Review: Strong cast pumps life into ‘Heartbreakers’

Max Jacobson

Friday, March 23, 2001 | 9:51 a.m.

Grade: ** 1/2

Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Ray Liotta and Jason Lee.

Screenplay: Robert Dunn, Paul Guay and Stephen Mazur.

Director: David Mirkin.

Rated: PG-13 for sex-related content, including dialogue.

Running time: 123 minutes.

Playing at: UA Green Valley Cinemas, UA Showcase 8, UA Rainbow Promenade 10, Century Orleans, Century Suncoast, Century Cinedome 12 Henderson, Rancho Santa Fe 16, Regal Cinemas Boulder Station, Regal Cinemas Colonnade 14, Regal Cinemas Texas Station 18.

"Heartbreakers" succeeds on some levels, but it never quite dazzles you. It's a cute picture with a cute cast and a cute premise -- a mother-and- daughter team of con artists who bilk unsuspecting males out of varying amounts of money, exploiting that time-honored Achilles' heel, the male ego. Remember a little winner called "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" that starred Michael Caine and Steve Martin? This is sort of the flip side.

The picture is directed with whimsy by David Mirkin, whose last major film, "Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion" ("Dumb and Dumber" with a pair of female protagonists), scored better with critics than audiences. If this latest film by Mirkin runs on a bit long, it's because the plot takes more turns than a winner on "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire."

The film stars Sigourney Weaver as Max, and Jennifer Love Hewitt as Page, her slightly green but testy daughter. Also in the cast are Gene Hackman as William B. Tensy, a wheezing tobacco baron, Ray Liotta as Dean Cumanno, a Jersey chop shop owner, Jason Lee, as a bartender named Jack, and Anne Bancroft in a role in which she seems uncharacteristically skittish.

The film opens with an elaborate sting. The patsy is played by Liotta and he stays hungry for more punishment, refusing to give up hope that Max loves him. At this point, Bancroft enters the scene as an IRS agent eager to collect past-due taxes from the women, which she does, leaving them flat broke. Well, not quite. Nothing is ever quite as it seems in this picture.

Soon the action shifts to Palm Beach, Fla., where the women zero in on their newest, unsuspecting mark, Tensy, and things take a series of unexpected turns. First, daughter Page, ripe as an autumn peach, falls in love with her own mark, and commits the cardinal sin of (in the words of cynical mother Max) "closing her eyes when kissing."

Playing a Russian temptress named Olga, one of her many aliases in the film, Weaver then runs into a stern housekeeper beautifully played by former "Saturday Night Live" cast member Nora Dunn, who has no intention of letting Olga worm her way into Tensy's heart, thus protecting her own status as heiress apparent to his large fortune.

What makes the film succeed is its superb cast, and the fact that the cons make sense. Ricky Jay, the sleight-of-hand artist/actor, who plays a confused auctioneer, was employed by the director to teach Hewitt how to handle a deck of cards (which she does convincingly).

Hewitt, who can be both tough and cute at the same time, shouldn't be written off lightly. Audiences who know her from the TV show "Party of Five" will be surprised that she has real chops as an actress. This is also a departure for the venerable Hackman, who lives up to his name in this role by hacking and coughing into Weaver's face during a romantic moment.

With a face full of broken capillaries and a bulbous, red nose, this has to be one of the most daring roles the veteran actor has ever played. As the quote goes, "Dying is easy, comedy is hard," a point that Hackman proves in most of his scenes.

But the film belongs to Weaver, an actress 51 years of age who is still, amazingly, as sexy as ever. The film turns on her character's ability to lure men to their respective dooms, and she is still in full working order. When she strips down to her slinky, feline underwear, her power is undeniable and we can easily believe Liotta and Hackman, actors from a different generation, are helpless.

The main problem with the film is that there is one screwball scam too many. During a recent screening, the audience grew visibly impatient as the film dragged toward its finish. There are also several nice, smaller roles in the film, notable the actor Jeffrey Jones as a bedraggled hotel manager, and Los Angeles stand-up comic Gonzo Raymond as a sleepy garage mechanic who tries to talk a little sense into the long-suffering Liotta.