A Pyromaniac's Love Story

Not having any idea what this film was about, but based on the fact that John Leguizamo was appearing in it, we decided to watch it. Well, it turned out not to be the wisest decision. In fact, as another commentary in this forum puts it, we felt embarrassed for the actors that participated in this movie.

While the film is by no means horrible, it doesn't make sense at all. The over the top performance by William Baldwin doesn't help the situation either. John Leguizamo is a multi-talented actor who deserved better. The basic problem it seems to be the film was a project that started with good intentions in making a little comedy and the people in charge ran out of ideas along the way. The result is an uneven film.

This movie is exeptionally entertaining. It doesn't try to be anything more than it is, which is some thing in the romantic comedy vein. And don't take that to mean the movie is your typical Sandra Bullock chick flick. As a guy i am entirely enthralled by this flick. This is largely because of the cast. Billy Baldwin is definitly my favorite in this one. He's great at portraying a complete flake against John Leguizamo's straight man. The plot works great for me, with Baldwins odd behavior providing much of the thrust. I love the great Old New York feel the film has, which largely comes from the bakery and Sergio. In short i really love everything about this movie. Go watch it. Its on TV often enough, and a DVD recently popped up.

1995 NY rom-com "A Pyromaniac's Love Story" over-laps three romances via a bakery's arson. Owners Armin Mueller-Stahl & Joan Plowright have money woes, so he wants the insurance. Worker John Leguizamo digs neighbour Sadie Frost (daughter of Michael Lerner) who wants to travel the world. And whacko William Baldwin digs posh Erica Eleniak who seems to dig Leguizamo (but does she?)... and WHO torched the gaff? Some performances are weak (especially Frost, Baldwin & Eleniak), the first of Morgan Ward's only two screenplays is jaunty but too light, and though Joshua Brand directed his only full movie with warmth it still doesn't save it from being a tad forgettable.

While I had never even heard about this 1995 movie titled "A Pyromaniac's Love Story", of course I opted to watch it, as I stumbled upon it by random chance here in 2025. And seeing the rather impressive cast ensemble, I figured that chances would be high of this being a good movie.

Writer Morgan Ward put together a fair enough script and storyline. It was a watchable movie, but I didn't find the script or narrative to be particularly outstanding or memorable.

The acting performances in the movie are good. And there are so many familiar faces on the cast list, with the likes of John Leguizamo, William Baldwin, Erika Eleniak, Joan Plowright, Michael Lerner, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Mike Starr and Sadie Frost.

"A Pyromaniac's Love Story" is a watchable movie, sure, but hardly a movie that warrants more than just a single viewing.

My rating of director Joshua Brand's 1995 movie lands on a five out of ten stars.

This was one of my favorite 90's flicks. It was right there with Singles. It was quirky and weird, yet also had the rom com feel to it. I loved Billy Baldwin back then in this because he just looked like he had bed head through the whole movie, and if you were young in the 90's, that was the "hot guy" look. I've always been a fan of John Luguizamo, so his starring in this just added to my love of the film. It's funny how it has low IMDB ratings by todays standards, because my friend group all loved this movie because it had that same kind of odd/weird vibe that a lot of the cool 90's films had.