Eddie Cantrow is a 40-year-old bachelor. On the way home from attending the wedding of a former fiancé, a chance encounter with Lila leads to a whirlwind six-week romance and a honeymoon in Mexico. Eddie’s initial bliss at finally being married quickly turns to fear as he learns more about his new bride. To complicate matters, he meets Miranda and quickly becomes convinced that she is his true soul mate. Things spiral out of control from that point.

The Heartbreak Kid is the latest release by the Farrelly brothers. Ben Stiller appears as Eddie Cantrow. Stiller is one of those comedians that tend to be hit or miss for me. I enjoy his intensity but sometimes his performance just leaves me cold. His work here is solid but the material leaves something to be desired. Malin Akerman and Michelle Monaghan fill the roles of his love interests as Lila and Miranda, respectively. Honestly, the casting isn’t the issue with this film.

So what is the issue? Yet another film with the potential to be an entertaining romantic comedy “sexing” things up to the point that at times it approaches the status of soft-core pornography. There are hilarious comedic moments in The Heartbreak Kid, but they’re overshadowed by extended sex sequences and raunchy language that fail to advance the plot and serve only to garner cheap laughs. Some of the humor will simply leave you wincing.

This film is a remake of an earlier 1972 movie starring Charles Grodin and Cybill Shepherd. If the premise of a man plotting to leave his wife while on his honeymoon sounds amusing, do yourself a favor and rent the original. The only thing the new version brings to the table is the bonus “donkey scene” that runs partway through the closing credits, and honestly, who needs that?

The Heartbreak Kid is rated R for “strong sexual content, crude humor, language, and a scene of drug use involving a minor.” I can’t really add anything to that, except to say that the “drug use involving a minor” is a second bonus scene that runs after the closing credits, so many viewers who manage to sit through the film are still likely to miss it.

Courtesy of a local publicist, Michael attended a promotional screening of The Heartbreak Kid.