Love Blows

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The initial assumption was that the Farrelly Brothers' version of The Heartbreak Kid (Dreamamount, 10.5), which costars Ben Stiller and Michelle Monaghan, is a remake of Elaine May's The Heartbreak Kid, which came out 35 years ago with Charles Grodin and Cybil Shepard in the leads. It is that, of course, but there are indications that it may be a much coarser and more slapsticky thing than May's film, and with fewer mixed-bag subtleties in terms of the characters.

The self-absorption in Grodin's character was fairly deranged (he sees women primarily as challenges, and begins to disengage once he's won them over and/or possessed them), and the New York-area Jewish girl he marries at the beginning (Jeannie Berlin) is grating and inelegant but at least half sympathetic -- the scene in which Grodin drops her in a Miami Beach restaurant is somewhere between sad and grotesque. Stiller's guy, on the other hand, is said to be more likable and less looney tunes, and the woman he marries early on (Malin Aker- man) is portrayed as a batshit caricature of someone you'd definitely want to un-marry as soon as possible.

In this sense the new Kid seems to bear a slight resemblance to Jeff Franklin's Love Stinks, a 1999 comedy about a guy who gets caught up with a gold digger from hell. The connection is obviously being telegraphed by the Heartbreak Kid marketing guys with their slogan -- "Love Blows."

I haven't seen the film and it may be fine on its own terms, but if the what I'm hearing and reading turns out to be true then c'est la guerre -- that's how things are. The '70s were the '70s and now is right now. Just because a character comedy directed by one of the smartest and most sophisticated female comedy auteurs (working from a script by Neil Simon) of all time worked on its own terms back then doesn't mean it'll work by today's standards. You have to gorilla things down today...make something that the Seth Rogen crowd will laugh at. The Elaine May-Charles Grodin comic aesthetic is way too fussy and neurotic and smarty-pants. Let it go, move on.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on August 12, 2007 at 10:34 AM

comment #1

Mike Schaefer says ...

Make that *35* years ago for the original HK.

Posted by Mike Schaefer at August 12, 2007 11:35 AM

comment #2

malibugigolo says ...

wacky!

Posted by malibugigolo at August 12, 2007 11:40 AM

comment #3

George Prager says ...

There will probably be a scene where a cute pet bites Ben Stiller on the dick. And maybe a foul-mouthed old grandmother. I can't wait!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by George Prager at August 12, 2007 11:44 AM

comment #4

Noel Murray says ...

It's funny that you mention "the Seth Rogen crowd," because Rogen/Goldberg/Apatow seem much closer to the Nichols & May tradition of documenting social discomfort than the Farrelly/Ferrel school exaggerated wacky. When I saw the trailer for THE HEARTBREAK KID earlier this year (and GOOD LUCK CHUCK as well), all I could think was, "After KNOCKED UP and SUPERBAD," does this kind of stuff really play anymore?

Posted by Noel Murray at August 12, 2007 12:16 PM

comment #5

Cadavra says ...

Rogen/Goldberg/Apatow = Nichols & May? In what universe?

Posted by Cadavra at August 12, 2007 12:35 PM

comment #6

Noel Murray says ...

Didn't say "equals." Said "much closer to," and explained exactly how.

Posted by Noel Murray at August 12, 2007 12:36 PM

comment #7

bmcintire says ...

I think you're stretching to the point of breakage with the LOVE STINKS parallel. Apart from the standard issue Sony Comedy Font, there is pretty much nothing anyone remembers from that French Stewart "vehicle" or anything worth recalling.

Posted by bmcintire at August 12, 2007 12:41 PM

comment #8

T. Holly says ...

Noel, it plays about as well as the rom-com, which is being replaced by movies like Waitress, 2 Days in Paris, Broken English, Interview and Delirious.

Posted by T. Holly at August 12, 2007 12:44 PM

comment #9

D.Z. says ...

The Farrellies peaked with Something About Mary, and haven't been any funny since then. Why do they still get work?

