New Moon is nothing if not an international advertisement for the hungry virtues of virginity and young people can’t get enough of it
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Theatre
A smart, prickly and rewarding view of sexual and emotional confusion
Cock
Restaurants
Kitchen W8 is a bargain for this area, if such sophistication is what you crave
Kitchen W8
Too long and drawn out but very entertaining with excellent special effects
This is a peculiar play and does not work for me. Some of it is very funny but there are real flaws
Alex has a strong powerful voice and was faultless, she is far better now than she was on the X-Factor
London,
Derek Malcolm's rating
Reader rating
Dir: Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly.
Cast: Ben Stiller, Michelle Moynahan, Malin Akerman
Description: Ben Stiller reunites with the Farrellys for a bad taste comedy that's their most satisfying in years. His hapless suitor marries what turns out to be very much the wrong woman, but then meets Ms Right (Michelle Monaghan) on his honeymoon.
Country: US. 2007. 116mins
True romance: Ben Stiller's Eddie falls in love with Miranda (Michelle Monaghan)
It isn't always easy to like the films of Bob and Peter Farrelly. But this re-adaptation of the witty Elaine May film from the Seventies is less raucous than Dumb and Dumber and has a performance from Ben Stiller that proves he can act better than most people give him credit for.
He is Eddie, a picky bachelor boy whose chance encounter with a pretty blonde called Lila (Malin Akerman) ends up in marriage as much because of his father's bullying as because of any conviction that love has finally got him hooked.
The result is an almost instant disaster. She nearly kills him in bed, perpetually sings along to ghastly songs as the pair make their way by car down the Californian coast towards their Mexican hideaway, and gets sunburn so badly when they get there he can't touch her.
As Lila suffers in their room, Eddie meets Michelle Monaghan's lively Miranda, who introduces him to her blue collar family, then takes up with him despite their doubts and without knowing he is there with his new wife. This forms the basis of the hilarity, as Eddie tries to find a suitable way out of his marriage without losing the girl of his dreams.
There are some good jokes, notably when Eddie's awful dad (Ben's real-life father, Jerry Stiller) perpetually asks him about "pussy" and then changes it to "snatch" when he objects. But the film as a whole is quite long and slow for a Farrelly Brothers movie; it doesn't go over the edge in devil-may-care profanity and presents Stiller with a chance to draw us a rounded character with whom it is easy to identify.
The difference between this and the Elaine May movie is largely a matter of subtlety - something the Farrellys don't really do. So instead of the Jewish boy who marries a wearisome Jewish girl only to find himself in love with a brighter Gentile, we have something less based on racial and cultural mores.
It's all a bit predictable, despite its downbeat finale, but never dull. If I didn't laugh enough it was purely a matter of not being able to take Stiller, even at his best, for very long. Others may well find The Heartbreak Kid one of the better comedies of the year.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
Afternoon:
15°c
