In David Mirkin's
Heartbreakers, a sweet comedy which plays like a lighthearted version of
The Grifters, Sigourney Weaver and Jennifer Love Hewitt are a mother/daughter pair of con artists. Although they scam for everything from food to gas, their specialty is marriage settlements.
When we first meet our connivers, Max (Weaver) is marrying Dean Cumanno (Ray Liotta), a respectable New Jersey chop shop owner. When his new secretary, Page (Hewitt), entices him into a little oral sex, his wife of 18 hours arrives to catch them in the act. "Honey, it isn't what it looks like here," Dean tries to explain to Max. "Her hair got stuck in my zipper." Cut to the lawyers office in which Max leaves with a chunk of cash and one of Dean's freshly built Mercedes.
Although they look like Mutt and Jeff with their dramatic height difference, Weaver and Hewitt are a convincing and funny choice as relatives and rivals. The rebellious Page thinks that Max treats her like a little kid, and Max thinks that Page isn't ready to go solo like she plans. Their confidence games are quite believable. Max looks like someone who would sweep you off your feet into an early marriage proposal. And Page, with her lovely legs, micro skirts and ERIN BROCKOVICH-type bras that push her generous breasts skyward, looks like someone who might tempt even the most married of married men. In short, the deliciously caustic chemistry between Weaver and Hewitt is the best part of the movie.
The weakest link, other than the excessive running time, is the supporting cast. Although Liotta is impressive, most of the others are either underutilized or miscast. Anne Bancroft delivers a wooden performance as an IRS agent who forces the two crooks into their most ambitious scam ever. Jason Lee (
Almost Famous), who isn't given much to do as the only guy with whom Page ever falls in love, phones in his performance.
As a cliche of a rich old geezer with yellow teeth, Gene Hackman coughs his way through his part as William B. Tensy, a tobacco company CEO with millions to burn. If he will just live long enough to tie the knot with Max, she and her daughter will be able to pay their back taxes and live on easy street for the rest of their lives. But Page hates the whole idea. "I'm not dating the walking dead", she bitterly informs her mother, who replies, "we better work fast".
In Tensy's most memorable line, he reveals the secret of what really turns on a tobacco millionaire - "smoke billowing out of a woman's hot, red nostrils".
The image almost makes the unflappable, non-smoking Max gag. Gag isn't something you will do while watching this brightly written comedy.
Heartbreakers isn't any laugh riot, but it is entertaining fun. It's the sort of picture that will leave you with a smile on your face and a feeling that you got your money's worth.
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