The Heartbreak Kid is the bright, amusing saga of a young NY bridegroom whose bride’s maddening idiosyncrasies freak him and he leaves her at the end of a three-day Miami honeymoon to pursue and wed another doll. Scripted by Neil Simon from Bruce Jay Friedman’s Esquire mag story [A Change of Plan], film has a sudden shut-off ending with no climax whatever.
Elaine May’s deft direction catches all the possibilities of young romance and its tribulations in light strokes and cleverly accents characterization of the various principals. Most of the pace is as fast as Charles Grodin’s speeding to his Florida honeymoon, and falling for a gorgeous blonde on the beach the first day there.
Grodin is slick and able as the fast-talking bridegroom whose patience is worn thin and he’s a natural for the charms of another.
1972: Nominations: Best Supp. Actor (Eddie Albert), Supp. Actress (Jeannie Berlin)
