Crooked Hearts
September. 06,1991 RAn upper-middle class family in Washington state deals with failures, infidelities and troubling secrets. Charley is 26 and still lives at home, despite his simmering anger at his father, Edward. Charley's younger brother, Tom, just dropped out of college and returned home to live. Tom's unstable new girlfriend, Marriet, has designs on joining the family, but she's hardly a calming influence on the crumbling home.
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Reviews
I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.
Good concept, poorly executed.
I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.
It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.
A bit depressing, but a solid drama based on a novel by Robert Bosewell. Director Michael Bortman is also responsible for the screenplay that has a well knit family slowing falling part. It goes to show that perfection isn't all its cracked up to be. The Warren family is well meaning on the most part in spite of being dysfunctional. Vincent D'Onofrio steps up to become a star as a father/son rivalry drives a stake into the family's well being. At times a bit harsh, but you get the whole idea of how relationships among these family members try, but can't really grasp unity. A fine cast that also features: Peter Coyote, Noah Wyle, Peter Berg, Juliette Lewis, Marg Helgenberger and Cindy Pickett.
The cast looked promising, but I was stunned to read the other comments about this movie. To compare this to Shakespeare would make the Bard spin in his grave. Not only did it not "grow on me" but I found it increasingly painful to view. The pain then turned to laughter as we started realize how stupid this movie actually was with it's predictable dialog and it's made-for-TV feel, straight from the Lifetime channel.The only lessons to be learned here besides always making your socks match your shirt, is that you should never keep incriminating items. The Warrens are one messed up family. So if there is absolutely nothing else on, It's one of those "it's so bad it's good" things. I give it 3 stars!
I saw this film recently on cable and found it almost Shakespearean in its depiction of family trouble: fundamental character flaws or weaknesses leading to tragedy, pride keeping the truth from being known when it would be better to bring things out in the open, old secrets coming back to wreak havoc.It's not always an easy film to watch, because you want to stop certain things from happening. But every character is multi-dimensional and real, and - as in Shakespeare - there is humor in the story and hope for recovery and redemption in the end. I cared about these people and their situation.Slow going at times, but give it a chance - it lingers.
Writer/Director Michael Bortman brings us a movie which will be loved by everyone who feels that the number one thing you could ever do in your life is support your family. On the surface, that may not sound like such a bad thing. After all, everyone wants to be loved and supported by their family. However, "Crooked Hearts" goes WAY past that.The movie follows the ups and downs (mostly downs) of the Warren family. The members of this family are the type of people who would support their brother or son even if they were a convicted serial child molester. That's how obsessive and blinding their family structure is. I could never feel connected to any of the characters in this film because only one of them seemed like a nice person. To make things worse, the one nice guy is presented to us as being weak and childish.Almost everyone in the Warren family is dishonest and selfish. In fact, at one point in the movie, being an arsonist is presented to us as simply being a very minor character flaw. This pathetic situation spirals out of control until tragedy strikes the family in one of the absolute most manipulative scenes EVER put to film.The acting is quite good. That shouldn't surprise anyone who glances at the list of cast members. However, anyone who believes that taking responsibility for your actions is a positive trait will not enjoy this movie. Its "ethical" stance is completely at odds with anyone who believes you should be honest, thoughtful and stand up for what you believe in. 2/10