Spidersecu Don't Believe the Hype

Solidrariol Am I Missing Something?

SparkMore n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

imbluzclooby 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.

calvinnme I remember seeing this movie when it first came out, and it always stuck with me. I rewatched it last night for the first time in decades, and I think my first impression as a teen is still pretty much my impression now. Charles Grodin plays a totally selfish person, Lenny Cantrow, who - unlike most of us - acts on every selfish impulse. He tries to kid himself into thinking he is a good unselfish person by giving his cast-off first wife all of the wedding presents and his car when the gash he's given her self esteem - telling her he wants a divorce after less than one week into a marriage and honeymoon, most of which he has spent with a Minnesota beauty on vacation (Cybil Shepherd as Kelly Corcoran) - is something that will likely never heal. Being older and a stepparent myself now, I could really relate to Eddie Albert's character, Kelly's father. He can smell Lenny's loopiness from a mile away, but how do you protect an adult daughter from a terrible fate - getting hooked up with someone like Grodin's character - that only time and wisdom can teach you to avoid. She doesn't have that wisdom yet.I always thought the second wedding scene sharing so many similarities with the first is basically saying that Lenny is going to go through life ruining other people's lives because he wants what he wants when he wants it, and worse, he will always convince himself he is not a bad guy when he walks all over people to get what he wants. Also you see just a smidgen of regret in his face after the ceremony as he talks in circles about his career plans to any wedding guest that will listen, suggesting that perhaps catching Kelly is not as satisfying as chasing her all of these months has been.Finally, I just have to tip my hat to director Elaine May. Somehow, in both 1971's "A New Leaf" and this film, she really knows how to make a female character annoying right down to the tone of voice and physical movements. She did it with her own character in A New Leaf and then did it with her own daughter, Jeannie Berlin, in this film as Lenny's first wife, Lila. Highly recommended.

SmileysWorld I had seen Ben Stiller's 2007 remake of this film.It was nothing short of awful,but I thought to myself,surely the original,which I had not as yet seen,isn't this bad.I went with the film's basic idea,which was funny yet tragic in a way,and decided to see if it told the story better.Took a while to find it because I can never find it on television,and it isn't available through my video mailing service.Finally found it on the web and gave it a gander.Overall,I was impressed.It was perfectly casted from top to bottom.Who wouldn't fall in love with Cybill Shepherd? I also enjoyed Eddie Albert as the "rich brick wall" of a father to Cybill's character.I did feel bad for the Grodin's bride and I do wish that they hadn't left her fate so open ended.The moral of the story is clear;Don't marry someone just because you are in a hurry to settle down.Sometimes true love takes a while.Wait for it.

moonspinner55 Charles Grodin plays a Jewish New Yorker who takes his earthy new bride to Miami for their honeymoon, but becomes increasingly disillusioned with her on the trip--most especially because of a flirty, leggy blonde from Minnesota whom he meets on the beach. With Neil Simon writing this screenplay, one is almost instantly aware not of the class issue (it doesn't matter to Simon who has more money than who) but of the Jewish angle. Simon makes the bride gross and vulgar, and Jeannie Berlin has been encouraged to play these non-attributes to the hilt, while Cybill Shepherd's Protestant sex-goddess is the epitome of sarcastic poise. Simon wins points against the new wife by playing up her Jewishness in all its stereotypical brashness; it's as if the volume is up too loud. "The Heartbreak Kid" has many things going for it--the excellent performances and some very humorous asides to name two--but the intentional lewdness behind Grodin's marital predicament, and the queasy way he ingratiates himself into Shepherd's family, isn't so much hilarious as it is cringe-inducing. Shepherd's no-nonsense father, wonderfully played in an I've-seen-everything-now way by Eddie Albert, reacts accordingly to Grodin's new proposals with anger and confusion, and in these instances the film touches on something much deeper than the modern Jewish man's internal struggle. Unfortunately, this is mainly what Simon has on his plate, and it wears the audience down--and seems very dated now, anyway. Elaine May's direction is fashionably ragged and somewhat detached, and her ending is thoughtful (if, in retrospect, uneventful). The story certainly needed a modern tweaking, as this version is just a little bit undernourished (more mean-spirited than funny), however a 2007 remake fared even worse. **1/2 from ****