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One imagines that when Charles Grodin drew his first breath, he immediately realized it’d be funny to sigh and feign annoyance at being born. In Grodin’s 50-year acting career, irrational irritation was the comedy chord he played best.
But it was comedy icon Elaine May who first enshrined that skill in The Heartbreak Kid (1972). May’s second directorial effort—long unavailable via streaming—plays July 26 at the Hollywood Theatre.
The Heartbreak Kid follows New York newlyweds, Lenny (Grodin) and Lila (Jeannie Berlin) on their Miami Beach honeymoon. They’re just now getting to know each other, and Lenny grows manically bothered at how Lila messily eats egg salad, how she wants to talk during sex, how she keeps referencing their next half-century together.
Realizing he’s rushed into something, Lenny rushes twice as hard—into a one-way infatuation with another hotel guest (Cybil Shepherd).
Playing Lenny like a hysterical weather vane, Grodin’s bullshiting never flowed so freely as when shot like seldom-cut improv comedy from the director (May) who helped modernize that art form.
Academy: Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954), July 26 - Aug. 1. Once Upon A Time in the West (1968), July 26-31. The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004), July 26 - Aug. 1.
Cinema 21: Seven Samurai (1954), July 26 - Aug. 1. Being There (1979), July 27.
Cinemagic: Antichrist (2009), July 25. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), July 24 and 25.
Clinton Street: The Fly (1986), July 27. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), July 27. Dredd (2012), July 30. To The Stars By Hard Ways (1981), July 31.
Hollywood: The Flintstones (1994), July 27 and 28. Barb Wire (1996), July 27. Stop Making Sense (1984), July 27. A Woman Under The Influence (1974), July 28. All That Heaven Allows (1955), July 30.
Tomorrow: Wayne’s World (1992), July 26. We Sold Our Souls for Rock ‘n’ Roll (2001), July 27 (with Penelope Spheeris in conversation). The Iron Giant (1999), July 28.