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Issue:


Heartbreakers movie review


Max Conners: Mothers are death.
Paige Conners: Can't argue there.


Some mothers and daughters share shoes. Some mothers and daughters share clothes. This mother and daughter share cons.

When Max Conners (Sigourney Weaver) found herself pregnant and alone she learnt cons great and small at the feet of the master -- Barbara. Now her daughter is a young woman who wants to go out on her own and Max is determined to keep the fledgling con artist under her wing. It is the classic story of an overprotective parent and a child who is ready to be an adult.

A one-shot seduction is child's play, but getting someone to marry you in three months ...

Movie poster, Heartbreakers; Festivale film review

Movie poster, Heartbreakers
Caution: Dangerous Curves Ahead

Max and daughter Paige (Jennifer Love Hewitt) are out for one last con. The mark is liver-spot ridden, cigarette-moke-hacking William B. Tensy (Gene Hackman).

I proposed, you accepted. Everything else is just paperwork.

We've seen so many caper movies, and most of them with overwhelmingly male casts. It's scary how easy it looks when the women play the cons.

Heartbreakers combines a nicely-handled mother-daughter story with the fairly broad comedy of their neverending string of large and small cons, and the very broad comedy of Gene Hackman's Tensy.

The combination is well-handled and the result is a funny caper romp with a touch of heart and truth. Recommended for a fun night out.

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by Ali Kayn
Due for Australian release 5 July 2001
For credits and official site details, see below
Search Festivale for more work by the film-makers below.

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Just the facts:

Title: Heartbreakers (2001)
Written by: Robert Dunn (scr) and Paul Guay & Stephen Mazur (scr)
Directed by: David Mirkin
running time:

123 mins
rating: M

The Players: Sigourney Weaver, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Ray Liotta, Anne Bancroft, Gene Hackman, Nora Dunn, Carrie Fisher

Official website:
IMDb entry

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