The Heartbreak Kid movie storyline. Jewish New Yorkers Lenny Cantrow and Lila Cantrow née Kolodny have just gotten married. Their pre-marital life did not include sex with each other. On the three day drive from New York to Miami Beach, where they plan on spending their honeymoon, Lenny begins to be bothered by every little thing about Lila, which makes him wonder whether he made a mistake in marrying her.
His belief that the marriage is a mistake is strengthened when he meets university student Kelly Corcoran in Miami Beach. A beautiful blonde Midwesterner on vacation in Miami Beach with her wealthy WASP parents, flirtatious but at the same time somewhat standoffish Kelly leads Lenny on.
Lenny does whatever he can to ditch Lila at every opportunity – which by circumstance is easy to do at the beginning – to spend time with Kelly, who he believes he was meant to be with for life. As Lenny pursues Kelly in the hopes of eventually marrying her, three things stand in his way: the fact that he is already married to Lila; whether or not Kelly feels the same way or if this liaison is just a vacation fling and game to her; and Mr. Corcoran, who hates everything about Lenny with every fiber of his being.
The Heartbreak Kid is a 1972 American black comedy romance film directed by Elaine May and written by Neil Simon, starring Charles Grodin, Cybill Shepherd, Jeannie Berlin, Audra Lindley, Eddie Albert, and Doris Roberts. It is based on the short story “A Change of Plan”, written by Bruce Jay Friedman and first published in Esquire in 1966.
At the 45th Academy Awards, Jeannie Berlin was nominated for Best Supporting Actress, and Eddie Albert for Best Supporting Actor. It was ranked #91 on AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Laughs, a list of the funniest American films ever made, and was remade in 2007.
Can a movie still be called a romantic comedy if it makes falling in love look ridiculous? For her second film as a director, the influential improv comedian Elaine May delivered a pitiless dissection of middle-class American mores and mating rituals, based on a Bruce Jay Friedman short story and adapted by screenwriter Neil Simon.
Charles Grodin is hilariously nebbishy, playing a newlywed who thinks he’s finally found his soulmate (Cybill Shepherd) while on his honeymoon with his wife (Jeannie Berlin). In the free love era, this biting social satire brilliantly spoofed the way some entitled guys took “if it feels good, do it” as a license to make women miserable.
The Heartbreak Kid (1972)
Directed by: Elaine May
Starring: Charles Grodin, Cybill Shepherd, Jeannie Berlin, Audra Lindley, Eddie Albert, Mitchell Jason, William Prince, Augusta Dabney, Doris Roberts, Marilyn Putnam, Jack Hausman
Screenplay by: Neil Simon
Production Design by: Owen Roizman
Cinematography by: John Carter
Film Editing by: John Carter
Costume Design by: Anthea Sylbert
Set Decoration by: William G. O’Connell
Art Direction by: Richard Sylbert
Music by: Garry Sherman
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: December 17, 1972
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