HEARTBREAKERS (2001) 2 stars out of 4. Starring Sigourney Weaver, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Gene Hackman, Jason Lee, Ray Liotta, Nora Dunn and Anne Bancroft. Written by Robert Dunn and Paul Guay & Stephen Mazur. Directed by David Mirkin. Rated PG-13.
Heartbreakers is one of those movies that tries to be all things to all people and in the process disappoints.
On one level, Heartbreakers is a wonderful farce about a veteran con woman who tries to seduce an older, rich man into marriage so she can gain his fortune.
On another level, it's a gooey love story about a tough-as-nails-on-the-outside-but-tenderhearted-on-the-inside younger con woman who falls in love with a regular guy causing conflicts about her living the grifterís life.
Heartbreakers stars Sigourney Weaver and Jennifer Love Hewitt as a mother-daughter con team. Mom woos and weds them, daughter arranges a seduction that mom can conveniently catch so she can collect a large divorce settlement.
Daughter wants to branch out on her own, but due to circumstances beyond both womenís control they are forced to work together one last time to try for the big score.
They travel to Palm Beach in order to land a sucker.
Mom sets her sights on William B. Tensy, a tobacco tycoon, played in grand style by Gene Hackman.
Hackman, as Tensy ó a cigarette constantly dangling from his lips ó hacks, coughs and wheezes his way through his part. He seems to be having a ball.
And the scenes between him and Weaver, masquerading as a Russian émigré, are the best in the film as she mangles her English and fakes being charmed by this geriatric Lothario.
Hewittís material is weaker as she vacillates between hard-bitten bamboozler and love-smitten ingenue. Plus, Jack (Jason Lee), the guy she falls in love with, is bland and rather dull.
The possible reason for this schism is that three writers ó Robert Dunn, Paul Guay and Stephen Mazur ó worked on this project. Heartbreakers plays as if each ó Dunn working alone, and Guay and Mazur teaming up ó concentrated on a specific character for director David Mirkin who, afterward, merely melded the two disjointed scripts.
Heartbreakers is a weak movie, one of wasted potential. It had the makings of a great farce, but plays as if someone chickened out and diluted the more biting story with an overdose of sweetness.
As it stands, though, it is very enjoyable watching Weaver. As she has shown in movies such as Working Girl and Galaxy Quest, she is very comfortable at comedy. Her scenes with Hackman as well as with the other men she ensnares ó most notably Ray Liotta ó come close to classic screwball.
Only in her scenes with Hewitt, when she tries to act motherly, does the chemistry fail.
Hewitt is lovely to watch, but her character is rather ill-defined. She spends a lot of time complaining and whining, and it is difficult to understand what Jack sees in this self-centered young woman.
Hackman and Weaver are worth the price of admission. Unfortunately, you have to sit through the rest of the movie to appreciate them.
Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, IN. He can be reached by e-mail at bloom@journal-courier.com or at bobbloom@iquest.net. Other reviews by Bloom can be found at www.jconline.com by clicking on golafayette. Bloom's reviews also can be found on the Web at the Internet Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Bob+Bloom
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews