"HEARTBREAKERS"
(2001) (Sigourney Weaver, Jennifer Love Hewitt) (PG-13)

Alcohol/ Drugs	Blood/Gore	Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude	Frightening/ Tense Scenes	Guns/ Weapons
Moderate	Minor	Extreme	Minor	Mild
Imitative Behavior	Jump Scenes	Music (Scary/Tense)	Music (Inappropriate)	Profanity
Heavy	None	Minor	*Minor	Heavy
Sex/ Nudity	Smoking	Tense Family Scenes	Topics To Talk About	Violence
Extreme	Extreme	Mild	Mild	Moderate

---

QUICK TAKE:

Comedy: A mother and daughter con team run into various complications as they set out to swindle various men and get to their money by having the unsuspecting dupes fall for them.

PLOT:

Max (SIGOURNEY WEAVER) and Page Conners (JENNIFER LOVE HEWITT) are a mother & adult daughter con team who set up various men to fall for and marry the former and then attempt to cheat with the latter, thus creating a generous divorce package. Their latest dupe is Dean Cumanno (RAY LIOTTA), a chop-shop owner who was so smitten with Max that he never saw the con coming.

When the mother and daughter learn that they've been caught by the IRS for tax evasion, they decide they must make a bigger score and thus move to Palm Beach, Florida where Max sets her sights on ailing tobacco billionaire William B. Tensy (GENE HACKMAN) and Page focuses on laidback bar owner Jack Withrowe (JASON LEE) whose establishment sits on some rather valuable property.

Moving in for the financial kill - using techniques taught to Max by her mentor, Barbara (ANNE BANCROFT) - the two women set their individual traps, using their feminine wiles and shapely bodies to mesmerize their potential victims. As they do so, they must contend with various obstacles along the way, including Tensy's observant and scheming housekeeper, Miss Madress (NORA DUNN), and his ailing health; Page eventually falling for Jack; and Dean's eventual reappearance onto the scene, all while knowing full well that few intentions are honorable and instead are bound in potential deceit and trickery.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?

If they're fans of the high profile cast or of such deceit-filled comedies, they just might.

WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG-13

For sex-related content including dialogue.

CAST AS ROLE MODELS:

SIGOURNEY WEAVER plays a con artist who uses her feminine wiles and sexuality to lure men into falling for and then marrying her, only to then set them up to be caught in a compromising act so that she can divorce them and get their money. She also uses some profanity.

JENNIFER LOVE HEWITT plays her young adult daughter who's her partner in crime, and also uses her body to attract men, smokes, and uses profanity.

GENE HACKMAN plays an old and sickly billionaire who smokes all of the time and falls for Max and her deceitful ploy.

RAY LIOTTA plays Max's latest ex-husband, an automobile chop shop owner who tried cheating with Page, not knowing she was Max's daughter. He also carries a gun, uses profanity (some of it strong) and sets out to find Max and win her back.

JASON LEE plays the good-natured, laid-back owner of a Florida bar who falls for Page. He uses some profanity.

ANNE BANCROFT plays Max's mentor who's working on her own deceitful scheme.

NORA DUNN plays the billionaire's equally scheming housekeeper who uses some profanity and thinks she's onto Max's plan.

CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO

HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE

---

Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit?
Then read OUR TAKE of this film.

(Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below).

---

OUR WORD TO PARENTS:

The following is a quick look at the content found in this PG-13 rated comedy. All sorts of sexually related material is present throughout the film, including both the mother and adult daughter wearing very revealing, short and/or form-fitting outfits to flaunt their sexuality at various men and get them to fall for them and/or try to cheat with them. They also behave in sexual, seductive and sensuous ways to do that as well.

Various instances of mostly non-explicit, sexually related dialogue and some double entendres are present, as is some brief fooling around (or preparations to do so). A woman nearly has oral sex with a man, an erection is seen under a sheet, and a full-sized nude statue of a man shows a prominent penis that's used as a basis for generating laughs in several scenes, as does all of the other sexually based material.

