Heartbreakers
***
Cinema
Releases - August 24, 2001
Rated on a 4-star scale. Certificate 15. 123
minutes. Directed by David Mirkin. Written by Robert Dunn, Paul Guay, Stephen
Mazur. Starring Sigourney Weaver, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Gene Hackman, Jason
Lee, Ray Liotta, Anne Bancroft.
There is something romantic and fascinating about
fictional conmen -- their boldness, their savvy, the cleverness of their
schemes and the way they get away with them. In real life it's infuriating
to see people getting conned or to be victims ourselves, but when we see
it in the movies we can't help but laugh at the saps and grin at the
crooks.
"Heartbreakers" stars Sigourney
Weaver and Jennifer Love Hewitt as a mother and daughter who go across America
entrapping men into marriage and then quickly finding a way of skipping town
with all their money. The film begins after they've just screwed over, but
not screwed, a garage owner played by Ray Liotta; they then head down to
Florida, where their next project is a wheezy tobacco baron played by Gene
Hackman.
There are complications, such as trying to interest
Hackman, who is a doddery old cretin almost falling apart from dry skin,
rheumatism and emphysema. And Hewitt thinks that she's conning a wealthy
young bar owner played by Jason Lee, but she's subconsciously falling in
love with him. Weaver is shocked: "I saw you kissing him! With your eyes
closed!"
Weaver and Hewitt have a smart, snappy rapport,
the movie's cons are sharp and amusing, and there are some hilarious set
pieces, such as when Hackman takes Weaver to a Russian restaurant because
he thinks she's from Eastern Europe. The waiter can see that Weaver is lying
and calls her onstage to perform a traditional Russian folk song. To save
herself total embarrassment Weaver improvises and does a glorious rendition
of The Beatles' "Back in the USSR".
"Heartbreakers" is not of the same calibre as
"House of Games" or "The Grifters", but who would expect it to be? It's a
funny movie with endlessly watchable actors. Hackman deserves special praise
-- he could have easily gone over the top, but manages to push his performance
as far into riotous absurdity as possible without becoming embarrassing.
Weaver, it must be said, looks astonishingly attractive and nowhere near
50 years old. I'm so enamoured by her I almost took down my posters of the
pop star Tiffany in order to make a Sigourney shrine. Almost.
COPYRIGHT©
2001 Ian Waldron-Mantgani
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