Movie reviews, production notes, and more! - "The Heartbreak Kid"

Movie Review: The Heartbreak Kid

Film Review By Michael Phillips, Tribune Movie Critic Ever since "There's Something About Mary," Ben Stiller has been getting caught in one zipper after another, metaphorically if not literally, to his mortification and our diversion. He is the screen's reigning indignity magnet. But Stiller has suffered no greater indignity than the Farrelly brothers' remake of "The Heartbreak Kid," which bears only a passing resemblance to the 1972 Elaine May film and its remarkably unshticky Neil Simon screenplay, and to the perfect little six-page story from whence it came, the one by Bruce Jay Friedman beginning with the sentence: "And so finally, after four years of drift, they had found all exits barricaded and gotten married in a sudden spurt, bombing their parents with the news." What do we see in this excruciating new version? We see all traces of cultural and ethnic personality erased, all the old Jew/WASP comic dynamics replaced by generic trash talk. We see the protagonist urinated upon by his bikini-bottomless blond-gorgon bride after a jellyfish encounter. We sense Stiller overselling every little half-sentence and awkward fill because he's a smart man regarding comedy, and he must know that this grating screenplay, by five credited writers, is a ... read more Official Web Site: http://www.heartbreakkidmovie.com/ Back to main movie page Showing Today at: Click here for other showings