The Heartbreak Kid is a 1972 American romantic black comedy film directed by Elaine May and written by Neil Simon, starring Charles Grodin, Cybill Shepherd, Jeannie Berlin, Audra Lindley, Eddie Albert, and Doris Roberts.
Though it contains broad jokes, occasionally going for "laughs without shame",[5] Elaine May is credited with emotionally grounding the film and providing "a real understanding of character" through eliciting the kind of "caustic, almost powerful humor that comes from moments of wincing recognition when human foibles are accurately captured and revealed".
She places an emphasis on character comedy; The Hollywood Reporter commented on her stylistic decisions to derive humor "from situations rather than obvious one-line jokes" and make comedic choices which "flow effortlessly from rhythmic dialogue, explosions of laughter".
The story follows Lenny Cantrow, the embodiment of the Jewish archetype of the "schlemiel" (bungler), as he dumps Lila (Jeannie Berlin), a "kvetchy Jew" and "sloppy, incipient yenta",[11] for the girl of his dreams, an all-American WASP.
The film is a deadpan fever dream of shiksa-chasing, taking place in what Bruce Jay Friedman dubs in the original short story as the land of "strange blonde people".
The character of Lila in particular has been labelled extremely stereotypical; Film Quarterly likened her to a female Portnoy, publishing a review stating: "Philip Roth's friendly anti-Semitism is strikingly similar to Friedman's".
"[12] This is despite the intentions of Jeannie Berlin, who told The New York Times that she did her best to honor the character and give Lila depth: "You see, I didn't want to make that girl stupid.
[2] Still, he said, many viewers misread the film as an illustration of precisely Jewish annoyances, and not as critique: "The number of men who tell me how much they loved the movie and how much they identified with the character, while flattering, is also somewhat frightening".
Having walked down the aisle to Kelly as a large cross hung overhead, Lenny sits on the couch by himself, swimming in a sea of midwestern Christianity, as listless and alienated as ever.
The website's critical consensus reads: "An uproariously funny confluence of top-shelf talent, The Heartbreak Kid finds bittersweet humor in attitudes toward love and marriage in early '70s America.
[16] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3.5 stars out of 4 in a review that concludes: "It's a comedy, but there's more in it than that; it's a movie about the ways we pursue, possess, and consume each other as sad commodities".
[17] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune awarded the same 3.5/4 grade and wrote that "the heavy-handed comedy undermines the serious aspect of the movie—we really can't believe that Lenny would marry her in the first place.