Spring Break
To see or not to see?
Film critic Jason Deuterman reviews The Heartbreak Kid and In the Valley of Elah
By: Jason Deuterman
Issue date: 10/10/07 Section: Aggielife
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Ben Stiller stars in disappointing comedy
Today's culture no longer openly conveys that a diamond means forever. The ability for husband and wife to so easily achieve a divorce brings into question the finality of matrimony - a union meant to last a lifetime. For the Farrelly brothers, an exploitation of marriage as a mere 20-something dating scenario equals box office success. Their newest comedy, The Heartbreak Kid, begs one to laugh at a 40-year-old man with the romantic maturity of a 20 year old.
Eddie Cantrow (Ben Stiller) is the bachelor who never seems to be able to settle down, yet continues to wish for eternal love. He is the guy who stands at the bar at the wedding of his ex-fiancé, talking through a forced smile about how the single life is amazing, yet wondering why it is that he could never be so lucky - until, of course, the plot takes us expectedly to the meeting of the supposed girl of his dreams. Cantrow quickly falls in love with Lila (Malin Akerman), and it is not until their honeymoon, where he finds a more suitable mate, that he realizes the mistake he made in rushing into marriage.
Directors Bobby and Peter Farrelly play upon the unspoken query that married couples experience as married life begins: "Is this really it for me?" Certainly this question allows for a series of laughs as the situational humor comprising the film is dauntingly present. Where the film loses the viewer who does not appreciate cheap laughs is in the vulgarity of the overly-bawdy language, combined with the graphic scenes of marital consummation. As an actor, Ben Stiller has always been hailed by critics for his ability to make an audience laugh without resorting to the crudities of overly-sexual humor. He has finally crossed a line that has resulted in his discrediting.
It would be unmerited to state that the film is worthless as a comedy, as one will laugh at one scene or another. But each laugh is quickly chased with a disgusted cringe. The Heartbreak Kid, to indulge for a moment in cliché wit, leaves the heart which burns for true and untainted comedy utterly broken.
Director Paul Haggis offers stunning war film
The deepest scars begotten by the destruction of war are not those that can be seen, but rather those tucked within the confused psychosis of a mind tortured by images of chaos. As veterans of the conflict in Iraq slowly make their journey homeward, many find themselves plagued by nights awaking in cold sweat. The rampant disorder of post-traumatic stress forces the former soldier to experience a difficult transition from wartime life.
A subject that must be tread lightly upon writer and director Paul Haggis offers a critique of the American war and fosters a heart-rending understanding of the pain experienced by the returning heroes and their loved ones awaiting with open arms.
"They shouldn't send heroes to Iraq" is the line which echoes Haggis's independent film In the Valley of Elah. Inspired by actual events, the film focuses on the murder of Spc. Mike Deerfield (Jonathan Tucker), recently returned to the U.S. from his tour in Iraq. Enveloped in the excruciating reality that his son is forever lost, retired Sgt. Hank Deerfield (Tommy Lee Jones) embarks on an investigation to uncover the dark, gruesome truth behind his son's death. As the mysteries unfold, the coping mechanisms of returned Iraq veterans bare revolting truths.
As stateside tension behind the Iraq conflict rankles the heart strings of all Americans, Haggis is cautious not to infuriate while making a subtle statement of the American debacle. Instead - through dialogue akin to that of his previous screenplays for Crash and Flags of Our Fathers - Haggis makes a statement realized by all: the emotions we feel yet are unable to formulate into words. He sustains the dismal consciousness experienced by his audience with desaturated color throughout the film - approaching in many scenes almost to the point of black and white. The only colors he allows to resonate through the dreary environment are those of red and blue and the colors of the Iraq countryside seen only in dreams and flashback images. The stark correlation between red, white and blue as the prime symbol of American ideology and its amalgamation with the dusty colors of a war-torn Iraq insinuate an inability for the two to be separated. It offers up the quintessential question of our time: is the war in Iraq a war worth winning?
While the film focuses on the murderous tendencies of post-traumatic stress and echoes a cry of distress, never do Haggis' men in shiny buttons ever seem anything but heroes. Instead, it is understood that with the good comes the bad - that is, with war comes the protection of freedom, yet also the wounds of body and mind.
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