Hey folks, Harry here with a review from Enigma Boy... a young idealistic non-cynical hormonal machine on his way to film school to get those juices flowing and to learn how to control them. Ahhhh.... So folks, Here ya go... I'm not going to get to see this before the end of the week as I'm in the midst of SXSW film festival, but I'll try to fill you in on stuff further in the future.... Till then, here we go...
Greetings Head Geek,
Hey! This is Enigma Boy. Long time no post, eh? I’m not sure if I told you this already, but next year I’m on my way to film school at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. In the spirit of my future college, I saw a movie by one of its graduates, David Mirkin, who follows up his semi-successful comedy ROMY & MICHELLE’S HIGH SCHOOL REUNION with HEARTBREAKERS. Overall, it’s a good movie, nothing special, but it gives me hope for my future school.
I’m very pleased with what I see coming out of the Loyola Marymount film department. Here’s a short list: the aforementioned ROMY & MICHELLE, Tony Bui’s THREE SEASONS, James Wong’s FINAL DESTINATION, Brian Helgeland’s PAYBACK and the upcoming A KNIGHT’S TALE, and, I know you’ll like this one Harry, Lance Mungia’s SIX STRING SAMURAI. All of these (except for KNIGHT’S TALE, obviously) are movies I respect in their originality while not being pretentious (can’t say the same for USC alumni). HEARTBREAKERS is by far the most generic of the bunch, but it was a nice view into what’s being taught over there at LMU.
The movie is derivative. There, I said it. This is a “con artist” movie. It has some nice twists of its own, and the actors are having fun, but David Mamet has shown us the real deal when it comes to double-crossing and whatnot. The quick plot summary: Sigourney Weaver and Jennifer Love Hewitt play a mother-daughter con team. Mommy marries men, daughter seduces the men, mommy gets money from divorce settlements, both go to another town and repeat. They’ve agreed to do one last con before “retirement,” and they go to Palm Beach and pick an old billionaire played by Gene Hackman. Problem here; the movie’s main flaw is, in fact, its plot. The script should have gotten another rewrite before production to work out the inconsistencies in characters and its tendency to forget about rather important plotlines. The schemes in this movie are a tad complex, and it goes too far. Examples: Why does Sigourney Weaver seduce Gene Hackman with a Russian accent? Why does Ray Liotta’s character keep on changing his mind? The answer to both: probably to fuel some jokes and spark conflict as per the requirements of the story.
But I shouldn’t bitch too much, because the two main stars are Sigourney and Jennifer Love, a match made in movie heaven in my opinion. David Mirkin spends much of the time with a camera affixed to Jennifer Love’s breasts and butt, and many guys across the country are going to thank him for that when this movie comes out next Friday. In retrospect, this pleases me greatly, because I could follow Mirkin’s footsteps, graduate from LMU, and spend a couple months filming a movie with gorgeous people like Jennifer Love Hewitt. Heheheh…mischievous thoughts, I know, but it’s possible.
Acting is good, not great, but all the performers seem to be enjoying themselves. Supporting roles are filled by the ever-trustworthy Jason Lee as Jennifer’s side project, the always-slimy Ray Liotta as Sigourney’s first undertaking in the movie, Nora Dunn as Hackman’s suspicious maid, and Anne Bancroft as an IRS agent (or so she seems).
This is a twisted movie, not in a John Waters-Terry Gilliam sense, but it has a nifty cruelty to it. It stops making sense after a while, and I can’t really recommend it very much, but it was amusing. Sometimes I like a movie that can supply a few really good laughs and spends the rest of the time not sucking. I realize that’s not a great recommendation, but it’s something. No, this isn’t the best movie, but it put me in a good mood, and that’s always a plus. It captured my attention, quirky spirit and all.
And Jennifer Love Hewitt is in it. And Ripley. That should be reason enough for you geeks to go.
Enigma Boy
