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Characters / The Heartbreak Kid (2007)

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    Eddie 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/eddie_4.jpg
Played By: Ben Stiller
The owner of a San Francisco sports shop, is single but ambivalent about starting a relationship. And then he meets Lila... and after her, Miranda...
  • Betty and Veronica: Eddie is Archie, Miranda is Betty, and Lila is Veronica.
  • Butt-Monkey: Especially after marrying Lila.
  • The Chew Toy: Eddie is on the receiving end of all sorts of abuse and humiliation throughout the movie.
  • Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: After the wedding, Lila abuses Eddie both physically and sexually. The abuse is played for laughs. But if the genders were reversed, then it would be a different story...
  • Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: Lila has sex with Eddie so vigorously that he even screams in pain. Instead of stopping, she hits him and insults him during sex. It's all played for laughs. If the genders were reversed, none of this would be funny.
  • Love Triangle: Eddie marries Lila, who turns out to be a nightmare, and on their honeymoon, he falls in love with Miranda.
  • Marital Rape License: Rare wife-on-husband example. Lila is addicted to wild, sado-masochistic sex that is extremely painful for Eddie, but she refuses to stop even when he makes it clear to her that he is in pain.
  • Stalker with a Crush: Eddie is this to Miranda near the end.
  • Sympathetic Adulterer: Averted. All the characters think Eddie is a monster because he is flirting with another woman on his honeymoon. He admits it himself.
  • Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: Eddie is pretty level-headed at first, but goes into full-on psycho stalker mode by the end of the film. Not to mention that he spends his honeymoon trying to cheat on his new bride. Yeah, she's a complete psycho, but still...

    Lila 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lila_cantrow.jpg
Played By: Malin Åkerman
A beautiful and seemingly perfect woman Eddie knows and decides to marry. On her honeymoon, she turns out to be his worst nightmare.
  • Abhorrent Admirer: Lila becomes this to Eddie... ... on the honeymoon!
  • Beneath the Mask: She initially appears to be friendly, intelligent and adorable. In fact, she is unpleasant, unintelligent and crazy, but this only becomes evident to Eddie (and the viewer) after the wedding, and especially when they are alone.
  • Betty and Veronica: Eddie is Archie, Miranda is Betty, and Lila is Veronica.
  • Big Bad: Calling her a villain may be an exaggeration, but in fact she is the main obstacle in Eddie's life after marriage and especially after he falls in love with Miranda (with Martin in second place).
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Lila, who doesn't reveal her myriad of annoying habits, mood swings, and oddities until after the wedding.
  • Cloud Cuckoolander: During the first act of the movie, Lila hides who she really is, and seems to be a completely normal person. After marrying Eddie, the mask immediately falls off: she's immature, foolish, and addicted to wild sex. The movie makes it unclear whether she intentionally hid her nasty side of Eddie before the wedding, or if she actually did it without realizing it.
  • Country Matters: Lila calls Eddie this when he tries to treat her sunburn.
  • Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: After the wedding, Lila abuses Eddie both physically and sexually. The abuse is played for laughs. But if the genders were reversed, then it would be a different story...
  • Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: Lila has sex with Eddie so vigorously that he even screams in pain. Instead of stopping, she hits him and insults him during sex. It's all played for laughs. If the genders were reversed, none of this would be funny.
  • Fan Disservice: Lila's extremely unkempt private area, shown in all its glory when she helps him relieve a jellyfish sting.
  • Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Brutally subverted. Lila is blonde and in the first act she appears to be a sweet, kind, adorable, delicate, pure and innocent woman (going so far as to insist on not having sex with Eddie until their relationship becomes serious). Then Eddie marries Lila and he (and the viewer) discovers that she is crazy and nasty, addicted to wild sex.
  • Karma Houdini: Lila burns Eddie's passport and leaves him in Mexico. Not only is she not punished for it, but she still gets much of his money in the divorce. Considering how Eddie behaved like a horrible human being during the second half of the movie and that Lila was also emotionally manipulated by him, it is understandable.
  • Love Triangle: Eddie marries Lila, who turns out to be a nightmare, and on their honeymoon, he falls in love with Miranda.
  • Marital Rape License: Rare wife-on-husband example. Lila is addicted to wild, sado-masochistic sex that is extremely painful for Eddie, but she refuses to stop even when he makes it clear to her that he is in pain.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Lila is played by Malin Åkerman, so obviously the script puts her through much of the movie wearing a bikini or completely naked.
  • Never My Fault: She blames her sunburn on Eddie because she wanted to prove him wrong about how strong the sun is in Mexico. She never acknowledges that she could have just taken his advice and worn sunscreen, and had plenty of agency in this.
  • Overly Long Gag: The montage of Lila singing along to EVERY song on the radio on their way to Mexico, while Eddie is clearly thinking about blowing his brains out.
  • Psychopathic Woman Child: Among other things, she refuses to wear sunblock in Mexico and then accuses Eddie of "siding with the ozone" when she gets a horrific sunburn.

    Miranda 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/miranda_65.jpg
A beautiful and seemingly perfect woman Eddie knows and decides to marry. Unfortunately, he meets her only on his honeymoon with Lila...
  • Betty and Veronica: Eddie is Archie, Miranda is Betty, and Lila is Veronica.
  • Love Triangle: Eddie marries Lila, who turns out to be a nightmare, and on their honeymoon, he falls in love with Miranda.
  • Manic Pixie Dream Girl: She's a beautiful, down to earth woman with seemingly everything going for her.
  • Ms. Fanservice: There are also some nice scenes with Michelle Monaghan in revealing clothes.

    Uncle Tito 
Played By: Carlos Mencia
A mischievous connection of Mac's down in Cabo whom Eddie befriends.
  • All Men Are Perverts: Eddie gives him a package from Mac, later revealed to be a porno tape. To save face in front of Miranda and Martin, he tries to pass it off as a film Eddie is renting, much to the latter's embarassment.
  • Catchphrase: "Screw off, I'm joking!"
  • Hope Spot: After Eddie's infidelity is exposed and shit hits the fan for him, he briefly makes Eddie think that Miranda still wants him before revealing that she fled back home with her family as fast as she could.
  • No Social Skills: He propositions Lila for a hand job while bringing her room service and justifies it by saying that he assumed Eddie had no boundaries due to him cheating on Lila with Miranda and bringing him a porno tape from Mac.

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