'HEARTBREAK KID' REMAKE GROSSER ... BUT IS IT ACTUALLY ANY BETTER?

Byline: BOB STRAUSS

>FILM CRITIC

The Farrelly brothers' "Heartbreak Kid" is broader, more graphic and stupider than the movie Elaine May directed back in the 1970s.

This is not necessarily a bad thing. Though if you want to think it is, be my guest.

While the old Charles Grodin-Jeannie Berlin-Cybill Shepherd triangle was more, shall we say, genuinely adult than the new Ben Stiller-Malin Akerman-Michelle Monaghan configuration, the update definitely has more laughs going for it.

Then again, although I've never been a Neil Simon fan, his script for May's version was the roughest, toughest-minded and least emotionally obvious thing he's ever done. It feels weird to defend this most sitcomish of playwrights' work, but really, that first "Heartbreak" was a marvelous depiction of a guy who doesn't know what he wants -- but wants it passionately.

On the other hand, this new one often doesn't seem to know what it is. But like the best Farrelly movies ("Dumb and Dumber," "There's Something About Mary"), when in doubt, it goes for the gross-out. That tactic still works.

The script, which several writers worked over before the brothers got their sweaty hands on it, changes a few things with decent enough results. We get a long setup of Eddie this time. He's one of Stiller's typical, fault-finding and constantly humiliated lonely guys.

Under pressure from his hyper-horny father (Ben's real dad, Jerry Stiller) and henpecked best friend (Rob Corddry), marriage-phobe Eddie decides to take the plunge with seemingly perfect new girlfriend Lila (Malin Akerman).

Unlike Berlin in the original, the new wife is gorgeous. She also seems really nice during the courtship stage of the movie. But as they drive from San Francisco down to Cabo, Lila increasingly gets on Eddie's nerves. Awful revelations -- that, if there were any logic in this story, he should have known about her well before saying "I do" -- turn their honeymoon suite into a radioactive zone.

Seeking escape while Lila nurses a sunburn, Eddie meets a lower-maintenance model, Miranda ("M:I:3's" Monaghan), and starts enjoying his vacation with her and her mildly wacky Mississippi family -- without telling any of them, of course, that he's just married.

Which, cruel as Grodin's incarnation of the character may have been, was not one of his faults. But Stiller's is still more sympathetic, see, because ... Well, we've spent more time getting to know him?

He acts like Ben Stiller? His own lies trip him up? I dunno. Doesn't really make sense. But it kind of works -- when he's not screaming at the mariachi band.

The real interesting performer here is relative newcomer Akerman.

She makes Lila off-putting without ever going over the line into hateable, is willing to do just about any nauseating thing for a laugh and has the rare ability to be quite funny with no clothes on.

Gay jokes, deviated septum gags, public urination and some rather unpleasant Mexican stereotypes all add to what some may call the fun.

An effort is also made to ease off the giggles at times and just let characters be (if not necessarily develop). Nevertheless, this one's all about the big, unbelievable guffaws, of which the movie delivers about a dozen. Some may still call it heresy, but it's nothing to get heartbroken over.

Bob Strauss [phone]

[e-mail]

THE HEARTBREAK KID - Three stars

>R: sex, nudity, language, drug use, mild violence.

>Starring: Ben Stiller, Malin Akerman, Michelle Monaghan, Jerry Stiller, Rob Corddry, Carlos Mencia.

>Directors: Bobby and Peter Farrelly.

>Running time: 1 hr. 48 min.

>Playing: Area wide.

>In a nutshell: Remake not as smart as the original -- but pretty funny now and then.

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

Ben Stiller plays the lonely newlywed Eddie in the Farrelly brothers' "Heartbreak Kid," a remake of the 1970 movie directed by Elaine May and scripted by playwright Neil Simon.