The Heartbreak Kid
Directed by Elaine May
Written by Neil Simon from a story by Bruce Jay Friedman
1972/US
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/YouTube
Mr. Corcoran: You don’t know what determination is. I eat determination for breakfast.
This riff on The Graduate (1967) pales in comparison. Viewed on its own I thought it was pretty funny, if mean-spirited.
Lenny Cantrell (Charles Grodin) is a sporting goods salesman in New York City. We will learn during the course of the movie that he is awkward and clueless but at the same time arrogant and driven. He has a conventional Jewish courtship with Lila Kalodny (Jeannie Berlin – May’s daughter IRL) and a modest wedding. They honeymoon in Miami. They have saved sex for the wedding night. Lenny instantly learns that some of Lila’s quirks get on his last nerve. When Lenny and Lila visit the beach, she gets a terrible sunburn.
He goes to the beach alone the next day. There he meets hot, seductive, wealthy and gorgeous young Kelly Corcoran (Cibyll Shepherd), who is visiting from Minnesota with her family. Although he has been married but three days and is with his wife on his honeymoon, he begins an all out blitz to win Kelly’s hand. Kelly’s father (Eddie Albert) is not keen on of his daughter dating a newlywed and learns to hate Lenny with a vengence.
The first hurdle we must overcome in watching this movie is accepting the idea that someone like Cybill Shepherd could possibly be attracted to the looks, behavior, or conversation of someone like Grodin’s character. He’s not even smart. And, it’s true, this is a lot of behaving badly with no one to root for. On the other hand, every scene with Berlin or Albert is a priceless gem to me. Despite the listing of this in The Book, I think May’s A New Leaf (1971) is a better example of her work.
Jeannie Berlin and Eddie Albert were nominated for Oscars in the Supporting categories.
