That The Heartbreak Kid manages to synthesize May's improvisational satire, Simon's situation comedy, and [the bitterly black humor of Bruce Jay Friedman's "A Change of Plan," from which The Heartbreak Kid was adapted], and emerge as an occasionally brilliant, if indecisive, American comedy is an achievement very much out of the ordinary. Furthermore, Elaine May's second directorial effort is carried off with such a casual comfort and buoyant pace that the contrasting threads are only rarely visible…. [The] one consistent quality found in The Heartbreak Kid is the ability to take us by surprise—which is above all what makes this movie one of the few really enjoyable comedies by a young American director in recent years. (p. 60)

At the core of The Heartbreak Kid is a serious moral dilemma. This dilemma hinges on whether Lenny is correct in cruelly dumping Lila in order to pursue his dream...