Conveniently released right at the start of the Halloween season, Ben Stiller's latest collaboration with the Farrelly brothers, The Heartbreak Kid, is quite apropos, featuring one of this year's most terrifying monsters. While the film manages to deliver on some decent yucks, the lack of well-developed characters makes this raunchy romantic comedy stale in comparison to recent cinematic chucklers.

Eddie Cantrow (Ben Stiller), a sporting goods salesman from San Francisco, just hasn't had any luck with the ladies. Feeling pressure from his father and best friend to find a nice girl to tie the knot with, a series of serendipitous events puts him in the arms of the blonde and very leggy Lila (Malin Ackerman). When a job offer risks sending his new found romance to Holland, Eddie takes the plunge and marries Lila after only 6 weeks.

While on their honeymoon, Eddie discovers rather quickly that Lila might not have been all he was bargaining for. The quickly unraveling relationship turns his attention to another woman vacationing at the same resort (Michelle Monaghan), who might just be the girl of his dreams. Forced to juggle his time between both women, Eddie must find a way to dump one lovely lady while simultaneously courting the other.

Fans of the Farrelly brothers and Ben Stiller shouldn't have their hearts broken when it comes to the laughs in Heartbreak Kid. The remake of the 1972 film of the same name certainly delivers in the raunch department, marking the Farrelly's first return to the R-rated comedy realm since 2000, with some great reoccurring jokes and extremely successful sight gags.

However one can't shake the feeling of being a bit underwhelmed by the Farrelly's latest entry. The comedic duo reinvented the romantic comedy with There's Something About Mary, innovating the genre with vulgar slapstick. What should have been analogous to George Romero making a new zombie film, The Heartbreak Kid feels tepid in comparison to the Farrelly's previous hits, especially now that new filmmakers have topped what the brothers started with films like Wedding Crashers, The Forty Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up.

Though the Farrelly brothers direct Ben Stiller to his best comedic performance since There's Something About Mary, their "glorious" return to form is weak on character development and story. The inhabitants of The Heartbreak Kid are paper thin, and perhaps the worst example of this is the character of Lila. As soon as she says "I do" she

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