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A mother Max
(Sigourney Weaver) and daughter Page (Jennifer Love Hewitt) are into their 13th scam to make money. Max marries Dean (Ray Liotta) in a grand Catholic church wedding,
sleeps through the wedding night, then catches him in a compromising situation with his secretary Page the next morning. The satisfaction with the following divorce and
settlement is dampened soon enough when they learn that the IRS has taken all their savings, and they still owe surcharges and fines. They have not been paying their income
tax, says IRS rep Barbara (Anne Bancroft). Tired with what they call "small time" rewards for their work, they head for Palm Beach to catch some "big fish". Max targets very
rich old Tensy (Gene Hackman) who has a bad hacking cough which he does not mind letting go in the face of Max each time it erupts. Page, while waiting to play her part, meets
Jack (Jason Lee) a young bar owner, and begins to fall in love with him—a dangerous situation for the mother-daughter swindling game. Will Max be able to get Tensy to marry
her? How will Page resolve her situation?
Heartbreakers quickly
shows what happens to the mother-daughter's 13th con game, then lingers on what happens in Palm Beach. There are the elaborate attempts of Max to catch Tensy, which seem
overdone. All that Gene Hackman does is vulgarly cough in Max's face, which eventually becomes tedious for the audience. More than necessary sequences are also used to show
Page vacillating between playing the con game on Jack or allowing herself to fall in love with him. It is easy acting for Weaver, Hewitt, Liotta and Hackman. There are
glimpses of the plush and lush Palm Beach Resort with its grand hotel.
Questionable schemes to get rich quick is a staple movie theme. So there is nothing new in
seeing women fortune hunters on the prowl where moneyed men can be found. It is a bit unusual however, to find a mother-and-daughter team in the game. They breezily go into
petty con tricks to get free food, gas and a stay in a plush hotel. Much as these acts are comically presented, they trivialize wrongdoings that must actually be
condemned. This and certain sexual scenes require a mature audience to understand their implications.
(Date reviewed: September 28, 2001)
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