This time, the ladies break the hearts
March 31Springtime calls for a refreshing, lively film that reminds you of the sun and fun that has yet to arrive in New England. You need something that lures you away from the 30-something-degree temperatures and the freezing rain forecasts. Heartbreakers, a David Mirkin film starring Sigourney Weaver and Jennifer Love Hewitt, delivers just that, and with a whole lot of laughs. It's an absurd premise - a mother-daughter con team that swindles gullible lovelorn men. Max (Weaver) lures the men in, sweeping them off their feet and leading them toward the altar. Page (Hewitt) seduces the men post-wedding, and, before you can say the word "adultery," the men who were married 17 hours ago are at it like rabbits. Max then catches them in the act, and voila - the mother-daughter team leaves town with a hefty divorce settlement. Silly? Sure, but who goes to the movies for a reality check? Heartbreakers is out to make you laugh, and it succeeds. The film begins in a quaint New England town where Weaver and Hewitt are in the process of committing their latest scam on Dean Cumanno (Ray Liotta). On their way to the bank to divvy up their "earnings," the IRS discovers that they're guilty of tax evasion. As a consequence, their bank account goes straight into the hands of the IRS. Realizing they're now back to square one, the women decide to get serious and go to the next level... Palm Beach. Palm Beach is forbidden territory for con artists because their scheming would be too obvious in such a posh, wealthy neighborhood. Now, though, their desperation gets the better of them, and they're willing to take that risk. In Palm Beach, the ladies will lie, steal, and break men's hearts to get what they want. Page uses her unnaturally perky breasts to grab men's attention, and Max wears a ludicrous array of see-through tops and, in one scene, bottoms to turn heads. But while Weaver and Hewitt are more distracting than engaging as the seductress and her far-fetched sidekick, it's the men of the movie who are the real stars. Gene Hackman is hilarious as a chain-smoking billionaire octogenarian that Max has her sights set on in Palm Beach. His character is meant to disgust and nauseate the audience, but Hackman still manages to exude some charm. He adds comic life to the screen and turns a silly role into a classic one. Jason Lee is picture perfect as Jack, the simple bar owner who wins Page's heart. At first, Page is repulsed by Jack's seemingly poor status. Soon, though, she discovers that his property is worth millions, and she immediately gets involved. Her plan fails though, when she falls for him. Rule number one in the mother-daughter con game is not to fall in love. So Page is forced to call off the scam, but she can't stop thinking about him. And why wouldn't she? He's adorable, genuine, and honest... qualities that Page's genetic makeup seems to lack. And while there are more than enough reasons as to why Page would swoon over him, you can't help but wonder what it is, besides her exhaustive cleavage, that he sees in her. Ray Liotta, fresh from his sickly surgery in Hannibal, is a lovable goofball. As Cumanno, he catches on to the mother-daughter scam. Instead of turning them in, however, he jumps on the bandwagon. But leave it to a man to screw things up. Cumanno doesn't know the first thing about the con game. It turns out it's not as fun as it looks. As he puts it, "I thought this whole revenge thing would be fun, but you've done everything you can to ruin it!" It's only when these men fade from the screen that the film loses its momentum. The story starts to dwindle and, all of a sudden, the outrageousness of the situation, as well as the huge holes in the story, begin to emerge. Weaver and Hewitt can't hold the screen on their own - as hard as they may try with those sordidly revealing outfits. One great part about this film is that the females play the roles of backstabbing, heartless fiends and the males are the gullible suckers. It's a fabulous change of pace from the typical wispy romantic female role that Hollywood embraces. And while the men in the film are the ones who are cheating, they might not always be the sole person at fault. As Weaver puts it, "Next time you see a girl giving that 'let's screw around' look, just remember, she may be working for me!"
