Heartbreakers

Infobox Film
name = Heartbreakers

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image_size =
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director = David Mirkin
producer = John Davis
Irving Ong
writer = Robert Dunn
Paul Guay
Stephen Mazur
narrator =
starring = Sigourney Weaver
Jennifer Love Hewitt
Ray Liotta
Jason Lee
Gene Hackman
music = John Debney
Emmanuel Kiriakou
cinematography = Dean Semler
editing = William Steinkamp
distributor = Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Buena Vista International
Universal Pictures Video
released = 23 March2001
runtime = 123 mins
country = United States of America
language = English
Russian
budget =
gross =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id = 1:239034
imdb_id = 0125022

"Heartbreakers" is a 2001 caper-romantic comedy film directed by David Mirkin. Sigourney Weaver, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Ray Liotta, Jason Lee, and Gene Hackman are the lead cast. Weaver was nominated for a Golden Satellite Award for her performance in the film. The plot revolves around an elaborate con set up by a mother-daughter team to swindle wealthy men out of their money, and what happens at their "last" con together.

This film is written by Robert Dunn and Paul Guay & Stephen Mazur. It's the third collaboration by Guay & Mazur, whose previous comedies were "" and "Liar Liar".

The movie inspired the Bollywood movie Bachke Rehna Re Baba starring Rekha and Mallika Sherawat as the con artist aunt and niece.

Plot

Max (Sigourney Weaver) and Page Conners (Jennifer Love Hewitt) are a mother-daughter con artist team. When the film opens, the Conners are settling a con on Dean Cumanno (Ray Liotta), an auto-body shop owner and small-time crook. The con, which is implied has been done a number of times before on other men, involves Max marrying Dean, passing out on their wedding night, and then Page (posing as Dean's secretary) luring Dean into a compromising position to justify Max's immediate divorce and hefty settlement. The con is a success.

Page declares that she wants to go solo. Max initially relents, but when they visit the bank to split their earnings, they are confronted by an I.R.S. agent (Anne Bancroft) who declares that they owe the government a considerable sum on top of the rest of their savings, which have already been seized. Page reluctantly agrees to work together with Max on one last con in Palm Beach. For their target, they choose widower William B. Tensy (Gene Hackman), a chain smoker who is addicted to his own product.Complicating matters is beachfront bartender Jack (Jason Lee), whom Page meets without her mother's knowledge. Page learns that Jack is worth $3 million, and decides to target him for a side con. Page ends up developing genuine feelings for Jack, and reluctantly breaks it off when Max finds out and advises her to.

Tensy proposes to Max ahead of schedule, but before they can get married, he slips and chokes to death on a statue piece. While Max and Page are deciding what to do with the body, Dean arrives, having tracked Max down in order to propose to her again. Dean discovers the ruse Max and Page played on him, and threatens to expose them. Max offers to return Dean's divorce settlement money if he'll help them make Tensy's death look like an accident. Max reveals to Page that the money wasn't really taken by the I.R.S., and the agent had in fact been Max's mentor, Barbara, in a ruse to prevent Page from leaving. But when Max, Page and Dean go to the bank, the money really "has" gone, liquidated in an act of betrayal by Barbara.

In order to help Max, Page decides to accept Jack's offer of marriage, planning to work it as a regular con. Page insists that Jack will not cheat on her, but is heartbroken when during the wedding night she breaks into his room and finds him in a compromising position with Max. After the divorce settlement is paid, Dean confronts Max about the ethics of their con, pointing out that even a "goody-goody" like Jack is only human. Max reveals that Jack actually turned her down, and she drugged him.

Max tells Page the truth. Page returns to Jack, giving him back the bar he'd had to sell to pay the settlement, and tells him her real name. Max and Dean also get together. The final shot of the film is of Dean romancing Barbara, with Max watching them via binoculars, implying that Max and Dean are now working together to get Max's money back.

Cast

* Sigourney Weaver as Max Conners
* Jennifer Love Hewitt as Page Conners
* Ray Liotta as Dean Cumanno
* Jason Lee as Jack Withrowe
* Anne Bancroft as Gloria Vogal/Barbara
* Jeffrey Jones as Mr. Appel
* Gene Hackman as William B. Tensy
* Nora Dunn as Miss Madress
* Julio Oscar Mechoso as Leo
* Ricky Jay as Dawson's Auctioneer
* Sarah Silverman as Linda
* Zach Galifianakis as Bill
* Michael Hitchcock as Dr. Arnold Davis

Production

The film had been in the works for quite a long time. Originally, Doug Liman was set to direct with Cher and Jennifer Aniston playing the roles of "Max" and "Page". However, due to the long pre-production stage, both actresses had to bow out of the film due to scheduling conflicts. In 1999, it was then announced that Anjelica Huston and Cameron Diaz were set to play the two leading roles, but then Liman backed out of the project, creating quite a long time frame to find a new director. Huston and Diaz both had to bow out as well. Finally, when production was ready to start, none of the original casting choices were available to take the part. Sigourney Weaver and Alicia Silverstone were then cast in the role. Silverstone dropped out over "creative differences". Jennifer Love Hewitt was given the part just a few days before filming was scheduled to begin.

The film was set in West Palm Beach, Florida and contains many references to the Beatles, including Sigourney Weaver's version of "Back in the USSR". According to the DVD commentary by director David Mirkin, only a few external shots where actually made in Palm Beach, with the rest utilizing Los Angeles locations as stand-ins.

Music

Danny Elfman composed the main theme and score for the film.

External links

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