A story of awkwardly overlapping romances liberally seasoned with the patented, over-the-top humor of the brothers Farrelly, The Heartbreak Kid — new to Blu-ray this month — reunites the behind-camera comedy specialists with star Ben Stiller in a careening showcase for serial outrageousness that favors potent commercial formula over strict adherence to narrative through-lines.



Stiller stars as San Francisco sports store owner Eddie Cantrow, who, after years of bachelorhood and ample pressure from his widowed father, Doc (Jerry Stiller), and best friend Mac (Rob Corddry), starts to wonder if he’s being too picky about the women he meets. The wedding of a former girlfriend only serves to amplify these feelings of isolation, so when a chance encounter with an alluring blonde marine researcher named Lila (Malin Akerman, above right) leads to the sweet bloom of romance, Eddie believes he’s finally found true love. When the threat of a potential job transfer for Lila endangers the relationship, he impulsively proposes.

But as the newlyweds drive down the California coast on the way to their honeymoon to Cabo San Lucas, Eddie feels familiar pangs of unease and discomfort. Soon after reaching their exotic Mexican hideaway, he’s convinced he’s made a terrible mistake, put off as he is by Lila’s aggressive bedroom demeanor and a chain of kept secrets that range from merely unnerving (a deviated septum) to jaw-tighteningly negligent (a mountain of debt, an old drug habit). It’s here that Eddie also happens to fall for the down-to-earth Miranda (Michelle Monaghan), who’s visiting with her family.

Miranda has no clue that Eddie has just married, and with Lila confined to the honeymoon suite with a brutal case of sunburn, Eddie struggles to find a way to extricate himself from his days-old marriage without losing the (new) girl of his dreams. A tangled bit of misunderstanding leads Miranda to believe that Eddie is a widower, but when that gives way to the truth, and Miranda returns home, Eddie sets off to try to win her back.

While The Heartbreak Kid retains the Farrelly’s trademark humanistic touch (evident with the care paid to Miranda’s country-raised family, including Danny McBride) it also doesn’t hesitate to offend, chiefly through Lila’s sexual voraciousness, but also a wide variety of casual brusque language and one-liners. Notions of character consistency are hard to pin down, though, especially since some of Lila’s sprung “surprises” are matters that would have easily been previously sorted out, even in six weeks of virginal, whirlwind courtship. There’s the soft but frustrating contrast, too, of scenes in which Lila talks about being just like an elderly couple in 10 years (she’s “not good at math,” she confesses), then immediately references she and Eddie spending the next 40 or 50 years together.

The fact is that The Heartbreak Kid asks in many ways to be taken air-quote seriously as something a bit darker and of more modern, sardonic substance than director Elaine May and screenwriter Neil Simon’s original 1972 comedy — from Eddie’s familial entanglements with his “would-be” in-laws to the movie’s general view of relationships and its barbed, deliciously bleak-hearted ending. The film’s wild and crazy, blue asides, then (bits that include a shot of Lila’s hairy, pierced pubic area, and a discussion of Carlos Mencia’s hotel concierge placing Lila’s hand on his genitals), often arrive with the jarring force of a less-than-well-oiled traveling theme park ride; they’re naughty, outside-the-lines coloring, wedged in for cheap effect. Still, the performances are almost uniformly engaging, with Stiller cycling through a catalog of sputtering resistance ploys that still mostly work, no matter their familiarity.

Presented on Blu-ray in stunning, 1080p high definition, The Heartbreak Kid comes with three audio options — English language 5.1 Dolby True HD, French language 5.1 Dolby digital and Spanish language 5.1 Dolby digital — as well as optional subtitles in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese. Imported from the movie’s previous DVD release are a series of fairly brief standard definition featurettes and gag reels, along with a high definition of the movie’s original theatrical trailer.

An audio commentary track with the Farrelly brothers anchors this release, and anyone who’s heard previous alt-audio tracks with these guys knows that their chats are anecdote-laden and full of love for all the background players, which typically consist of their extended family and friends. This track is no different; it’s breezy and lively, but short on what you might call psychologically penetrating analysis. Still, there’s mad affection dished out for the production leeway granted them by DreamWorks, and unsuspecting viewers might be surprised to learn about a plot tidbit suggested by none other than Steven Spielberg. Clocking in at 16 minutes is “The Farrelly Brothers: In the French Tradition,” a short, tongue-in-cheek joint biographical sketch about the filmmaking siblings, and what pointed them down the occupational path they eventually chose.

The five-minute “Ben & Jerry” finds Ben Stiller and his real-life father yukking it up, and talking about how they love working together, while “Heartbreak Halloween” showcases the cast and crew donning Halloween costumes and having a grand old time on set. Extending that theme is another eight-minute featurette, this one about the off-book egg-toss contests held on set, as well as a four-minute gag reel of flubbed lines and interactions from the film. These segments are basically all of a piece, and while they’re fun and jokey, they don’t necessarily bear repeat or scrutinizing viewings. Rounding things out, along with the aforementioned trailer and a gallery of some other previews, is a small collection of a half dozen deleted scenes. To purchase The Heartbreak Kid on Blu-ray via Amazon, click here. C+ (Movie) B (Disc)