Con Artists And A Half-Naked Love-Hewitt
I can't make up my mind about this one. On one hand we have a heavyweight cast including Gene Hackman, Signourney Weaver, and Ray Liotta which in theory should mean a reasonably good film. On the other hand we have Jennifer Love Hewitt in dozens of skimpy outfits, tottering around a tropical resort in strappy high heels. Ummm tough call. Good film or a t'n'a skin flick? Overall, I think we have both.
Well starting with the basics; this is very much a silly film which doesn't take itself too seriously. In that sense it is a bit like Miss Congeniality . But then, we expect silly films from Sandra Bullock; with Heartbreakers, given the likes of Weaver and Hackman, I kept finding myself musing, "WHAT WERE THEY THINKING????"
The plot is a no-brainer, which makes sure that the audience does not get distracted away from Jennifer Love Hewitt's cleavage and legs. This is not being sexiest, it is simply stating fact. Max and Page (Weaver and Hewitt respectively) are a mother-daughter team of con-artists who have made a tidy living marrying rich men and then fleecing them for their money. They try to pull a scam over the skankiest rich man they have met to date, tobacco billionaire William B. Tensy (Gene Hackman). They have mixed success on this front.
Meanwhile, Page is having a dilemma between her conscience and her heart over a rich but nice local bar-owner (played by Jason Lee). This puts her on heat and makes her defunct as the cunning sidekick her mum has come to expect; especially as her sharp wits are being steadily dulled by the pouty, teenage Love-Hewitt thing males have come to know and lust for.
Actually, the film has a lot more good moments than the above plot summary or my initial comments may suggest. There are some pretty noteworthy scams here, some of which are so clever that you find yourself actually wondering whether they would be possible to try out yourself; fancy free accommodation at a luxury resort hotel? Or endless free meals at expensive restaurants? This film is a how-to guide for these things.
Part of the art of conning people, entails making up stories and
then quickly adapting the story to avoid being caught out. 
Sigourney Weaver gets to do some great acting through
her character's use of various ruses to dupe unwitting men; she
also looks infinitely better as a seductress rather than her Ellen
Ripley action heroine role of the Aliens series of films.
Gene Hackman too is pretty good as the heinous and utterly repulsive chain-smoking billionaire hoping to get a bit of Sigourney Weaver lovin'. While Hackman's old man make-up does seem a bit overdone in places, this is off-set by the crusty phlegm-dredging cough which seems all too real and yucky. I must also confess to being a big fan of Jason Lee's misunderstood artist/genius angst style which has become his hallmark screen persona from Kevin Smith films (including Mall Rats, and Chasing Amy).
Talent lurks behind the cameras as well. Writer-director and executive producer David Mirkin has won 3 Emmy awards for his work on The Simpsons from 1994 until the present, and his best known film work to date has been Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion. The rest of the production crew also have a heavy-weight track record between them including composer Danny Elfman (who has produced film scores for dozens of well-known films) and costume designer Ann Roth (three-time Academy award nominee and winner for The English Patient). This film proves that she can design skimpy pin-up girl outfits every bit as well as her classier numbers.
Although very easy on the eyes, Jennifer Love-Hewitt's acting doesn't do it for me, and I think this means the film will strike a chord with people looking out for a fun tale about lying, cheating horrible people tricking and double-tricking each other? or who just like Love-Hewitt's bod. Either way, you're not going to lose.
Sampath Soysa
