Three of Hearts

Alright, I gave this film no chance, watched it only because it was on and Joe Jackson did the score and knew I wouldn't even keep it on the whole time, but still... sometimes films I intend to dislike ("Signs" is one) turn out to be quite good. This one was not.

William Baldwin, Kelly Lynch and Sherilyn Fenn play three annoying city patrons whose lives intertwine in the fact that Kelly Lynch(the most irritating of them all), a lesbian, broke up with her girlfriend (Fenn) and wants her friend (Baldwin who appears totally bored) to pretend to love her ex so that somehow Ms. Fenn will come racing back to her. Or something like that.

Watching this movie is about as exciting as reading the phonebook. The lines are dull; I've already singled out Herr Baldwin, but all of the actors seem rather listless and lackluster; the lighting is annoying; and the score that I tuned into the dumb thing exclusively to hear is HARD to hear(but sounded good) because the sound quality was not too hot, either. Finally, I just gave up watching. What a waste it was.

I didn't expect much of Three of Hearts; indications were that it was something of a dog, and both Billy Baldwin and Sherilyn Fenn aren't exactly reknowned for their choice of projects. So I was quite pleasantly surprised that the film turned out to be a savvy, passably witty little comedy. The locations are well used and both Baldwin and Fenn turn in entertaining performances. Towering above them, though, is Kelly Lynch. Funny, sassy and utterly adorable, she fits the part like a glove, and turns the potentially least interesting role of the threesome into a character to treasure. Inevitably, the film suffers a little when she is offscreen.

6.5/10

Lesbian lover tries to win back the girl she loves and it's a male prostitute that will help accomplish this ?!

This movie portrays love being universal in a way it can go from lesbian (in)to hetero and that, whatever you are, the feelings of love and despair are equal.

That is exactly why I liked this movie. Not because there was much to laugh about or the value of "reality" or "morality".

In New York City, Ellen Armstrong (Sherilyn Fenn) needs some space from her girlfriend Connie Czapski (Kelly Lynch). A heart-broken Connie needs a date for a wedding. She hasn't come out to her old traditional Polish neighborhood or family. She decides to hire male escort Joe Casella (William Baldwin). He works for Mickey (Joe Pantoliano) who also runs a sex phone line. Connie comes up with a devious plan. Joe would break Ellen's heart so that she would come running back to Connie.

Joey Pants, Harvey, and the phone sex line are all trying to inject humor into the movie with limited success. If anything, I would cut out those parts. They don't have the same tone as the story with the main trio. They do generate the reason for Joe to move in with Connie which may not be a good thing since it muddied the waters of their budding friendship. The reason is still pretty thin and it doesn't make sense that Connie is so trusting of Joe so quickly.

Within it all, building their friendship is the heart of this movie. Instead, the filmmaker seems to be stuck with the male fantasy of turning lesbians. Well, Ellen seems to be bi at least. The movie is stuck with some of this more awkward aspects instead of nurturing its more heart-warming aspects. It takes a long arduous road but eventually it gets to the right place. This is a flawed indie and it's not that well made either.

I saw Three of Hearts cos a friend of mine recommended it, and since I'm not a sucker for romantic comedies...it took a lot of sweet talking on her part to make me watch the movie. Anyway, I finally picked up a copy and actually ended up watching the entire movie with great interest. I thought Sherilyn Fenn looked cute throughout, and Baldwin on occasions, looked reasonably good. However, it was the extremely underrated Kelly Lynch who came out shining on all accounts. The story...Lynch and Fenn are lovers who are going through a temporary seperation, mainly at Fenn's insistence. Lynch is madly in love with Fenn, so she hires Baldwin, who plays a 'male escort' to seduce Fenn, and then break her heart so she could come back to Lynch! Confusing huh?! Well, the plot sounds pretty weird to be true...but hey..you never know!! Anyhow, a thoroughly enjoyable movie, made far better due to excellent work by Kelly Lynch.