There is odd and there is Farrelly Brothers odd...
Peter Ingemi | Worcester County, Massachusetts United States | 12/12/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Talk about a movie that takes you, spins your head around in circles and dumps you all over the place the Heartbreak Kid breaks a lot of rules of film making and comedy and does it well.
It tells the story of a single guy Ben Stiller who is unable to find a woman, his sex obsessed father (played by his father Jerry) and his best pal Mac who are all looking to get him married off.
The movie starts to get you invested in his plight as he goes from embarrassment to embarrassment until he seems to come across the right girl, Lila.
In a mere 5 weeks pushed by his father and friend he marries her, and it is on the drive down to their honeymoon retreat to Mexico that things get interesting...
...that's where he meets the girl of his dreams, Miranda.
From here the plot twist and turns from disaster to disaster, in terms of the comedy the Farrellys set you up for every turn from Carlos Mencia through Miranda's family to the twins who after a brief introduction at the beginning of the film are used for great comic effect. The reaction of his father and best friends to his martial problems made me instantly think of the famous Three Stooges short The Three Stooges Collection Volume 2 Husbands Beware.
The comedy becomes so odd and the situations so ridiculous (one scene with Jerry Stiller on the phone with his son from Vegas still gives me the shudders) that you don't know what to do. The Farrellys slowly build up sympathy for Eddie as the film and then slowly bit by bit start to remove it until you wonder if you want him to get the girl of his dreams.
When you see the final scene (not counting the Easter egg with the Donkey)you realize who and what these characters are. It is a very disarming experience.
Oh and don't do what I did, I watched it directly after seeing Trade talk about getting your head and mind twisted all over the place.
This film is so not for kids it isn't funny, there are at least two sex scenes where I wonder how the actors involved managed to keep a straight face. I couldn't do it. Paradoxically it is, in many ways, a morality play, all the wrong and foolish decisions have all the consequences they should have, in at least one case tragic results. So on second thought maybe you should make your teenage daughters watch it and Learn!
It is slapstick, it is deep comedy, it is sexual comedy, it is mind games, it is a morality play, it is cheep bawdy humor all rolled up into one brilliant package!
I don't know if it's a keeper but it should be seen at least once. One piece of advice: When I watch Arsenic and Old Lace I always try to see it with people who never have, their reactions are priceless. This movie is no Arsenic & old Lace but I suspect the reactions would be the same."
Really funny movie
Music Man | Dallas, Texas | 07/26/2010
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Don't know what's up with all these people leaving so many negative one star reviews. I really enjoyed this movie."