Coeurs perdus

In the late 40s, Raymond Fernandez (Jared Leto) is a hustler who cons rich women. He meets damaged Martha Beck (Salma Hayek). They become the notorious "Lonely Hearts Killers" who rob lonely widows using personal ads and then kill them. Robinson (John Travolta) and Hildebrandt (James Gandolfini) are homicide detectives. The killers eventually confess to twelve murders in total.

The cast is first rate. There is enough production value. However, writer/director Todd Robinson fails to generate any intensity for me. I think the most compelling characters are Fernandez and Beck. I would have like them to lead. Travolta and Gandolfini are great actors but I'm not fascinated by their characters. Following both sets of characters simply divides the attention of the audience.

This is an excellent film. Filmed in a classic "Film Noir" style, it is both dark and engaging. The script is well written and expertly crafted. The pace is fluid and the characters are well developed.

The score is appropriate and effective. It helps create tension and mood without becoming oppressive as many scores do.

The cinematography is absolutely terrific and creates a dark and intimate view.

All these elements combine to create an excellent environment for what is a truly inspiring cast. It would be difficult to overstate the quality performances of the entire cast. John Travolta was completely convincing as he always is but I think he may have surprised even his most supportive fans. He nailed the part hands down. In one scene he suspects a dead body is possibly hidden in a box and the mood he creates as he approaches and investigates the box is riveting.

But the true star of this movie was without doubt Salma Hayek. She was mesmerizing as Martha Beck, a true masterpiece. She played evil so well it was spooky. Most people who watch this movie are going to really enjoy how carefully she seduces the viewer into her despotic plans. This is certainly one of her finest portrayals and shows she has considerable acting depth. A nasty "femme fatale" may not be a huge stretch for her but she really did a terrific job.

"Lonely Hearts" is not a family movie. There is plenty of blood, boobs and bad language. The movie deals with very heavy themes like suicide and child murder. And to make matters worse for young ones the story is true. Martha Beck and Raymond Fernandez were real monsters and the movie shows more than enough to make that clear to anyone including kids.

I am a big fan of true crime and this film is really great. For me at least, it was one of the best I've seen in a long time. If you are an adult I recommend this film. Dramatized True Crime at it finest!

Within two minutes of starting this movie it became clear that it was very well put together. Excellent cinematography and costume design.

I'm not sure exactly what it was that disappointed me so much. It could have been the lack of drama. I didn't feel like the plot escaladed to a climax. I understand that this is based on a true story, but it certainly could have been done in a more dramatic way; especially during certain parts of the chase.

The acting was excellent on all parts. In agreement with everyone else, Salma Hayek was a stand-out. However, I feel that Jared Leto (who plays Ray Fernandez) was miss-cast. I think that's the part that prevented me from enjoying this movie the most. I was excited to see this because I am a HUGE Jared Leto fan, and I've always loved the films he's been in, and he's always become one with his character (e.g. his role as Harry Goldfarb in Requiem for a Dream). Although his acting was excellent as always, I just couldn't buy it. As I watched his character evolve I felt more and more conflicted between the good-hearted vulnerability I felt from him (perhaps as a result of watching countless interviews of him), and the bad-hearted almost monster-like character he was meant to be portraying. I just couldn't buy him as a sleaze-bag . In Chapter 27 he portrayed a psychotic man so well you forgot it was Jared right from the get-go, so I know it wasn't his acting that got in the way.

On top of that, I felt that Leto and Hayek didn't make a good on-screen couple. He seemed small in comparison to her. This was a couple that worked together to lure in rich folks; I wanted them to seduce me. Instead I was repelled by them, even in the scenes where they are "sucking in" new prey. I felt that they looked, and even acted, awkward together.

In summary, heightened drama and a more befitting Ray Fernandez would have made this an excellent film.

Lonely Hearts (2006)

A steady, interesting, colorful crime movie packed with both great old tropes from the film noir days and lots of familiar tricks. Amazingly, it's based on a true story from post-war America that goes way way way beyond the slimmed up version here.

