Remember when Bobby and Peter Farrelly were at the forefront of gross out humour and R-rated comedies. The gruesome twosome told the world that There’s Something About Mary and then despite their best efforts they weren’t able to capitalize on the comedic gold of semen hair gel. In the 10 long years since Mary, the raunch-rom-com (or raunchy romantic comedy to you civvies) has since become the purview of Judd Apatow and his gang, but does that mean that the Farrellys will step aside gracefully? Judging by The Heartbreak Kid, the answer is ‘no’.



Based on a 1972 screenplay by Neil Simon, Heartbreak is about a commitment phobe named Eddie (Ben Stiller), a San Francisco sporting good store owner that can come up with 101 minor reasons to leave a woman in under a minute. He’s getting pressure from all sides to settle down; his father “Doc” (Jerry Stiller), his best bud Mac (Rob Corddry). Then, Eddie meets Lila (Malin Akerman) and rushes into marriage when her job threatens to send her abroad, but on their road trip honeymoon to Cabo, Eddie discovers a whole other side to Lila and begins to turn his attention to the attractive Miranda (Michelle Monaghan).



When I wrote a review of Good Luck Chuck, I talked about the movie’s apparent disdain for women in general. I wouldn’t go that far with Heartbreak, but there is, at its essence, a deep seeded cynicism about monogamy and the marital relationship, not to mention its numerous, off-handed crude references to women being used as sex objects.



Of course, the force behind all the fun is the Farrellys preoccupation with recapturing past glories. They’re trying their best to secure lightening in a bottle (casting Stiller’s a clear indication of that), but the trouble is that the main characters are not very likeable. In Mary, the title character was sweet and oblivious, while her would-be beau, Ted, was a walking example of Murphy’s Law. Those kids were walking punching bags for karma, but they were so good natured that you’re pulling for them the whole time. Not so for Heartbreak, these people are getting exactly what’s coming to them.



One of the things that struck while watching this movie was how old that Stiller looked. Typically this is NBD (that’s No Big Deal in Michael Scott speak), not for me and certainly not for Hollywood, who frequently teams up the older with considerably younger. Obviously Stiller ain’t ancient, but he looks it and he can’t seem to get his game up to a reasonable level of comedic performance. Akerman becomes a punching bag for almost all the film’s bad humour but she seems to take it stride, she’ll always have her role as Sally Jupiter in the forthcoming Watchmen movie though. Daily Show vet Corddry comes out okay, but Stiller’s father Jerry, however, does not.



The audience I saw the show with were having some laughs, and I have to admit that there were times that I joined in too. Not enough though for me to recommend this half-assed excuse for a comedy, where the laughs come solely from the punishment of a woman who aside from some a few personality quirks really isn’t that bad. Those poor Farrelly Brothers seemed to have lost their mojo. Hope that they have Apatow, or at the very least Seth Rogen, on speed dial.