Love Lies Bleeding

When ex-con Geraghty comes home one day to find his home ransacked (again) and his girl (Dewan) roughed up by gang bangers, he's had enough. When he decides to take matters into his own hands, he shows up at the scene of a shootout over a bag of money left lying on the floor. After grabbing the money and running. He figures a safe distance away and starts to settle down, only to find bad guy psychotic Slater on his trail.

The genre categories on this film are stated as action, drama, and thrills. As for action, very little; drama, more than what should be in any action film; and thrills? Well, no thrills here, especially for someone who doesn't, ordinarily, like movies like this.

As for some of the leads, Geraghty didn't pull off his character, at least I didn't believe him and when did Dewan grow up? In two years, she's gone from high school ballet student in "Step Up" to high school teacher (?!?!?!) in "Fab 5: The Texas Cheerleader Story" and this one, where she's just a kid again starting out on life's journey. Slater was always a favorite of mine, but I just could not believe that he's happy with this performance. Whoever taught him who act as a psycho on the edge should give him a refund (or at least change for that dime he charged Slater for the acting lessons).

Overall, the premise was good, but the acting was not. Three bad acting jobs takes three stars away from what WAS a good story line. 7 out of 10 stars.

This is my first review as I felt compelled to write to say just how bad this film is.

The acting is awful. The direction is awful and this type of storyline has been done to death.

What was Christian Slater thinking ?

I always watch films to the end of the titles but I was sooo glad when the, "Action", finished, I couldn't bear to see the names associated with this monstrosity.

If you have 94 minutes to spare, just go and stare at a wall, you may find it more entertaining.

Christian Slater released two films at approximately the same time, "He Was a Quiet Man", and this particular piece. "Love Lies Bleeding" is a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde, but imagine Clyde as a miserably ignorant, somewhat philosophical "nice guy".

A young couple, Duke and Amber are living together on the wrong side of the tracks, dealing with poverty, crime, and general economic misfortune until coming upon a bag of money belonging to their drug-dealing neighbors. Also sought after by dirty cop Pollen, they go on the run to escape their depressing lives and find their dream life of a house with a yard and 2.5 children...etc...

Jenna Dewan is really developing quality acting skills, especially opposing Christian Slater's frightening "dirty cop" routine. Christian Slater once again shows his talents and versatility (very obvious if going between this film and "He Was a Quiet Man). This was a fantastic role for him. Brian Geraghty was slightly over-done, but it suited the role (Iraq war-vet that didn't come home quite right).

Overall, this film was chock-full of stereotypes and stayed rather cookie-cutter and predictable throughout. However, it was entertaining, and kept you going right until the end. Hence my rating of 8/10. It's not perfect by any means, but if you're not looking for substance, it's just a good entertaining film.

Spare yourself from this travesty. I don't think I've ever seen a movie this bad in my life, honestly. I don't know what else I can tell you, but please, just avoid it. All I can muster is rhetoric, it's REALLY JUST THAT BAD.

Acting is awful (especially Brian Geraghty, who is always stone like for no apparent reason), in fact, even Slater (which was a bit of a surprise) seems to struggle to play the role convincingly (it's just too over the top retarded I suppose). Dialogue is bland, cheesy, and just all around makes me cringe with every line. I still can't believe I watched the whole thing. It's one of those movies that you want to turn off from the beginning.

Predictable plot, sloppy and uninspired cinematography, etc. It's just all around poor. The way the characters flip-flop back and forth (about what to do with the money) when their lives are at stake is laughable.

I will never write another review unless I see a movie poorer than this one. I would usually never write a review in the first place, but if I can spare someone 1.5 hours of their life then writing this will have been worth it. In fact, I am so disgusted by Brian Geraghty's performance that I will never watch another movie that he is ever again. They should have just cast a sock puppet in his place instead.

AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE!

If you are to chose between watching true romance and this movie; chose true romance. I would give that movie 10/10 and this movie 8/10. This is still a very good movie. Different movies leaves difference impressions on me: i sometimes watch movies that are highly rated on IMDb (like "I am legend") and and is bored during the movie and afterward felt like i wasted a part of my life. This is not the case with Love Lies Bleeding. It is very exciting all the way, and balances the action with slower parts to actually produce an emotion of thriller to this viewer.

The acting is decent, and i felt with the characters. They felt like normal people and not like unrealistic super humans that's common these days in movies. The action part is not overdone and also feels realistic to me.