watching movies one cup at a time

This movie was really stupid. It pairs up the Farrelly Brothers and Ben Stiller once again but unlike There’s Something About Mary, the jokes here fall flat and Ben Stiller’s character is a lot less likable. In fact, many of the jokes here feel like they’re recycled from Mary like a bad imitation.

The Farrelly Brothers really never were able to recreate their success with Mary. There have been a few interesting movies here and there like Fever Pitch but for the most part it’s felt like they have been chasing Mary and playing off their reputation as the “gross out kings” to attract an audience. And The Heartbreak Kid is no exception. There are more than a few gross-out jokes in this one that are really just plain gross. They aren’t funny and they feel very forced.

Ben Stiller plays a guy who is rather unlucky in love. He meets a girl and they hit it off. He’s really liking her but she has to go far away for her job. So he gets the “crazy idea” to get married. They get married and of course everything he thought was good about her turns out to be a mask for a truly horrible person hiding inside. Not an original idea at all and in this movie they really push it to it’s limits. In reality no person would be able to hide such extremely bad character traits while getting to know someone. It’s really exaggerated to the point where it would make more sense if the woman was possessed by a crazy demon in some “wacky” situation. Well of course Ben Stiller is freaked out on their honeymoon and winds up connecting with another women who is engaged. Much more “wackiness” ensues, none of it funny. And Jerry Stiller (Ben’s dad in real life as well as in the movie) as a nasty old man is just creepy and uncomfortable.

Another thing that bugged me is Ben Stiller’s character is only hitting on and hooking up with women who are probably 15 years younger than him. Why would these attractive young women be going after some dude in his 40s? If the situation was reversed and an older woman was dating a younger man, THAT would be the subject of the whole movie. But for men its normal and practically expected. Dumb.

It’s getting hard to remember the last funny Ben Stiller movie. Being stuck in romantic-comedy hell is getting really boring and tedious. And pairing up with Owen Wilson isn’t helping matters either. In general I like Ben Stiller best when he is doing characters like Zoolander and not when he’s doing his cliche “fish out of water” routine. But as long as he keeps getting paid, I’m sure the string of “We’re totally wrong for eachother but dammit, I LOVE YOU and we can make it work!” is going to be his bread and butter.