word is used. He claims that after what happened before he learned and he wouldn’t make the same mistakes again. He does though in the exact same way, which just leads us to believe that they weren’t mistakes, but example of his true character. It revealed that this is just the type of guy Eddie is: a lying, cheating, and not very intelligent man. This really ruins the entire film and adds to the frustration.
Directed By: Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly
Written By: Scot Armstrong, Leslie Dixon
Released: 2007
Grade: C-
The Heartbreak Kid is the latest film by the Farrelly Brothers, who have really seemed to have lost their touch. Ben Stiller is really just the same as characters he has played many times before like in Along Came Polly, There’s Something About Mary, and Meet the Parents. There are some great talents in the film, but most really are taken advantage of. I went in to The Heartbreak Kid expecting to hate it. Surprisingly enough, I did actually enjoy it and quickly became engaged in it. This was at the beginning though, when the film is much more solid and likeable. Once the honeymoon begins the film severely suffers and ruins what it has built up.
Eddie’s (Ben Stiller) father (Jerry Stiller) has been pushing him to get married. He just doesn’t think he has met the right girl though until her meets Lila (Ackerman). Someone mugs her while he is standing near by on the street. He nearly catches the man who has stolen her purse, but he gets away. After thanking Eddie for trying they shortly part ways, which Eddie finds himself quickly regretting. Luckily, he mentioned to Lila where the sporting goods store that he owns is. She comes in to the store and begin dating soon after. They date for a 6 weeks and everything seems to be going perfectly. Lila gets offered a job in Germany though since she is the only candidate that isn’t married and they don‘t like to move families. Eddie doesn’t want to lose her or move to Germany and convinces Lila to stay by getting married to her.
Eddie and Lila go to Mexico for their honeymoon, where Lila seems to be a completely different person than she was before. It seems like she can’t do anything anymore that doesn’t annoy Eddie to great lengths. After she gets a bad sunburn, Lila spends the next day in the hotel while Eddie goes out. After getting in a fight with Lila, he starts talking to Miranda (Monaghan), who is staying at the hotel for a family reunion. He soon spends more and more time with her and goes out with her family for most of the vacation. Eddie and Lila have been arguing, which is why she thinks he is gone at first. He then convinces her that he has found contacts for a major business opportunity yet conveniently gives it the location that he knows Lila won’t be able to handle. As Eddie gets closer to Miranda, he finds himself wanting her, but not wanting anything to do with his wife. As Lila starts feeling better Eddie can’t prevent the truth about his marriage coming out, which could ruin his marriage and any chance he might have had with Miranda.
The cast was great all around, but the material just wasn’t strong enough. Ben Stiller really didn’t stray from his comfort zone, but he is fairly believable as Eddie, even though he kept on making it harder and harder for us to actually root for him. He was greedy in even getting married since he clearly wasn’t ready. He just didn’t want to lose Lila and married her to keep her and for convenience of time rather than love. He doesn’t really take the time to talk with Lila about any of the problems that are surfacing for him. Then he continuously dodges and lies to her to spend time with another woman that he is pursuing. He avoids telling either one of these women what is really going on and deceives both of them. This is not exactly the easiest guy to feel for. Malin Ackerman had great charisma that she used well. I feel like this worked better towards the beginning of the film though. When they had her be the crazy/annoying wife, she lost all of her personality, depth, and emotion. The character in her was no longer an
issue and she had to just play “crazy”. Michelle Monaghan was the high point in the film. She has a very warm presence that makes her seem very down to earth and likeable. Since she seems like such a great girl we are guilty of rooting for Eddie at times, which just proves what her character and Monaghan herself was able to bring out, even in others who seem less deserving. Danny McBride was terribly wasted and given lines are very overdone. He played Miranda’s cousin who from the beginning is very aggressive towards Eddie. All there is to his character is hostility, threats, and violence. There is no room for an realistic character development or any type of compassion. McBride has had great comedic work in 2008 and The Heartbreak Kid really could have used his comedic talents. He simply just wasn’t given anything to work with though. Jerry Stiller did pretty well. How hard was it really for Jerry to play Ben Stiller’s father though? His character did push for marriage and didn’t stray from foul language, but there wasn’t a lot more to him than that.
issue and she had to just play “crazy”. Michelle Monaghan was the high point in the film. She has a very warm presence that makes her seem very down to earth and likeable. Since she seems like such a great girl we are guilty of rooting for Eddie at times, which just proves what her character and Monaghan herself was able to bring out, even in others who seem less deserving. Danny McBride was terribly wasted and given lines are very overdone. He played Miranda’s cousin who from the beginning is very aggressive towards Eddie. All there is to his character is hostility, threats, and violence. There is no room for an realistic character development or any type of compassion. McBride has had great comedic work in 2008 and The Heartbreak Kid really could have used his comedic talents. He simply just wasn’t given anything to work with though. Jerry Stiller did pretty well. How hard was it really for Jerry to play Ben Stiller’s father though? His character did push for marriage and didn’t stray from foul language, but there wasn’t a lot more to him than that. The Heartbreak Kid does not have one funny moment. It is full of jokes that are far too overdone when the first time around they weren't even funny. As a romantic comedy, it isn’t really as romantic as it could have been either. So what are we left with? We get a story that could have at least been engaging, but is just unappealing. Eddie and Lila didn’t date for that long before they were married, but the complete transferal of character seems to be a bit extreme and unrealistic. Singing to every song is supposed to be the first repulsive thing that Lila does, which just seems like it would be loveable and a chance for the two to have a good time together. This seems especially faulty when Miranda is singing later and Eddie joins in. There really shouldn’t be a difference there. Dating for a month and a half, Eddie should have at least had some clue of who Lila was. There would be a good amount he might not have known about her, but it shouldn’t have been the extreme that it was either since Lila doesn’t act at all as she did when we saw her before. I was able to accept most of this and still could have gone away enjoying the film to an extent. Then the ending came along and ruined that.
The way the film ends is truly horrible. After everything blows up in his face and both women know the truth that he has been married and has been chasing after someone else, neither wants anything to do with him. Eddie doesn’t have his passport anymore so he has to be smuggled back in to the country to get Miranda back. She is already married and tells Eddie that she doesn’t want to be with him anymore. After 6 months of feeling miserable, Eddie moves to the spot where he vacationed on his honeymoon and opens up a shop there for beach gear. Miranda comes there for the next year’s reunion. They are finally getting together and everything is right. Until we find out that Eddie has a girlfriend and today is their anniversary. He is now doing the same exact thing with her that he did with Lila. What is really horrible about this is the same exact dialogue, word for word is used. He claims that after what happened before he learned and he wouldn’t make the same mistakes again. He does though in the exact same way, which just leads us to believe that they weren’t mistakes, but example of his true character. It revealed that this is just the type of guy Eddie is: a lying, cheating, and not very intelligent man. This really ruins the entire film and adds to the frustration. 
I thought this was a really unfunny film.
Excellent review. I was happy that Stiller was able to do something new with Tropic Thunder.