The Heartbreak Kid (1972)

Simply A Masterpiece

People are voting emotionally.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

For years, all I knew of this movie was who was involved in it: director Elaine May, screenwriter Neil Simon, author Bruce Jay Friedman (I was previously familiar with two of his '80s comedies I remember enjoying-Stir Crazy and Splash) and stars Charles Grodin, Cybill Shepherd, and Eddie Albert. Oh, and also another player-Jeannie Berlin-is Ms. May's daughter. I also knew of the premise-Grodin marries Ms. Berlin, finds out she's not very appealing, dumps her after meeting Ms. Shepherd during their honeymoon, tries to get Ms. Shepherd's father-played by Albert-to approve of him for her and then...Well, I'll just say that this was both funny and a little painful to watch but it was mostly quite an enjoyable one to finally see for myself just how well put this was. So on that note, I highly recommend The Heartbreak Kid. Oh, and I just remembered that Audra Lindley-years before playing Helen Roper in "Three's Company"-is in this, too! Also, Doris Roberts-a couple of decades before her Emmy-wining role in "Everybody Loves Raymond"-plays Grodin's mother during the first-wedding sequence.

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.

Lenny Cantrow (Charles Grodin) has married his NY Jewish princess Lila (Jeannie Berlin). They are driving to honeymoon in Miami beach. He starts to get annoyed by little things that Lila does. At the beach, he encounters the flirty Kelly Corcoran (Cybill Shepherd). He starts spending more and more time with her even after her father (Eddie Albert) moves out of the hotel to get away from the Jewish element. He starts lying to Lila to spend more time with Kelly. He divorces Lila to follow Kelly in Minnesota.Elaine May is probably a better writer than a film director. She lacks a visual style and a cinematic sense of comedy. The theater is probably a better place for her than the big screen. Although she gets a good performance from Grodin. The Neil Simon script is a terrific skewering of the racial divide and Lenny is a terrific squirrelly protagonist. There are no big laughs but the movie has a great dark twisted humor about it.

This movie recently became available on Netflix! It's even on their Instant Queue so you can watch it on demand.It's very different than the Ben Stiller remake (which I also enjoyed.) But in this movie Lenny is not at all a sympathetic character while his wife certainly is. There are some really intense scenes in this movie. Sometimes uncomfortably so. I guess this was one of the first "Dramedy" movies before that term was even invented.Anyway, there is one classic scene in this film that's absolutely worth the price of admission. Eddie Albert earns his Oscar nomination without saying a single word, doing the Slow Burn to end all Slow Burns, while Lenny "lays his cards on the table".