The various characters involved in the scam have bad attitudes, as do others, while all sorts of forms of that scamming might prove enticing for some kids to try to imitate. Profanity is listed as heavy due to at least 1 use of the "f " word, while all sorts of other expletives and colorful phrases are also used.

Some comedic tense family moments are present, while various characters drink and smoke (one who does the latter in many scenes). Various instances of comedic style violence are also present, including some brief threatening with a gun. If you're still concerned about the film and its appropriateness for anyone in your home who may wish to see it, we suggest that you more closely examine our detailed content listings for more specific examples of what occurs in it.

---

ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE

People have wine/champagne at a wedding reception, including Max who later appears to pass out from drinking too much (although she may be faking that based on later revelations).

Max and Page have wine with dinner, and Max later asks for a '69 Merlot when the restaurant offers to give her a free bottle of wine.

We see various people in Florida having drinks.

Various people drink at a bar where Max and Page compete to see who can get a stranger to buy them a drink first (but they don't drink any).

Some waiters carry drinks at an art action where Tensy puts out his cigarette in a woman's drink.

Jack offers to get Page a drink in his bar (where others drink) and she orders a martini, very dry.

People have drinks in a restaurant, including Tensy and Max who have wine.

We see drinks in front of Tensy and Max.

Max and her former mentor have wine.

A friend of Jack's drinks beer.

Some champagne arrives at Max's hotel room, but it isn't consumed.

People drink at a wedding reception and Dean tells Page to make sure that Jack sees her drinking a lot. She says that won't be a problem (meaning she was going to be doing so anyway).

Max has some cognac with Jack.

We learn that Max drugged Jack to make him think that he slept with her.

BLOOD/GORE

We hear Max vomiting in the bathroom (or faking that she's doing so).

DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE

Max and Page have both for conning various men into falling in love and then marrying them so that they can then set them up and get some/all of their money in the ensuing divorce settlements.

Dean runs an automobile chop shop and nearly has Page give her oral sex the day after he married Max (not knowing that Page is Max's daughter due to them setting him up).

Max distracts a man at a gas pump so that Page can grab his credit card, use it to pay for their gas, and put it back before the man knows what happened.

Page refers to Dean as a "greasy mook."

Max discreetly breaks an ashtray under her chair at a restaurant and then pours the broken glass into her food, suddenly acting as if she's found glass in her meal (all to get the restaurant to give her the meal for free). Max's mentor later does the same.

Max purposefully trips/knocks down Page in a fancy hotel so that it looks like she slipped on some water on the floor (all to get a free room from the hotel).

Tensy puts out his cigarette in a woman's drink (calling her a "nazi") and then lights up another one after she told him that there's no smoking at an art auction.

Page purposefully doesn't stop at a stop sign.

For the first several times that Page meets or then runs into Jack, she has a condescending and overall bad attitude toward him (until she learns that he may be worth money).

Page yanks hard on the handle of a cigarette machine to get a pack of smokes without having to pay for them.

We learn that Tensy's housekeeper is also after his money, and Max and Page do her in by setting it up to look like she's been stealing from him.

After discovering that his housekeeper has been stealing from him (although that's not true as she was set up), Tensy bribes a cop with some money, asking if they can slap the women around some bit.

After they're engaged, Tensy wants to have sex with Max (mentioning the union of their "aching bodies"), but she states that they must wait and that her religion forbids "humping" (after he mentions that term). He then says that since they're engaged, to God everything else is just paperwork.

Max, Page and Dean all try to con Jack out of his money (including Max drugging Jack to make him think that he slept with her).

FRIGHTENING SCENES

It's possible some viewers might find some scenes listed under "Violence" as tense, but all of them are played for goofy laughs rather than realism.

GUNS/WEAPONS

Switchblade: Used by Dean to cut off Max's bodysuit/corset on their wedding night.

Handgun: Carried and used by Dean to threaten others and shoot at some fish (we don't see the fish).

IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR

Phrases: "What are you, a f*cking cop?" "Bullsh*t," "Holy sh*t," "Dipsh*t," "You disgusting sh*t," "She's shier than sh*t," "You sick sh*t," "Piss off," "Not a whole hell of a lot," "Nuts" (crazy), "Low-life scum," "Screw it," "Greasy mook," "(You) Moron," "Shut up," "Small time crap," "Who the hell does she think she is?" "Old hag," "Screwing" (sexual and nonsexual), "Screw(ed)" (nonsexual), "Stupid jerk," "Balls" (testicles), "Mouth breather" (what Page calls Jack), "What the hell (are you doing)?" "Idiot," "Crapper," "Jerk off," "Ugly ass," "We have a bitch alert," "Bastard," "You bitch," "Freaked you out," "Pissed (off)," "You gold digging whore," "You're one sick slut," "Scumbag," "Shut up, junior slut," "You've got some brass balls (testicles) in those panties," "Don't screw with me," "Lesbo," "You bitch," "What a moron," "Screw around," "What the hell is taking so long?" "Screwed up" and "It really sucks."

It's possible some girls could try to con men as Max and Page do in this film (by flirting with them, flaunting their bodies/sexuality, and then trying to set them up by catching the men trying to fool around with other women who are in on the con).

Page wears all sorts of revealing, form-fitting and occasionally midriff-baring clothing.

Max distracts a man at a gas pump so that Page can grab his credit card, use it to pay for their gas, and put it back before the man knows what happened.

Max discreetly breaks an ashtray under her chair at a restaurant and then pours the broken glass into her food, suddenly acting as if she's found glass in her meal (all to get the restaurant to give her the meal for free).

Max purposefully trips/knocks down Page in a fancy hotel so that it looks like she slipped on some water on the floor (all to get a free room from the hotel).

Max and Page have a bet on who can make a man at a bar buy them a drink first, and thus try all sorts of things to do so (most involving coming on to the man).

Page uses her feminine wiles and a lit match (that causes a small fire) in a trashcan to distract a valet so that she can grab some keys and tamer with a car.

Page purposefully doesn't stop at a stop sign.

Page acts like she's getting interference on her cell phone so that she can find out from a housekeeper where her next target is heading.

Page yanks hard on the handle of a cigarette machine to get a pack of smokes without having to pay for them.

Page fakes choking in hopes that her target, a doctor, will come and save her.

Page puts a tire-puncturing strip out onto the road to blow out Tensy's car tires (which it does, along with Jack's and her mother's).

Max and Page set up Tensy's housekeeper to make it look like she's been stealing from him (after Page gets through the front gate by using a telescopic wand to trigger the gate's opening device).

JUMP SCENES

None.

MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE)

A tiny bit of playfully suspenseful music plays a few times in the film.

MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE)

A song has a lyric that goes along the lines of "take my empty body and discover me," but we didn't note the context of the lyric or subject of the song.

PROFANITY

At least 1 "f" word, 20 "s" words, 6 slang terms for/using male genitals ("sausage," "member," "willy," "wood," "wang" and something like "pepeska"), 1 slang term for female genitals ("trim"), 6 slang terms for sex ("screwing," "humping/hump" and "nail"), 10 hells, 9 asses (2 used with "hole"), 7 craps, 2 damns, 1 S.O.B., 11 uses of "Oh my God," 3 of "Oh God," 2 of "G-damn" and 1 use each of "God" and "Jesus" as exclamations.

SEX/NUDITY

Page wears very revealing, short and/or tight-fitting clothing (that shows off her ample cleavage and body) throughout the movie, while Max often wears cleavage-revealing clothing as well.

At their wedding reception, Dean tells Max that as the song says, "The best is yet to come" as he refers to their wedding night and honeymoon. Dean has to wait, however, as many men dance with Max at the reception, including one who puts his hands on her clothed butt.

On their way to their honeymoon suite, he asks if she's nervous (about having sex for the first time which is what he believes) and she says that she's ready and that she's going to do things to him that no women has done before (which she whispers into his ear that drives him crazier) and we then see her put her tongue into his ear.

