The Heartbreak Kid | Rotten Tomatoes

The Heartbreak Kid

PG

Released Dec 17, 1972

1 hr. 44 min.

Comedy

List

92%

60 Reviews

Tomatometer

73%

1,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Soon after Lenny (Charles Grodin) marries Lila (Jeannie Berlin), the needy and unrefined side of her personality begins to emerge, and he becomes increasingly uncertain about his decision to marry her. During their honeymoon in Miami, Lenny meets beautiful and sophisticated Kelly (Cybill Shepherd). Every chance he gets, Lenny sneaks away from Lila to be with Kelly, and the more he gets to know her, the more he falls in love. Problems arise when the two women learn about each another.

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Critics Consensus

An uproariously funny confluence of top-shelf talent, The Heartbreak Kid finds bittersweet humor in attitudes toward love and marriage in early '70s America.

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Alec B

As ruthlessly cynical as Simon's screenplay is, May's direction is the most subversive thing here. She forces the audience to slowly abandon all sympathy for these character so that by the end you're utterly relieved that no one is happy.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/05/24

Full Review

Audience Member

There's some okay stuff in here, but it ultimately isn't funny enough to compensate for a story that isn't particularly captivating, nor for characters who are either underdeveloped, uninteresting, or flat-out unlikable.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/05/23

Full Review

William L

"I didn't come out here to negotiate for Kelly, I came out here to fight for her. I spent three years in the United States Army. I fought every God-damned minute of those three years. Unfortunately not overseas because of a minor back injury." Something of a Jewish version of The Graduate with more deadpan, The Heartbreak Kid bounces between targeted cultural satire and more universal humor in young romantic/matrimonial wanderings. Grodin's Cantrow is a laughably and unsympathetically faithless newlywed (but notably, not too laughably; there's the distinct feeling that people exist exactly like him) experiencing a crisis after thoughtlessly arranging a marriage to a partner that he hardly knows. He sees the next 50 years laid out as a grind as he stares at a woman who eats without reservation and doesn't listen to what he says (yeah, some of the humor is pretty dated), and subsequently jumps at the first woman with spontanieity that he runs across regardless of the actual likelihood of their happiness is. The film plays off social stereotypes and interactions, particularly the dissolution of a Jewish marriage for the husband to pursue a WASPy girl next door type, before ending up in a world in which he doesn't know how to hold a basic conversation. At times superficially funny, other darkly comic, and often stressful in its rather bleak depiction of a one-sided relationship and obsession, Simon's script may not have aged perfectly in all places but May still makes a satisfying final product with some great moments and variety to its tone. (3.5/5)

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

06/29/21

Full Review

s r

1001 movies to see before you die. This was entertaining, but in a painful and uncomfortable way. The premise was good, but you weren't sure where it was going. There were unanswered questions. It then it surprised with its sudden ending. Shepard was gorgeous. It was on YouTube.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Saw long ago, no remember details. Only that Blobbo liked.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/17/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This movie had everything i like its classic and a good story and pretty interesting

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/18/23

Full Review

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Elaine May

Director

Charles Grodin

Lenny Cantrow

Cybill Shepherd

Kelly Corcoran

Jeannie Berlin

Lila Kolodny

Eddie Albert

Mr. Corcoran

Audra Lindley

Mrs. Corcoran

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Pauline Kael

New Yorker

Nothing is as rare in American movies now as comedy with a director’s style and personality. Elaine May finds her comic tone in The Heartbreak Kid.

Sep 29, 2023

Full Review

Molly Haskell

Village Voice

Elaine May's second feature is a funny and sometimes side-splitting whose whole never approaches the success of its best moments in which the two levels of romantic fantasy and satire are reconciled.

Apr 20, 2022

Full Review

Mimi Avins

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Elaine May directed, further proving her gift for acerbic comedy. There isn't much the film misses ; on a trail of mockery that covers middle class marriage, sex, Miami Beach and go-getterism. It manages to be funny along the way.

Feb 23, 2022

Full Review

Dennis Harvey

48 Hills

Maximally cringe-inducing comedy—in a good way...

Sep 12, 2022

Full Review

Janet Maslin

Boston Phoenix

Despite her collaborators’ formidable reputations in the laugh trade, it is Elaine May who pulls off the impressive feat of rendering all this potential poison harmless enough to be funny.

Feb 23, 2022

Full Review

Romola Costantino

The Sun-Herald (Australia)

Neil Simon puts hit touch of bitter-funny cynicism on the adventures of a young man on the make in this unusual unromantic movie about young love in provincial America.

Feb 23, 2022

Full Review

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Synopsis

Soon after Lenny (Charles Grodin) marries Lila (Jeannie Berlin), the needy and unrefined side of her personality begins to emerge, and he becomes increasingly uncertain about his decision to marry her. During their honeymoon in Miami, Lenny meets beautiful and sophisticated Kelly (Cybill Shepherd). Every chance he gets, Lenny sneaks away from Lila to be with Kelly, and the more he gets to know her, the more he falls in love. Problems arise when the two women learn about each another.

Director: Elaine May
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Production Co: Palomar Pictures
Rating: PG
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 17, 1972, Original