The Heartbreak Kid (2007) - B-

Released on DVD this week. Rated R. 115 minutes.

I’ve always felt There’s Something About Mary (B) was overrated. After suffering through Me, Myself, & Irene, Shallow Hal, Stuck on You, and Fever Pitch, even the biggest fans of “Mary” must have said enough is enough and Mary was a fluke. With The Heartbreak Kid, eternal perverts Peter and Bobby Farrelly not only have their first remake and their first reteaming with Ben Stiller, but their best movie since. As the newlywed who slowly realizes he married the wrong person while on his honeymoon in Mexico, Stiller is terrific as the exasperated Eddie and is able to deliver his lines with unabated R-rated fervor. (The last line of the movie recalls the last line in Eyes Wide Shut). Stiller is also pretty good at the falling-in-love scenes when he meets Michelle Monaghan while in Mexico as his wife is stuck in the hotel room with a 2nd degree sunburn.

Ben Stiller is generous by letting the supporting players steal scenes from him. First and foremost is his real-life father Jerry who’s delightfully vulgar in trying to live vicariously through his more reserved son. Rob Corddry (TV’s The Daily Show) gets some great lines as the P-whipped best friend. But Malin Akerman (as the new wife) goes the farthest and will apparently do anything for a laugh. Certainly she’s obnoxious (we’re viewing the film through Eddie’s eyes after all), but it is Stiller’s responses to everything that make it work.
At nearly 2 hours, the movie is at least 20 minutes too long and some first and second act cuts are needed. The third act is surprisingly brisk with a great sequence involving Stiller trying to cross the US-Mexico border without a passport. It would be too easy to bitch about continuity errors, the lack of directorial style, and the implausible plot coincidences. The Farrelly brothers are only concerned about making you laugh and they are successful here for the first time in years, mostly because they haven’t been neutered and defanged by a PG-13 rating. B-

Note#1: I haven’t seen the original 1972 version of The Heartbreak Kid in nearly 10 years so I can’t compare the two.

Note#2: Stay tuned through the closing credits.