Posted by D.Z. at August 12, 2007 1:38 PM

comment #10

Larry says ...

The Neil Simon script was based on a Bruce Jay Friedman story, so you've got a lot of major comedy names involved in the original. Though I've heard that Neil Simon felt May changed his script a lot--particularly in playing up the Jew versus shiksa thing.

Posted by Larry at August 12, 2007 1:58 PM

comment #11

The Winchester says ...

The movie's just alright. Stiller is amusing, but nowhere near Grodin-level character. It's really just an excuse for site gags. (No animals biting Stiller in the crotch, though. I think the swearing elderly person is in there, but it's Jerry Stiller, which is alright). It's a likeable enough flick, but, to reiterate what most seem to be saying, compared to the Apatow/Rogen flicks we're getting lately, this one just doesn't compare.

Posted by The Winchester at August 12, 2007 3:04 PM

comment #12

Noah says ...

T. Holly, Interview was neither romantic or comedic. It's a movie akin to Tape. How is that replacing the rom-com? I could see how the other films would work for your argument, but not Interview.

Posted by Noah at August 12, 2007 4:23 PM

comment #13

T. Holly says ...

I don't know, maybe it's a wit-com or satiri-com.

Posted by T. Holly at August 12, 2007 6:04 PM

comment #14

Dan Revill says ...

DZ, that I can agree with.

Posted by Dan Revill at August 12, 2007 8:07 PM

comment #15

Ron Lim says ...

Jeff...
I hate the way you generalize. It's the only way you can explain away the way you disagree with society.
"The Seth Rogen crowd"? What does that mean?
I must be in that crowd because I love the kind of stuff Apatow puts out. I also appreciate the Adam McKay/Will Ferrell stuff and the Farrellys.
But guess what? I think Neil Simon and Albert Brooks are pretty great too. And Woody Allen. Wes Anderson, Garry Marshall (the Odd Couple TV show is better than the movie)... Larry David. Geniuses.
Stop trying to pigeonhole people by the stuff they enjoy.

Posted by Ron Lim at August 12, 2007 8:22 PM

comment #16

The Winchester says ...

DZ- I have two words for you: Osmosis Jones.

The brilliance of that flick ensured the world for many great comedies yet to come.

Posted by The Winchester at August 12, 2007 9:08 PM

comment #17

T. Holly says ...

Noah, Interview is the sexual (will-they-won't-they) tension mixed with critcal sarcasm, which I think is replacing the rom-com. Do you think the movie version of Sex and The City is going to a straight up rom-com or a female version of "Knocked Up?"

Posted by T. Holly at August 12, 2007 9:43 PM

comment #18

T. Holly says ...

And wasn't The Devil Wears Prada almost practically a lesbian movie?

Posted by T. Holly at August 12, 2007 10:05 PM

comment #19

Hallick says ...

I don't care how this version compares to that version or whether it's one for the "gorilla nation" or not. I just can't take anymore of Ben Stiller in this kind of role. When exactly was it that he gave up on also playing grown-ups in movies like "Permanent Midnight", "Zero Effect" and "Black and White" (hell - even his cameo in "Orange County") to alternating between cartoon weirdos ("Dodgeball") and bewildered dweebs (most of his movies in the last few years)? He's getting too old to be churning this shit out. Doesn't he have any ambitions to do something fresh?

Posted by Hallick at August 13, 2007 10:37 AM

comment #20

Terry McCarty says ...

Noel Murray wrote:
It's funny that you mention "the Seth Rogen crowd," because Rogen/Goldberg/Apatow seem much closer to the Nichols & May tradition of documenting social discomfort than the Farrelly/Ferrel school exaggerated wacky.

Occasionally, I go on the rec.arts.movies.current-films USENET newsgroup, where mainstream-loving males rule. One of the posters there compared Apatow to a cross between the Farrellys and Barry Levinson.

Posted by Terry McCarty at August 13, 2007 12:13 PM

comment #21