I remember seeing the original Charles Grodin / Cybill Shepherd many years ago, but not very clearly, so I start here by looking at this movie in its own light.
The movie's premise is that the main character marries in haste due to pressure from family and friends (because he is still unmarried and has reached his 40s), only to make two appalling discoveries on arriving at his honeymoon hotel: one, his new bride is a dreadful mistake and, two, the girl he should have married (but has only just met) is staying at the hotel.
The only problem lies with a central misconception in the Farrelly brothers treatment of this situation: Lila, the dreadful mistake, isn't a dreadful mistake. Malin Akerman's Lila is gorgeous, determinedly cheerful, aggressively sexual, and as prone to quirky individualities as anyone - but, importantly, no more so. Ben Stiller's Eddie, however, is familiar to anyone who has seen a few Stiller movies. He is the mildly neurotic, somewhat cranky individual who Stiller plays so well. And, to be perfectly frank, my sympathies were firmly with Lila. She clearly loves Eddie, she is a person who moves positively forward, she is prepared to make accommodations in her relationship with him, and she doesn't deserve the disgraceful treatment she gets from him.
For similar reasons, I was puzzled at why Michelle Monaghan's Miranda is so taken with him.
The performances were good, the film was colourful and cheery, and had a sprinkling of good laughs, both young women are very photogenic (and it must be said that Malin Akerman is very hot indeed), but the fact that any sympathies I had for the protagonist evaporated early on meant that the film did not proceed towards an ending I wanted.
And, while I appreciated the twist at the end, it simply reinforced what I was already feeling.
The movie's premise is that the main character marries in haste due to pressure from family and friends (because he is still unmarried and has reached his 40s), only to make two appalling discoveries on arriving at his honeymoon hotel: one, his new bride is a dreadful mistake and, two, the girl he should have married (but has only just met) is staying at the hotel.
The only problem lies with a central misconception in the Farrelly brothers treatment of this situation: Lila, the dreadful mistake, isn't a dreadful mistake. Malin Akerman's Lila is gorgeous, determinedly cheerful, aggressively sexual, and as prone to quirky individualities as anyone - but, importantly, no more so. Ben Stiller's Eddie, however, is familiar to anyone who has seen a few Stiller movies. He is the mildly neurotic, somewhat cranky individual who Stiller plays so well. And, to be perfectly frank, my sympathies were firmly with Lila. She clearly loves Eddie, she is a person who moves positively forward, she is prepared to make accommodations in her relationship with him, and she doesn't deserve the disgraceful treatment she gets from him.
For similar reasons, I was puzzled at why Michelle Monaghan's Miranda is so taken with him.
The performances were good, the film was colourful and cheery, and had a sprinkling of good laughs, both young women are very photogenic (and it must be said that Malin Akerman is very hot indeed), but the fact that any sympathies I had for the protagonist evaporated early on meant that the film did not proceed towards an ending I wanted.
And, while I appreciated the twist at the end, it simply reinforced what I was already feeling.