Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Gene Hackman
Director: David Mirkin
Rated: M15+
Max manipulates men into marrying her. She never consummates these marriage
s because she makes sure she drinks too much at the receptions. The day after each wedding Max catches her new husband in a comprising situation with Page. She files for divorce and becomes rich by bleeding her husbands dry in the divorce settlements.
This lucrative industry is in danger of coming unstuck when Page decides it is time to launch out on her own. Max gets her mentor Gloria (Anne Bancroft) to convince Page to give their scam one last try in Florida where they begin to trap tobacco tycoon, William B. Tensy (Gene Hackman). Page, however, falls in love for the first time with Jack (Jason Lee), the sweetest man any girl could ever hope to meet.
The humour in Heartbreakers is obvious and crude, the set-ups predictable, and there are no new twists along the way. The acting is consistently over-the-top with the nicotine- addicted Hackman coughing, spitting and spluttering all the way to his death. He really is gross to watch. And Bancroft is too gothic for words.
In the story Max and Page’s appallingly immoral activities are counter-balanced by Page’s first taste of faithful love. For Page, at least, there is hope of redemption. The problem is that Heartbreakers does not have enough laughs to enjoy it to the end nor enough character development for us to care what happens to any of them.
What did fine actors like Weaver, Bancroft and Hackman see in this derivative nonsense? Don’t be star-struck by the cast and give Heartbreakers a wide berth.
