Heartbeat

This is the most pretentious feature by Mitch Spinelli I've ever watched (I've seen over 50 so far), and it was very, very hard to sit through.

That's primarily due to the casting. Jon Dough is the star, playing a womanizer who is hard to get along with but all the women want to f*ck him, and when he turns serious the movie becomes unbearable. It begins as a phony rom-com but becomes more and more downbeat and "serious", as if director Mitch thought he was the next Cassavetes.

Totally sinking the project is the knee-jerk casting of Joey Silvera as a down and out, noncummincative bum Dough befriends as a sudden Good Samaritan when he finds him lying by the side of the road. He takes him to his home in his sports car, and despite ridicule from his friends like Steve Hatcher, puts up with Joey's usual improv and creepy behavior. Yes, Spinelli consciously crosses the line (and blurs the line) between porn and indie filmmaking, displaying the worst self-indulgence of both.

Six mechanical sex scenes justify "Heartbeat" as a disposable VHS release, but Mitch insists on trying to pump substance or "a search for meaning" into the projects. Its ironic ending is corny and stupid -the entire movie designed to annoy the viewer rather than to provoke involvement in Dough's problems. Is his character leading an empty life? Yes. Is his acting poor? Yes.