MovieChat Forums > The Heartbreak Kid (1972) Discussion > What did Kelly see in Lenny??

What did Kelly see in Lenny??


I could never figure out why Kelly, this beautiful young college student wanted to marry Lenny? Much less, date him. She could have any guy she wanted, why him??? He was a lot older than her, not attractive, plus he had nothing to offer her. He was a complete jerk dumping his wife on their honeymoon!
It wasn't about money, because Kelly had a rich father that gave her plenty.
I just couldn't see Kelly's appeal in Lenny. He was better off with Lila. They were each other's equal. I enjoyed the scenes between Lila and Lenny!
I cringed at the scenes of Kelly & Lenny.
Kelly was too good for Lenny! He didn't deserve such a beauty!

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I think Kelly initially just wanted to engage in a little harmless flirting
with Lenny, because she was bored to tears on that Florida vacation with no one
else around who was even in her same generation. When she saw what a jerk Lenny
was, she set out to destroy him by having a serious fling with him, then marrying
him (thus also getting the bonus of irritating her domineering father), then, presumably, dumping him soon afterwards and going off with one of her other guy
friends. When she sees Lenny assaulting one of her other boyfriends, she just
laughs in delight, as if she's pleased with herself that she was able to set up
such a situation. In the end, Lenny is sitting by himself on a sofa at their wedding reception, humming "Close to You" (one of Lila's favorites) as if he's beginning to realize that he's now become the Lila of his relationship, and Kelly's now going to be the one to use him in the same way he used Lila.

At least I hope that's the case, because I can't begin to imagine what Kelly
saw in this obnoxious, unattractive mouth-breather either, especially when she
had a coterie of more attractive guys chasing after her.



I'm not crying, you fool, I'm laughing!

Hewwo.

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Lenny is a self absorbed jerk, but I find Charles Grodin physically attractive in this film. As well as being hilarious and so on point with his performance.


"I slept with you and you're in love with my husband. What the hell am I supposed to do with that?"

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She fell for him when she realized he was like her daddy in not accepting no.

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Kelly considers Lenny the same way a mouse is considered by a cat. He is just another toy and the bonus is she gets to stick it to her father.

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Kelly may have been attractive but maybe her eyesight wasn't so good. She probably also lacked self-esteem. Did you see the guys she hung out with at school? They weren't very attractive either. It seems she went for whatever guy was around and/or the kind of guys who would worship her.

Attractive men, those who could get any girl they wanted, may not have given her the attention she craved. The fact she kept at Lenny even after she found out he was on his honeymoon suggests she was the kind of girl who toyed with men even if there was no real interest in them just to boost her own ego.


Woman, man! That's the way it should be Tarzan. [Tarzan and his mate]

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Good comment.

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