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This screwball comedy brings together some great dramatic actors in unaccustomed comedic roles. The results are mixed (but mostly good), with some terrific slapstick and some pure drivel. Maxine (Sigourney Weaver) and Paige (Jennifer Love Hewitt) are two very slick con artists who find rich patsies and marry them, only to divorce them for big settlements after enticing them into indiscretions. When they get nabbed by the IRS for not paying their taxes, they must score one more time to climb out of their financial mess. The target is chain smoking billionaire William B. Tensy (Gene Hackman) who is dying before our eyes of lung disease. The only question is whether Maxine can get him to propose before he keels over. Meanwhile, Paige is running her own scam on Jack (Jason Lee) who owns a bar resting on prime real estate worth $3 Million.

It is mostly pratfall humor, with lots of sight gags and general nuttiness, which is often uproariously funny. The whole idea that the diminutive Paige could have been spawned from the Amazonian Maxine is implied comedy at its finest, leading us to conclude that Paige's father could only have been a midget.

Gene Hackman completely steals the show as the wheezy billionaire. Hackman, who is one of our national treasures as a dramatic actor, shows magnificent range, and he turns out to be the best comedian of the bunch. Sigourney Weaver is also in rare form brandishing some bodacious outfits and undergarments. She is especially funny as Olga, trotting out impressive broken English and even doing some vocals accompanied by a Russian balalaika band. Ray Liotta gives a lighthearted and funny performance as a chop shop owner who can't get over his love for Maxine, even though he knows she scammed him. Jason Lee's understated nice guy portrayal serves as the perfect counterpart to Jennifer Love Hewitt's bratty vamp. The perennially cute Hewitt still can't seem to transition into grownup roles. No matter how sexy they make her up (and they do quite a good job with her considerable attributes), her pubescent mannerisms and delivery still make her come off as a teenage harpy. In her defense, this is what the role required, but it doesn't do much to move her out of her character rut.

Overall, there is a lot of good fun here that is often dissipated by puerile absurdity. Still, there are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, mostly delivered by Weaver and Hackman, that make this a better than average comedy. I rated it 7/10. Fans who like seeing Sigourney and Jennifer in sexy outfits will not be disappointed.

A black comedy with the accent on sexcapades. I caught this one quite by chance on cable and intended to switch channels if I found it boring. I didn't switch--not that it's something you should rush out and see, but it's got some very funny bits of business supplied by Gene Hackman (as a disgusting old man) and Sigourney Weaver, funny when she's impersonating a Russian chanteuse.

It's a tepid variation on the "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" theme and this time it's a mother-daughter team who make an unforgettable pair of schemers. A scantily clad Jennifer Love Hewitt is a bit irritating as a vampish daughter who can't make up her mind whether to pursue Jason Lee or not. Lee seems willing to take whatever he can get from her, regardless of her abusive treatment.

Much of it is very amusing if you can accept the fact that none of the characters are exactly likeable. Gene Hackman has a comic field day as a man with a hacking cough, dingy teeth and deathly pallor who finds himself being pursued by Sigourney Weaver who is after his wealth--what else? One of the funniest scenes has Weaver (with thick Russian accent) having to get up and perform with a balalaika band at a night spot.

Moves at a brisk pace with some funny pratfalls and plot twists that will keep you watching until the predictable fadeout. Good light entertainment for a rainy day.

Heartbreakers has always been one of my low key movie favorites. It's funny, and the acting and plot are actually pretty good. Hewitt and Weaver play mother and daughter so well and really compliment each other. The storyline is well developed and just the right amount of ridiculous. It's just a good mindlessly entertaining movie.

Stories this luscious and sumptuous, well directed and seamlessly edited, with characters faultlessly portrayed by an outstanding cast, come along rarely, and this is one of the best. It is so good that there are not superlatives enough to do it credit. The basic setup is that the principal characters, a mother, tantalizingly portrayed by Weaver, and her daughter, multifacetedly portrayed by Hewett, are "artistes confidence" to the core of their superficial existences. They cannot so much as have "lunch" without practicing their arts of the scam, but mainly they work the old "betrothal" game. Mom gets her rich mark to the alter, then even before the marriage can be consummated, the daughter, pretending to be unrelated, exploits the man's foolish libido, resulting in a substantial settlement after mom catches them apparently "in flagrante." But then things start going haywire when the daughter decides to strike out on her own, because the guy she fixes on as a mark is not like other guys at all. How he is not, and how her character develops as a result, makes for two hours of outstanding comedy and drama.

Director David Mirkin used to write for "The Simpsons," which explains why Danny Elfman did the main theme for "Heartbreakers" - a movie that, success-wise, has more in common with The Greatest TV Show Ever than with Mirkin's earlier "Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion," and not just because Shawn Colvin makes a guest appearance here as well. Don't get me wrong, it's not nearly as clever - but it IS often as funny. Plus you get to look at Jennifer Love Hewitt a lot.

Mother/daughter grifter duo Sigourney Weaver and JLH are on the verge of splitting up, but agree to do One Last Big Score (isn't it always the way) in order to get out of trouble with the IRS and part sufficiently loaded; Gene Hackman, as a chain-smoking pensionable zillionaire ("His liver spots are positively luminous") is their mark in Palm Beach and also the source of a lot of the fun. In fact, he and an under-used Ray Liotta come close to swiping the film from the leads, but Sig and Love make a good team, each complementing the other - Weaver's the better actress, but Hewitt holds her own; and though the former's attractive, the latter - even in her blonde disguise - is smokin' (something the film never forgets - you get to look at Jennifer Love Hewitt a lot).

The Robert Dunn/Paul Guay/Stephen Mazur script won't win plaudits from the PC brigade; "Heartbreakers" is often a farce in a good sense, but the female characters come off for the most part not as morally upright as their male counterparts (though Hackman's moneybags is by far the most repellent person here). Pacy for sure, and often funny if not always in what the late British DJ Kenny Everett's Cupid Stunt character called "the best possible taste" (witness the oral sex gags early on), there's a distinct slowing down as the tale unfolds and Jen's growing feelings for a potential mark (Jason Lee) makes it more sentimental than cynics would like; the first half of the movie is funnier and edgier than the second. But you get to look at Jennifer Love Hewitt a lot.

In the end, "Heartbreakers" has a tone a bit too much like the likes of "Are You Being Served?" to be a must-view for all; the movie sometimes comes across like a "Carry On" film. Only with a budget. And good performances. And decent writing. And funny. And with a fine soundtrack. Okay, so it's not much like a "Carry On" film, but it does make for a good two hours' watching; Weaver fans will get a particular kick out of her rendition of "Back In The U.S.S.R.", and Hackman fans will enjoy seeing him upstage everyone except for Hewitt's anatomy; I gave this 7 out of 10, but I should have given this an 8 purely on that count. This is one movie that lives up to its title.

And did I mention you get to look at Jennifer Love Hewitt a lot?