Heartbreakers (From Stroud News and Journal)

Heartbreakers

HEARTBREAKERS (15) In 1964 David Niven and Marlon Brando starred in a film called Bedtime Story. At the time it was given a crushing review, which said it was 'the most vulgar and embarrassing film of the year'.

Undaunted, in 1988 two other great actors, Steve Martin and Michael Caine took the plunge and starred in the remake "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels". This was described as 'heavy handed'.

Mix those two films with "Tumbleweeds" (1999) and "Anywhere But Here" (1999), and you have "Heartbreakers".

Director David Mirkin only owns up to being influenced by "The Lady Eve" (1941), however I can't help but wonder if "Heartbreakers" will have enough if its own originality to hold anyone's attention.

Ice queen Max Conners (Sigourney Weaver) is a mother who loves the good life and her daughter Page (Jennifer Love Hewitt), seemingly in that order. They make up a seductive duo of confidence tricksters.

Max, using a number of aliases and her abundant sex appeal beguiles lascivious rich men and leads them hastily up the aisle. Once married and after an unsatisfactory wedding night the frustrated spouse is seduced by Page and is then caught in flagrante delicto by his now bride.

Max immediately throws a wobbly and files for divorce. When a suitable settlement is reached mother and daughter bickeringly plot the next venture.

Their latest victim is stolen car dealer Dean Cumanno (Ray Liotta). Having fleeced him for 300,000 dollars plus a Mercedes they head for Palm Beach and a final scam.

Max targets horrendous William B Tensy (Gene Hackman), a chain-smoking tobacco billionaire with revolting habits and bronchial problems. Max enters into the relationship with gusto, sporting a Russian accent and sensuous evening-wear.

Meanwhile Page meets barman Jack (Jason Lee) and is faced with her first moral dilemma. Apart from the patchwork quilt of past films David Mirkin ("Romy and Michele's High School Reunion")( 1997) has sewn into "Heartbreakers" - I have thought of two more "Trouble in Paradise" (1932) and "The Grifters" (1990) - the main drawback is the running time 123 minutes.

The last half hour drags and spoils an otherwise amusing romp. There are two strong cameos from Anne Bancroft and Nora Dunn. The still immensely glamorous Bancroft is Max's mentor, but both are so amoral one wonders who will have the last laugh.

Dunn is Tensy's abrasive housekeeper Miss Madress, to whom Max deals a rotten blow. Gene Hackman is quite brilliant, and makes the film, which starts and sadly ends with him.

Tensy looks like hell and has more than a touch of W C Fields about him. Most women would avoid him like the plague. However this only serves to make Weaver's Max wonderfully avaricious and one tracked.

There are some genuinely funny scenes, but unlike Niven and Brando or Martin and Caine it is very hard to like these female protagonists. On the plus side neither mother nor her daughter consummate their relationships, which stops the film descending into sordid monotony.

So to conclude, "Heartbreakers" is not vulgar, embarrassing or heavy-handed, it is a slick production that is not very original and is too long.

Verdict: 6/10