In Elaine May's second directorial outing, Charles Grodin stars as Lenny, a slick salesman who, while honeymooning with his new bride, Lila (Jeannie Berlin, May's daughter), begins to have second thoughts about his marriage. Once Lenny spots the gorgeous Kelly (Cybill Shepherd), he is lost forever. Legally divesting himself of poor Lila, he follows Kelly to her upper-middle-class home, where he runs into the formidable opposition of her father (Eddie Albert), who states bluntly that he'd rather
be dragged from a horse by his tongue than allow Lenny to become his son-in-law. The picture received critical kudos for Neil Simon's adroit screenplay, May's knowing direction, and Grodin's on-target performance. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Elaine May's deft direction catches all the possibilities of young romance and its tribulations in light strokes and cleverly accents characterization of the various principals.
Grodin cria um personagem extremamente egoísta que, ainda assim, consegue despertar nossa pena, ao passo que Shepherd, lindíssima, surge mais complexa do que poderíamos imaginar. Mas é Berlin quem rouba o filme com sua Lila irritante e comovente.
May's sardonic, poignant look at a romantic triangle of nice Jewish boy, nice Jewish wife, and the gorgeous shiksa who upsets their honeymoon was labeled by some as an exercise in self-loathing, and critics asking if all Jewish women are so irritating?
Sometimes it seems that nobody ever has any idea what it is he's chasing after, and so the chase never ends.... It's a good day when you can laugh about it, which is what The Heartbreak Kid lets you do.
I understand the story is realistic and it's supposed to be that real life kind of humor, but I just couldn't get into the movie. I found it boring and the actors pretty annoying too. Not a great movie at all.
the remake might be good but it will have to be good in a totally different way than this dark, subtle comedy about a guy lusting for the unobtained and totally at a loss about who he is; Grodin shows that he was a great actor
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