Indeed, this comedy, written by Neil Simon from a story by Bruce Jay Friedman, mines both humor and discomfort from its tale of a young man (Grodin) who takes his new bride (Jeannie Berlin) on a honeymoon to Florida, becoming increasingly irritated with her habits along the way, only to then meet and fall for the gorgeous blonde shiksa of a Jewish boy's dreams (Cybill Shepherd).
Director Elaine May, who had previously found fame as part of a standup-comedy team with Mike Nichols, had recently turned to writing and directing movies, and this was her second feature as director, following A New Leaf (1971). She later directed two more features, including the maligned Ishtar (1987), but The Heartbreak Kid stands as her most critically and commercially successful picture.
There was some tension at first between Simon and May with regards to the dialogue. Simon had a contractual guarantee that not one word could be altered without his consent, but May had come from a world of improvisation, which she wanted her actors to explore during rehearsals. They compromised -- she would film every scene as written in addition to sometimes allowing improv, then would decide what to use in the editing room. "While Neil agreed to this," recalled Grodin, "I assume he found the whole situation extremely trying and, after the first couple of days of rehearsal, he was never again seen around the movie set." Grodin wasn't aware at the time that Simon's wife, Joan Baim, was dying of cancer, which might well have contributed to Simon withdrawing from a clash over dialogue. In the end, Grodin said, "there's a lot of improvisation in that movie."
Grodin's part was the object of much competition around Hollywood. Lots of stars wanted it. But May had her heart set on Grodin, a relative unknown, and had to get approval from Simon and producer Edgar Scherick. Grodin was called in to read the entire script aloud in front of the three of them. "No one laughed louder than Neil," said Grodin, and following a screen test, he won the role.
Cybill Shepherd got her part by replacing another actress, a brunette, whose hair had started falling out after it was stripped and bleached blonde. Simon had always wanted Shepherd for the role, but May hadn't been keen on her. Shepherd now came in to audition for the pair, and, Shepherd later recalled, "I started to read, and they started to laugh. As we said good-bye, Simon clasped my hand in both of his and said, 'I always knew you'd be perfect.'" Shepherd had a good experience making the film, and said that May gave her "a wonderful piece of advice that sounds dumb but works. 'When you deliver a line,' she said, 'say it as if you expect the other character to be hearing you, getting it.'"
For the role of the young bride, Simon wanted Diane Keaton. But May thought the intended contrast between Jewish and gentile wouldn't be strong enough with Keaton as the wife. Simon also thought that Jeannie Berlin, May's choice, wasn't pretty enough. May won this battle, and it was only just before filming began that anyone found out that Jeannie Berlin was Elaine May's daughter! But the decision paid off, with Berlin delivering a lauded, Oscar-nominated performance.
The Heartbreak Kid opened around Christmas in 1972 and was an immediate hit. "Suddenly, after seventeen years," Grodin later wrote, "I was considered a movie star... It was ironic. From being fired from an Off-Broadway show, Steambath, to The Heartbreak Kid, I was going from the depths to the heights of my acting career within one year in one movie, and I, of course, had the same acting ability."
However, Grodin did have to deal with the fact that some members of the public and even the press mistook him for the character he had played. As he put it: "I asked [Elaine May] if it was really necessary to show my wife crying alone in her hotel room while I was out carrying on with Cybill. It was. At the first screening of the movie, the audience hissed me. The picture was a success, but I had pretty much indelibly stamped myself into the moviegoing public's consciousness as a jerk -- at best."
The review in the New York Daily News was headlined: "You'll Hate Him, Love the Movie." Grodin knew "they meant the character, but...some of that character identification was rubbing off on me. I could tell this particularly during interviews with young women reporters who were surprised I wasn't some kind of a devious character." In the end, Grodin was totally appreciative of the film: "I thought the character was a despicable guy, but I played it with full sincerity. My job isn't to judge it. If it wasn't for Elaine May, I probably would never have had [a] movie career.
"The movie definitely struck a chord," he continued. "The number of men...who tell me how much they loved the movie and how much they indentified with the character, while flattering, is also somewhat frightening. I mean, this is a guy who leaves his wife on his honeymoon for a beautiful blonde. The end of the movie is meant to suggest that he's going to be just as unhappy as he was with his first wife."
Critics loved the film, with The New York Times' Vincent Canby calling it "very, very funny, totally unsentimental and just a bit cruel," and Thomas Meehan of The Saturday Review deeming it "a triumph of New York Jewish humor." The New Yorker's Pauline Kael raved, "Elaine May has the rarest kind of comic gift: the ability to create a world seen comically," and The Hollywood Reporter reckoned it "one of the year's funniest, most intelligent movies.... Humor flows effortlessly from the rhythmic dialogue; explosions of laughter appear, as if by magic, from situations rather than from obvious one-line jokes... Charles Grodin, in his first major film role, is exactly right... Jeannie Berlin is breathtakingly comic, honest and poignant... Her performance puts pain and comedy on the line."
There were some complaints about the abrupt ending. May had filmed an extended coda in which Grodin and Shepherd sail off on their own honeymoon, only for Grodin to start becoming irritated by his new wife's habits all over again, but for some reason this sequence was discarded.
Academy Award nominations went to Jeannie Berlin and veteran actor Eddie Albert, who steals his scenes as Shepherd's father. Albert had been nominated once before, for Roman Holiday (1953).
The Heartbreak Kid was remade in 2007, starring Ben Stiller, Michelle Monaghan and Malin Akerman.
By Jeremy Arnold
SOURCES:
Charles Grodin, I Like it Better When You're Funny
Charles Grodin, It Would Be So Nice If You Weren't Here: My Journey Through Show Business
Charles Grodin, We're Ready For You. Mr. Grodin
Nathan Rabin, Charles Grodin interview, avclub.com
Cybill Shepherd with Aimee Lee Ball, Cybill Disobedience
