Love the Hard Way (2001)
Average Rating: 4.8/10
Reviews Counted: 43
Fresh: 12 | Rotten: 31
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 4.9/10
Critic Reviews: 21
Fresh: 6 | Rotten: 15
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 2,571
My Rating
Movie Info
This contemporary film noir is an international endeavor with key creative forces hailing from China, Germany, and the United States. It is based on the Chinese novel Yoban shi huoyan she hai shu (Fire and Ice) by subversive writer Wang Shuo, who has been called a "corruptor of youth" by critics in his native land. German screenwriter/director Peter Sehr fell in love with the novel and chose to adapt it as a film set in New York City. For Sehr, the location best represents a contrast of "people
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Cast
-
Adrien Brody
Jack Grace -
Charlotte Ayanna
Claire -
Jon Seda
Charlie -
August Diehl
Jeff -
Pam Grier
Linda Fox -
Francisco Lorite
Barry -
Joey Kern
Fitzgerald -
Michaela Conlin
Cara -
Katherine Moennig
Debbie -
Sara Klingebiel
Jill -
Ned Stresen-Reuter
Brian
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All Critics (47) | Top Critics (22) | Fresh (12) | Rotten (31) | DVD (1)
Feels like it was crafted by an outsider, with the cliche-filled dialogue reading like a rough translation.
Top CriticOne of those films where great acting and occasionally brilliant dialogue attempt to overcome an unbelievable plot and a cowardly Hollywood ending.
Brody pulls the juggling act off -- bringing to mind some riveting cinematic misfits before him, from Brando to McQueen to Pacino.
There must be some reason to worry over the fate of these people, but it's not in the movie.
Heartfelt but fatally overwrought romantic melodrama.
As character studies of Jack and Claire, it is daring and inventive, and worthy of comparison with the films of a French master of criminal psychology like Jean-Pierre Melville.
To say the love story was hard to believe, is putting it mildly--it was impossible to fathom.
The biggest flaw in Love the Hard Way is its total inability to coherently convey the passage of time.
Though the lanky, dreamy-eyed Brody shows range, he's got a dorky quality that's hard to dismiss -- his strutting his stuff sends eyes rolling.
Brody has offbeat charisma, but it's no match for the corny dialogue he's given here, not to mention the Wild at Heart snakeskin jacket he wears.
"Love the Hard Way" looks low budget and any box office will be made from those interested in seeing Brody in his post "Pianist" role...
so damn weird in refusing to go where one expects that it maintains interest - too bad it missed a chance at last minute redemption with a satisfying conclusion
It's a mostly clichéd story about a good girl who falls for a bad boy and believes that their love is strong enough to make him change his ways. When has that ever worked -- in real life or the movies?
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