![]() Some critics have expressed concerns that the movie forwards a stilted vision of the modern female Jew and implicitly asks the question: "Why be married to a cloying, unsophisticated, slightly overweight Jewish girl who speaks with a discernible sing-song Jewish intonation ( Yiddish influence) when you can perhaps conquer a very Waspy-looking, knockout blonde shiksa type?" 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. ![]() 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". 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 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", for the girl of his dreams, an all-American WASP. Scherick, and the composers Burt Bacharach and Hal David. All the filmmakers are Jewish-Friedman, Simon, May, the producer Edgar J. The Heartbreak Kid is a particularly Jewish story as Thomas Meehan wrote in The Saturday Review, the film is a "triumph of New York Jewish humor", and The Village Voice called it "the culminating work of Hollywood's Jewish new wave". She helped push comedy into a "golden age as the result of the rise of the semi-surreal comedy of mishap, pain, insult, and desperation". May's focus on comedic honesty, backlit by pain and misfortune, stylistically influenced a new generation of films. The New Yorker's Pauline Kael wrote: "Elaine May has the rarest kind of comic gift: the ability to create a world seen comically". 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". May shared with her late comedy partner Mike Nichols (1931–2014) a sparse, dialogue-oriented style and a quizzical perspective. As another reviewer wrote in Sight & Sound, May's strength lies in her "obsessive and affectionate observations of character". Though it contains broad jokes, occasionally going for "laughs without shame", 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". The film is a black comedy, examining love and hypocrisy through a lens of pointed, subtle humor. He is reduced to quoting cliches to two uncomprehending children and is then left alone as the party continues around him. Lenny angrily refuses and soon marries Kelly.Īt the reception, he engages in fairly mindless conversation with several of the guests, one of whom owns a company that manufactures tear gas. Corcoran offers Lenny a $25,000 bribe to leave. Following an awkward dinner where Lenny inanely praises Midwestern produce as having "no deceit", Mr. Lenny impulsively ends his marriage in order to pursue an indifferent Kelly, explaining that she is the woman he has been waiting for all of his life and that he just "timed it wrong".Īfter leaving Lila after only five days of marriage, he follows Kelly to Minnesota, where her resentful and protective father ( Eddie Albert) stands in his way. When Lila is severely sunburned, Lenny quarantines her to their hotel room while he engages in a series of rendezvous with Kelly, lying to Lila about his whereabouts. ![]() In New York City, after a very short courtship, emotionally shallow, self-absorbed Lenny Cantrow ( Charles Grodin), a sporting goods salesman, is married to Lila ( Jeannie Berlin, daughter of director Elaine May), an earnest young woman who expects long-term emotional commitment of Lenny.ĭuring their honeymoon in Miami Beach, Lenny meets and pursues the beautiful but shallow Kelly Corcoran ( Cybill Shepherd), a college student on holiday with her wealthy parents. ( August 2022) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) You can provide one by editing this article. This article needs an improved plot summary.
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