Once in the room, she acts sensuous in front of him and starts to take off her dress, eventually revealing an elaborate, full-body, body-hugging, lace corset/jumpsuit (that shows a great deal of her cleavage). She then tears open his shirt and we hear her unzip his zipper. When she apparently sees his penis (which we don't), she states, "Oh my God" and he replies that that's how much he loves her. She then replies that he must love her a lot (a reference to the size). She then tells him to take her and he jumps on top of her on their bed, but can't manage to take off that corset/bodysuit. So, he takes a switchblade and cuts the material (somewhat exciting her and she makes sensuous, moaning sounds as he cuts & tears open the clothing). We then see him kissing up her legs, toward her crotch and then up her body until he discovers that she's fallen asleep/passed out. Dean then thinks of pouring some ice on her to wake her up, but instead pours it down into the front of his pants, causing him to react to the cold. The next morning, Dean comments on having some frostbite in some weird places and he and Max act like they're going to have sex, but she then runs off to the bathroom, stating she's going to be sick (so nothing else happens).

Later, Dean's employees want to know about his wedding night (he won't tell them anything although some of them state that his wife must be an animal), and laugh about the way he's walking (due to the ice he poured down his pants and not something sexual as they're imagining).

Dean walks into his office to see Page - who's wearing an extremely short, skimpy and formfitting dress - bent over and he (and the camera) focus on her butt and the occasional glimpses of her underwear. She then sensuously puts her leg up on a sofa (and we see a lot of her upper thigh as well as cleavage that both he and the camera focus on). As she moves her body close to his, she asks, "Is it hard?" and after allowing him to react to that in surprise, she adds that she's talking about getting married. Later, she purposefully drops some papers and bends over to reveal her butt to him once again, and he goes over and passionately kisses her. After a moment of her acting surprised, she then jumps up on him, spreading her legs around his waist as he stands. He then stops for a moment, but the two then passionately kiss again. He then sits in his chair and she goes down to his crotch (we can't see anything as the desk blocks our view). She then states, "Oh my God" as we hear the zipper coming down and she asks if that's frostbite down there, but a knock at the door interrupts them. Dean then pushes her under the desk as he realizes it's his new wife at the door, but Page complains that her hair is caught in his zipper. After Max comes in and then leaves (with Dean making Page hide under the desk at his crotch and mistakenly stating that he'll be out "In a sex…a sec"), Dean gets up and we see Page's head at his crotch with her hair caught in his zipper as he moves around the office, eventually spotted by Max when she returns.

After Page announces that she's going out on her own, Max reminds her that when she did the same, she ended up pregnant. She then warns Page about guys who will pull the old "conceive and leave" on her.

We see various young women in bikinis and Page and Max comment on one man who has many such women around him, stating that they (Max & Page) would have massive competition for the man, and that they'd have to be in the type of group thing to get him (mentioning him being in something greater than a ménage a trois).

Max tells Page that feelings lead to "screwing" that leads to being screwed (as far as their cons go).

Page and Max compete against each other in a bet to see who can get a stranger to buy them a drink first. Page then goes into sensual mode, saying that it's hot as she runs her finger along the top of her low-cut dress. Max then acts sensuous as well toward this man, and Page then asks the man if she can grab his nuts, but is referring to the peanuts on the counter that she suggestively states are salty.

A metal statue at an art auction shows bare female breasts and Tensy uses his cane to tap one of them.

We see a picture of a statue up for bid at an art auction that shows an artistically sculptured nude man with a very prominent stone penis. We then later see the real, life-sized thing at the auction.

When Page thinks that Jack is trying to hit on her in his bar, she mentions a few things (such as her possibly being the Antichrist, etc.) that the male penis doesn't ponder when men try to pick up strangers in bars.

As some men carry the above, penis-baring statue for Max, she complains that she thinks she sees a crack, but one of the men just states that it's the statue's butt. She then acts sensuous while running her hands along the statue as she tries to distract the men. She eventually succeeds as the statue's penis is accidentally knocked off as the man pass through a door. We then see her holding the stone penis.

While trying to seduce a doctor, Page seductively uses her mouth to play with olives on a stick.

Page makes out with Jack to distract him.

When Max asks Page how she looks, Page says that if she were a guy, "I'd do you."

