Better or Funnier Farrelly Comedies Than Heartbreak Kid

The "Farrelly Brothers", Peter and Bobby Farrelly have been A-number one for gross out comedy since they put Jeff Daniels on the toilet, and gave him one hell of a gross enema in Dumb & Dumber. Do you remember listening to the squeals, the swishes and the sprays in that pooping scene? The effect on an audience can be wonderful if you can spark their imagination. Those sound effects they added to that scene made a world of difference between a dud and an outrageously funny joke. It's perfectly delivered in that respect.

Since their breakthrough with Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels, they've gone on to make 8 feature films. Some of them were great, some weren't. Heartbreak Kid fits somewhere in the middle. Movies like Stuck on You with Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear were just so disappointing. They were trying to make something that didn't work in any way, shape or form. Okay, we've got two brothers - excuse me, Siamese twin brothers, and where is the comedy? Shallow Hal was too mean-spirited. For the two guys who put "hair gel" from Ben Stiller in Cameron Diaz's hair to make a movie of bad taste is saying a lot. Then you've got the greats.

The first thing to come to mind is There's Something About Mary. The characters, the story, the dialogue, and the jokes were all there, on screen, perfectly timed to make us laugh until it hurt. Ben Stiller was in his slapstick, bumbling, and mumbling prime. Matt Damon added a brilliant twist of arrogant prick / cheap weasel / bad-natured nerd with big teeth. Cameron Diaz herself gave off the untouchable, perfect angel sort of impression that the movie needed. The Farrelly brothers were writing and directed the most wild, impressive, and outrageously funny jokes of their career. What man can forget when Ted (Stiller) yanked up his zipper only to catch himself in the teeth? Then they topped it off by actually revealing what the enflamed testy looked like. Who in their right mind would walk into a movie knowing that they would see a bulbous testicle on the big screen? It was shocking, but it worked. People were laughing so much, so hard, for so long, I don't know if any of us in the theater even caught the next joke.

Secondly, you've got the inescapable re-pairing of Jim Carrey and the Farrelly brothers in Me, Myself & Irene. Here is where you can see them flexing those gross out muscles, and really coming through with some funny stuff. Sadly, there's not enough brilliance to take away from this movie to call it a classic in same way Mary or Dumb & Dumber or even Kingpin is classic. I can't remember a single line of dialogue in that movie that I am proud to recall time and time again. Yes, there were images to take away from such a shocking comedy, but they're embedded in my brain because of that initial shock. I mean, who would've ever thought they'd see Jim Carrey nursing on a woman's breast? Who I ask you! But, they gave Me, Myself & Irene their best shot, and it certainly worked out a lot better than Heartbreak Kid.

Now getting back to Kingpin, which is another great comedy from those gross out masters. When it first came out, I was not too enthralled to see it. The principal character, Roy Munson (Woody Harrelson) is a balding drunk of a loser. He's got a hook for a hand and he bowls. This does not sound like it will be a good movie. Critics were hailing it as a great comedy. Judging by the trailers alone, I did not see how it could be as great or entertaining as everyone said it would be. But the Farrelly's pulled it off - and pulled it off with flying colors. I certainly am glad I wasn't "Munsoned out in the middle of nowhere". I'm apart of the Kingpin fan club. Jokes were spot on, raunchy and heady. But in the center of it all, there's an inspired Cinderella kind of a story. And, the other message is obviously - don't trust anyone who dresses like Ernie McCracken (Bill Murray) or you'll lose your hand to a bunch of bowling sharks.

Here's where we come to their latest effort, Heartbreak Kid. Not only is this a remake, not only does it feature a woman that could've played Mary's twin sister but it also calls itself a Neil Simon comedy. It's quite simple. Neil Simon and the Farrelly brothers don't mix. They were trying to pass the whole movie off as a Neil Simon kind of project while throwing in some of their own uninspired gags.

If you don't know Neil Simon's work, well, he wrote The Odd Couple, The Goodbye Girl, Seems like Old Times and less we forget, Barefoot in the Park. These movies are so different from the Farrelly brothers' style it's outrageous. They butcher whatever makes Neil Simon's work great while throwing away their own brilliance for something half-assed. Can you imagine watching Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau's characters farting all of the time? Yes, I see that as a way to express what married life is like. When we're that close to another person long enough, we're going to hear all of their noises eventually. But, is this either a smart comedy or a raunchy, in-your-face Farrelly brother comedy? I wish they made up their minds before going into production.

The movie stars Ben Stiller as Eddie Cantrow, Michelle Monaghan (MI3) as his love interest, Miranda and the ever Diaz-like, Malin Akerman as Eddie's wife, Lila. This is not a threesome made in heaven. Eddie has a lot of problems, and we have to sit there and watch as he tries to resolve them for what feels like 3 hours. And, he never resolves anything. I just kept waiting for the punch line. Where is the comedy?

It's not entirely the Farrelly brothers fault. I'm sure writer Leslie Dixon had something to do with this mess.

Final note

I'm not saying it's a bad movie like Dude, Where's My Car? is a bad movie. But this is not the Farrelly brothers best work. Both them and Neil Simon have better work out on the shelves of your local video store. And I would say, wait for this version of Heartbreak Kid to come out on video before you see it.