The result is good, yes, but never mesmerizing, never a complete surprise, and never up to the potential of the either the source material or the talented cast. The very dependence of well known formulas for a kind of classic look and feel is what holds it back, because we know those formulas so well. The one aspect to the movie that is forcibly modern is the one that feels so forced it's almost pandering to a contemporary audience--lots of open swearing and sexual references in a manner not really "right" for a 1951 America.

Several lead actors are terrific. Salma Hayek, once she arrives, is an edgy bad girl, a woman with little moral code and a comfort level with blood and manipulation that makes an old school femme fatale look like schoolroom stuff. Her bad boy companion, Jared Leto, at first comes off as a Robert Downey Jr. wannabe, but he gradually hardens up his edges and by the end is pretty believable as a cocksure murderous idiot. The two cops, John Travolta and James Gandolfini, are a great pair, the one restrained and more in tune with the criminals, the other the sidekick with a good heart. (They might be modeled after, say, Glenn Ford and William Bendix, as two 1951 actors who could have pulled off the same roles with more conviction.)

The filming, the editing, the pace, the sets, the old cars, the interior and exterior location shoots, all of the nuts and bolts are in place here for a good movie. (Of these, the photography is the most routine, partly because of how it's directed, as in the last scene when the cops swarm the house--it could have been really exciting.) But overall it's the script--the script, not the story--that holds it all back. The parallel plots of the two criminals in their love affair crime spree and the cops on their trail is clear and fine, but unrevealing. The events happen, and we sort of know how it will end. And it does (not to give away anything!). If you want the true facts, go to the really long but readable account at trutv.com and type in the Lonely Hearts.

As a quick and hopefully helpful movie comparison, you can look at recent films like "Road to Perdition" or "Shutter Island" and see how a period piece film can brim with originality and better filming. A movie comes closer to this kind of familiar quality, based on older classic Hollywood models, is "Public Enemies" with Johnny Depp, though that one had some really beautiful moments in the photography. And what about that title? It is derived from the male killer's original tactic for getting money, which is given a comic treatment at the beginning of the movie--he writes to lonely women, gets them to fall in love with him, and steals their assets.

A final revealing note: the director is the grandson of the cop who led the original investigation into the crimes. That means he's really well placed emotionally, but as a director he's really incomplete. It's amazing, in fact, that he got the budget and talent he did with such a short track record. Opportunity squandered? Partially. Give it a chance.

two detectives, 'buster'Elmer C. Robinson (travolta) and Charles Hildebrandt (gandolfini) hunt two killers Martha Beck and Raymond Fernandez played by salma hayek and jared leto.

basically the story is of two policemen chasing after two killers who, by posing as a single man and sister, enlist in finding their victims through the lonely hearts columns within newspapers and magazines.

on the acting side we'll start with the policemen first, travolta as essentially the lead cop in this movie is a somewhat torn man in his duty as a cop and in the loss of his wife, travolta soon finds a new lease,to speak of, by trying to capture the two killers, he is helped in this matter by gandolfini as his straight thinking,talking friend, but though the acting between the two is of an OK standing (gandolfini coming off stronger) the pairing doesn't come off as one would hope and it is slightly stale, more so within their dialog together.

the hunted pair,hayek and leto, have a better chemistry, despite what many have seen of hayek in this film, being wooden and poorly acted out, i'd give her a little more credit than the naysayers, mainly because the person she is portraying is of that type of person, soulless and wholeheartedly callous. her dominance shows through in her interpretation of a jealous and highly possessive person. but the real star who shines in this movie is leto, from his smile right down to the unsteadiness of his actions, movements,gestures are perfect and really shows us what his is capable of, could well be we are witnessing him in his prime, his ending is very well shot (credit to the director there, Todd Robinson).

a long and somewhat violent film, yet it leaves enough subject for conversation and reply value. in terms of what director robinson has achieve,well thats not much, mainly a wasted cast on a somewhat unfair choice in director (The director's grandfather was Elmer C. Robinson, the cop who investigated the Lonely Hearts murders). but still a film to watch.