After Page threatens Jack that if he doesn't give back her purse he'll have "my heel up your ass," he sarcastically wonders how she knew he was into that. Some other women in the bar then states that Jack isn't into "ass play."

Page asks Jack if he spies on people "humping" when she sees that he has a telescope out on the beach at night (he's using it to photograph various celestial bodies) and adds that it's perverted. Moments later, Page acts seductive toward Jack and the two kiss.

Tensy tells Max that he likes to watch women eat, adding that it's one of the more sensual acts. Later, he tells her that there's nothing sexier than watching smoke billowing out of a woman's hot, red and engorged nostrils.

Realizing that she's feigning her Russian accent and doesn't speak/understand the language, a Russian waiter asks Max (seen in English subtitles), "Can I tickle you with my big Russian sausage." Not knowing what he's said, Max answers, "Da." Moments later, Max asks Tensy if there's somewhere they can go where she can "relate to you orally." Before that can happen, however, she's called up to the stage to sing a song.

After Page asks if he doesn't believe her, Jack replies, "I'd like to, but…" and Page then playfully asks, "What about my butt?" After she leaves, Jack looks through his telescope and asks himself, "Is that five people?" (a joke based on the above ménage a trois comment).

After Tensy's female housekeeper says that she's onto her (meaning her scheme), Max replies that's flattering, but says that she's not into women.

After Page comments that Jack doesn't do anything normal, he replies that there are some things that he does, and the two then kiss.

To distract him while trying to fool Tensy into thinking she's applying for a housekeeper's job, Page spills some liquid into Tensy's crotch, and then moves close to him (showing cleavage) to wipe it up off his crotch (which she does in a seductive manner). As she does that, she coyly says there's something inside her that gives her the need to please her employee any way possible. She elicits the desired response from him when she stops the wiping motion and he tells her that there's some more that needs to be sopped up. Later, Max criticizes Page for going so soon to the "member massage" routine.

Jack and Page make out again.

Page takes off her top (we see her in her bra) and then lies on top of Jack on a couch as they make out. Nothing else happens, however, as she abruptly says that she has to leave.

Tensy shows up at Max's hotel room with the above nude statue that's had its penis replaced (he states that it only cost $7,000 for a new "willy" - and the camera momentarily focuses on it).

After they're engaged, Tensy wants to have sex with Max (mentioning the union of their "aching bodies"), but she states that they must wait and that her religion forbids "humping" (after he mentions that term). He then says that since they're engaged, to God everything else is just paperwork. He then tells her that he's more powerful than her and that she should relax and enjoy it. He has a coughing fit, however, and falls to the floor, knocking the above statue's penis off, with it ending up in his mouth.

We see a sheet covering a body on the floor that has an exaggerated erection holding up part of the sheet.

Dean comments that a hotel is crawling with "prime trim" (referring to women and a part of their bodies), but that he barely notices it and is mainly only interested in Max.

We see Max tying up Dean, who's wearing just black jockey underwear (with a noticeable bulge in it), to some bedposts by his hands and feet, and she then blindfolds him after making him kiss her foot. This excites him, but she then leaves him there as she says she's going to get some whipped cream and puts her tongue in his mouth, but doesn't return. Moments later, the maid comes in and threatens to "sit on your kinky face while you think about it" (referring to how much of a tip he should let her take from his wallet while he's tied up).

Max and Page comment on the statue missing its penis and Page mentions something about there being "no wood."

Although nothing sexual is occurring, Dean mistakes hearing Max's comments about a dead man lying on top of her as sexual. Among the things he hears is her saying "This is unbelievable" and "You are so enormous" in an out of breath fashion. He then sees Page carrying the stone penis.

Max tries to seduce Jack, including by sensuously feeding him chocolate covered strawberries. When he says that he should leave, she tells him that he deserves to have a little bit of fun on his wedding night (he's married to Page who he thinks is passed out). She then wipes some cream from his lip and then suggestively licks his face.

Later, Page runs in and finds Jack and Max in bed (but we later learn that nothing happened and that she had drugged him).

