LOVE THE HARD WAY Rating: Director: Peter Sehr Producers: Wolfram Tichy, Peter Sehr, Marie Noelle Writers: Marie Noelle, Peter Sehr, based on the novel by Wang Shuo Director of Photography: Guy Defaux Cast: Adrien Brody, Charlotte Ayanna, Jon Seda, August Diehl, Pam Grier Visit the IMDB page for full cast and crew

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Review by: Warren Curry
11/24/02

An incredibly tortured and self-indulgent examination of human beings' abilities to abuse each other and themselves, Love The Hard Way's only redeeming quality is the patented great performance of Adrien Brody. Peter Sehr's film, about the complicated and dangerous nature of love, beats its head against the wall and offers little insight into its subject. The film doesn't tap into any dark emotional truths, as much as it merely purports that exploring this sort of material is reason enough to justify the film's existence. Well, it's not and what results is a movie that feels twice the length of its 90-minute running time.

Opposites attract when Jack (Brody), a small time crook in a snakeskin jacket, meets Claire (Charlotte Ayanna), a straight-A student attending a prestigious New York City college. Jack, along with buddies Charlie (Jon Seda) and Jeff (August Diehl), make their collective living running a bookie operation and robbing money from tourists in a fake prostitution ring. Jack's also a promiscuous fellow and this doesn't bode well for Claire, who wants the two to have an exclusive relationship. As Claire starts to cling to Jack, he begins to emotionally torment her, and she responds by becoming increasingly more obsessed. A few ups and downs later, Claire sinks to full self-flagellation stage, even volunteering (against Jack's wishes) to take part in the prostitution scam.

Why Claire is attracted to Jack, and remains so after he stomps all over her feelings, is anybody's guess. Because we're not able to understand Claire's motivations, it's nearly impossible to connect with her character on even the slightest level. Since she's not sympathetic or interesting, the eventual outcome of her descent is almost irrelevant. Watching Claire's life go from bad to worse is just flatly boring, and listening to painfully on-the-nose dialogue like (when Jeff explains to Claire the reasons for her and Jack not hitting it off), "You may live in the same part of town, but your worlds are more different than Brazil and Alaska" is no treat either.

Brody's talent is able to shine through, and he makes the lowlife Jack somewhat charming (or at least usually amusing). Ayanna is not able to work the same magic with Claire (a tough task for anyone), although the actress does sport a pair of beautiful blue eyes. I'd like to see what she could do with a more fleshed out character. Pam Grier also pops up as a vice detective looking to bring down Brody's operation, which is neither good nor bad.

Love The Hard Way actually starts out promising, in a quirky indie-comedy sort of way, but gets steadily worse with every scene. Until now I don't think I've ever seen Brody in a film I didn't like (Hi, my name's Warren and I like Summer of Sam), so this movie serves as a clear reminder that no winning streak can last forever. For all the anguish Sehr generates in this film, it's too bad that the director didn't find a purpose for it.

(A Kino International release. Opens in New York on June 6, 2003 and in Los Angeles on June 13, 2003. Expands to more cities at later dates.)

(Screened at the 2002 AFI Film Festival)