The Heartbreak Kid  ★★★

BEN Stiller has been playing basically the same character for 18 years now.

There’s nothing wrong with that. He seems like a fun bloke to be around, in contrast to say Adam Sandler’s character, whom I suspect most people wouldn’t last more than a few hours with.

There’s Something About Mary and Meet the Parents are probably Stiller’s best known roles, but don’t overlook 2007’s The Heartbreak Kid.

In this Farrelly brothers’ comedy, which is actually a remake, more than ever Stiller plays a guy who is 80 percent likeable but 20 percent a selfish prick. In fact, in the film’s latter stages this 20 percent threatens to take over and flip audiences against him.

But somehow Stiller manages to keep reminding us ‘hey this is just a comedy and it’s fine to keep rooting for this guy’.

Stiller plays Eddie, a 40-year-old retail sports store owner who keeps making up reasons to get out of relationships. His father, played beautifully by Jerry Stiller, and friend Mac (Rob Corddry, also in scene-stealing form), are repeatedly there to offer unwanted advice.

After a recent split, Eddie rebounds with a whirlwind six-week relationship with Lila which results in marriage. However, their honeymoon quickly goes sour when Eddie realises Lila hasn’t been as honest as she could have been.

Eddie winds up falling into the path of another woman, Miranda, who is staying at the resort with her relatives. She initially mistakenly thinks Eddie is single and he doesn’t let on.

As I said, while this is adding up to Eddie being a jerk and losing audience sympathy as a result, the script and performances keep everything balanced.

Aside from Stiller, there are two good female performances, from Malin Akerman as Lila and Michelle Monaghan as Miranda. Akerman in particular has a great time with her character.

As usual with the Farrellys there is some gross-out humour, but its much easier to accept when the gags are good.

It’s interesting to see the film is originally based on a 1972 screenplay by Neil Simon and an earlier film which starred Charles Grodin and Cybil Shepherd. haven’t seen it and not likely to so can’t make any comparisons.

Dumb and Dumber, Kingpin and There’s Something About Mary remain the Farrellys’ best, but The Heartbreak Kid ranks higher than Me, Myself & Irene, Stuck on You or Shallow Hal.