Max reminds Dean of when he tried "to nail Page" and Dean says that even a goody-goody like Jack "can't keep his wang in the hanger" and mentions something about a "soil sample."

Max tells Dean "Let's screw around" and we later them kissing on a bed with him on top of her (both are clothed, but it's implied that they have sex).

SMOKING

We hear that Tensy is a former tobacco executive and he smokes more than 10 times during the film (although his doing so isn't portrayed as manly or sexy, but instead shows him with a bad cough and brown teeth, etc.). He also jokes about there being nothing wrong with giving cigarettes to kids (all played for laughs for the viewer).

Page smokes several times, but later says that she's official quitting.

After making a comment criticizing reports about second-hand smoke, Tensy's parrot falls over dead in his cage from it.

We see many cartons of cigarettes fall from a housekeeper's furniture (that Page planted there to make the housekeeper look guilty of stealing Tensy's cigarettes), while some miscellaneous people also smoke.

TENSE FAMILY SCENES

Max and Dean are divorced not long after getting married due to her catching him fooling around with Page (he didn't know the two of them were working together to con him).

There's some occasional mother daughter tension between Max and Page, and we learn that Page's father apparently was never around.

A couple gets divorced just a short while after being married.

TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT

Max and Page's attempts at making money by conning the rich into falling for and marrying them, then setting them up to be caught with a temptress and then divorcing them for their money.

The belief/notion/fact that many men can be led astray or conned by sensuous, sexy, seductive and/or shapely women.

VIOLENCE

Most all of what's listed below is played for laughs rather than realism.

When the key won't work, Dean kicks open the door of his and Max's honeymoon suite.

When he finds one of his employees asleep in a chair that's partially tipped backwards, Dean pushes it over the rest of the way, sending the employee crashing to the floor.

We see an alligator nab a duck on the water (obviously not real, but meant to be).

Max purposefully trips/knocks down Page in a fancy hotel so that it looks like she slipped on some water on the floor (all to get a free room from the hotel).

Dean flings a framed photo into a wall.

Page pushes a man at a bar for falling for Max's attempt at getting him to buy her a drink (thus making Page lose a bet with her mom).

Page pours some sort of liquid on Tensy's cell phone that makes it smoke (and presumably destroys it).

An olive hits a man in the eye after it flies from Page's mouth when Jack performs the Heimlich maneuver on her. Mad at him for doing so, Page pushes Jack on the chest.

Page puts a tire-puncturing strip out onto the road to blow out Tensy's car tires (which it does, along with Jack's and her mother's). As a result, Jack's truck crashes into a tree. After Page pushes Jack down a hill to get him out of sight, Tensy's car crashes into Jack's truck (he's hit in the face by the airbag) and then Max's car crashes into Tensy's (causing him to be hit in the face by the side air bag).

To make him think he's had a head injury after the above auto accident, Max hits Tensy over the head with something, knocking him to the ground.

Page kicks open a bar door.

To make him think that he's still suffering from a head injury from an earlier crash, Max hits Tensy over the head with a golf club when he's not looking.

Tensy's housekeeper briefly comes at Max in a threatening fashion.

An already dead body falls over a balcony railing and flies several stories down until hitting the sidewalk below. When the body is put into a car, the trunk lid is closed onto the legs that are still sticking out.

Dean briefly holds his gun on Max and Page and then pins Max to the bed (after her learns of their con, but we then see that his gun is empty).

Page briefly fights with Max in their car as they drive down the road.

Upon spotting some fish while on a boat, Dean pulls out his gun and fires at them in the water.

Page throws a TV remote at Dean (we don't see the throwing, just it hitting the wall behind him). Moments later, she punches him in the face when mad at him.

Page briefly grabs Max by the throat in their car while driving when she learns of her mother's behavior.

Reviewed March 10, 2001 / Posted March 23, 2001

Other new and recent reviews include:

Privacy Statement and Terms of Use and Disclaimer
By entering this site you acknowledge to having read and agreed to the above conditions.

All Rights Reserved,
©1996-2022 Screen It, Inc.