The Heartbreak Kid (1972)

ridiculous rating

People are voting emotionally.

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Charles Grodin is no stranger to playing dorks, dweebs, creeps or nerds. In fact he did it so often that many of us are lead to believe he truly is the character he has portrayed so many times. We all know this tale too well. A young salesman meets a nice Jewish girl in a bar and marries her. When off to their honeymoon to Miami, he discovers that she is perpetually annoying and irritating from eating Egg salad sandwiches, talking during intercourse and stubborn about his pleas for her to put on sunscreen. Enter the Flirty Cybil Shepard and all plans go to hell. I understand that much of comedy is rooted in pain and discomfort and Neil Simon understood this very well. But The Heartbreak Kid is a plot that is so aggravating and cringe-worthy that at times we really don't see the humor. Each character becomes a cliché. Jeannie Berlin's performance is admirable, but the Stereotypical Yenta is taken to its most annoying extreme. You wonder if the writer had a deep seated hatred for new York girls. Charles Grodin is far too annoying and wimpy to even relate too. When he lies to Lila in the Hotel room, trying to cover up his escapades, it's just too implausible for anyone to take seriously. It was moments like that that made this movie frustrating. Lila gets hurt, dumped and cast by the wayside. Cybil Shepard becomes the symbol of female perfection to Grodin. And the final 40 minutes is about how he pursues her shamelessly despite her father's disdain for him. I'm not sure why women would find this humorous in the least, because it casts a very negative light on their intelligence, integrity and value. I guess a guy can see the surface humor in Grodin's actions, but if you think about how truly pitiful and reckless his actions are, there's no humor at all. It's a sad tale about a man with shabby and selfish desires and the consequences of his actions. This is not comedy. This is tragedy.

The film begins with Lenny (Charles Grodin) marrying Lila (Jeannie Berlin). On the honeymoon it is obvious that his new wife can be very annoying and she eats like a pig...though he surely must have known all this as they had been dating. After all, it wasn't like the marriage was one of those arranged ones!! So on one hand, you can understand Lenny becoming disenchanted with her...but he knew who he was marrying! To make it much worse, he starts looking at other women and begins dating while he's STILL on his honeymoon!!! Clearly, Lenny is a super-jerk and Kelly (Cybill Shepherd) inexplicably wants him....even though she knows he just got married. Not surprisingly, her father (Eddie Albert) wants to kill Lenny...and who would blame him?! So what's next? See the film.If you had to sum up this movie in one word, AWKWARD would be pretty accurate! There are many moments where the viewer will likely feel awkward and squirm a bit as they watch that weasel Lenny! I like comedy like this...the more awkward the better. But my wife hates stuff like this and so I am glad I didn't watch the movie with her. So, if films like "The King of Comedy" or the Veal Prince Orloff episode of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" make you cringe, skip this film!I think the other reason I really enjoyed this movie was Eddie Albert and his wonderful character. Again and again, I found myself laughing whenever he spoke...and it's among his best performances. It's no surprise, then, that he was Oscar-nominated for this. He was incredibly blunt, funny and hard to dislike! And, he seemed to be the only one outraged at Lenny's god-awful actions and the inane blather that came out of Lenny's mouth!Overall, a wonderful film and I have no idea why they would bother remaking it...but that's Hollywood for you.By the way, the music to this film is awful...but representative of the times. I lived through this era and hated hearing the likes of "Close to You" again and again! Somehow I managed to tune it all out, thank goodness!

The movie's a comedy, I think, though it produces as many cringes as laughs. It's hard not to laugh at poor Lila (Berlin) as she flubs her honeymoon with sunburn crème blotches, oozing egg sandwiches, and ill-timed bathroom breaks. But then she's so emotionally needy, it's hard not to laugh and cry at the same time. On the other hand, husband Lenny's (Grodin) got all the empathy of a ham sandwich, as he chases after blonde goddess Kelly (Shepherd), piling one absence excuse on Lila after another. This is the honeymoon from heck, especially after the goddess-struck Lenny sues for divorce. But then he does grant Lila "the luggage".The humor's in the character set-ups, and Lenny's special brand of chutzpah. A little fast- talking, he thinks, gets him out of any situation. That is, until he runs into Kelly's humorless dad (Albert). Seems like the proverbial irresistible force has run into the immovable object. But has it. Grodin's appropriately obnoxious when Lenny needs to be; Berlin's vulnerable when Lila needs to be; Shepherd's gorgeous without trying; while Albert's stony mug belongs on Mt. Rushmore. And catch that contemplative ending, not what I expected, but probably appropriate for what's gone before.All in all, the movie's something of a guilty pleasure and certainly one of a kind. I do, however, miss Grodin's smirking brand of put-on.

I had seen the Ben Stiller remake of this film before this original version, and I found out this original was in the book of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, so I had to see whether it deserved that inclusion. Basically Jewish New York sporting goods salesman Lenny Cantrow (Golden Globe nominated Charles Grodin) has just got married to fellow Jewish New Yorker Lila Kolodny (Oscar and Golden Globe nominated Jeannie Berlin), and they setting off for a three day honeymoon in Miami. On the journey and arriving at the Doral Hotel on the beach he is becoming bothered by the smallest or most annoying aspects about his new wife, making him question whether it was mistake to marry her, so he makes numerous excuses to get away from her. Lenny thinks his marriage was a bad decision even more when he meets vacationing witty and gorgeous student Kelly Corcoran (Cybill Shepherd), so he makes even more excuses to Lila to spend time with this young woman. Eventually however he confesses to his wife that he does not want to be married anymore due to both this new love interest and because he has become impatient with her, it is unclear whether his new girl feels the same way but he is really keen to marry her following a divorce. Returning home and having divorced Kelly he knows that Lila is attending college in Minnesota, he knows that if he is going to go any further with her he should meet her parents, and he does not make a good impression with her overly protective and hostile father Mr. Corcoran (Oscar nominated Eddie Albert). It is an obstacle convincing the father to think well of him, but eventually Lenny is accepted by the family and he is allowed to marry Kelly, and this time it is really a happy wedding for him and her equally. Also starring Audra Lindley as Mrs. Corcoran, William Prince as Colorado Man, Augusta Dabney as Colorado Woman, Mitchell Jason as Cousin Ralph, Art Metrano as Entertainer, Marilyn Putnam as Mrs. Kolodny, Jack Hausman as Mr. Kolodny and Doris Roberts as Mrs. Cantrow. Grodin is reasonably good fun as the easily irritated newlywed husband, Berlin is funny constantly being needy and annoying, Shepherd is nice enough as the new love interest, and from what I remember Albert is fine as the bigoted father of the new love interest. The story does not have a build up before the wedding, there is not much slapstick, it seems a bit more serious, and there were some nice love story moments, I will be honest and say that I preferred the remake, but I supposed I can see it as a near must see romantic drama. It was nominated the Golden Globe for Best Screenplay. It was number 91 on 100 Years, 100 Laughs. Worth watching!