Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageThe Heartbreak Kid (1972)
Director: Elaine May
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Marital comedy with its characters distanced just enough to prevent the barbs coming too close to home. Lenny (Grodin) woos and weds Lila (Berlin), only to have his carefully nurtured pre-wedding romantic ideas bite the dust from the moment the ceremony is concluded. His inaccessible goddess becomes the all too accessible Lila, gorging herself on egg salad sandwiches, getting sunburned, and generally behaving like a normal human being. It's too much for Lenny, stuck as he is in a state of pre-wedding hots. He finds another object for his fantasies (Shepherd), and pursues her with a kind of crass desperation all the way to her midwest college, where she is, as expected, every football hero's dream date. Wittily directed by May, and neatly scripted by Neil Simon (from Bruce Jay Friedman's story A Change of Plan), though somewhere the film loses its thread and forgets how to draw things decently to a close.Author: VG
Cast & crew
Director: Elaine May
Producer: Edgar J Scherick
Cast: Charles Grodin, Cybill Shepherd, Jeannie Berlin, Eddie Albert, Audra Lindley, William Prince, Augusta Dabney, Mitchell Jason full cast
Genre(s): Comedy
Duration: 106 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Hippies who work for The Man
To celebrate George Clooney comedy 'The Men who Stare at Goats', we look back at six memorable onscreen hippies who fought the system from within
Roland Emmerich's guide to disaster movies
Ahead of the release of '2012', Roland Emmerich offers his ten tips on creating the perfect global catastrophe
Grant Heslov: interview
Grant Heslov, director of 'The Men who Stare at Goats' talks about his old pal George Clooney, his interest in the paranormal, and his fond memories of working on 'Happy Days'
The Coen brothers discuss 'A Serious Man'
Masters of contrary comedy, Joel and Ethan Coen have struck gold again with their latest, ‘A Serious Man’
Ten inspirations behind 'Avatar'?
Time Out ponders the influences behind James Cameron's anticipated space-opera on the basis of the trailer
Michael Jackson's This Is It: review
Kenny Ortega's posthumous concert film is a rousing eulogy for one of pop's great enigmas
Michael Haneke: The man behind the menace
From Cannes to Munich to London, Dave Calhoun tours Michael Haneke's Palme d'Or winner, 'The White Ribbon'
Lone Scherfig talks 'An Education'
Danish director Lone Scherfig was an unlikely choice for a very English affair like 'An Education'. Cath Clarke meets her
How Jane Campion brought John Keats back to life
Time Out gets Romantic with the ‘difficult’ New Zealander about her new film, 'Bright Star'
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations
What do you think?
Post your review now