Directed by: Taylor Hackford
Starring: Helen Mirren, Joe Pesci, Sergio Peris-Mencheta
If you’ll permit me to ramble for a moment, I want to say something: According to all awards shows and general critical reception and things like that, dramas like Love Ranch (well, maybe not this specific one) are the kinds of movies that people like watching the most. Why? I don’t get it, why would anybody really enjoy a film about everybody being miserable because of Real Life Things? I’m not saying I don’t like a few “classic” dramas, but I still think it’s a really weird trend.
Helen Mirren and Joe Pesci are an old married couple who run a bordello in Vegas in the 70’s, and their relationship has been bad for many years. Mirren starts dating an up-and-coming South American boxer whom Pesci pays the bills for in an effort to get back at him for his own extramarital affairs. However, she starts falling in love with this sweet latin fighter, and they run away together.
The movie was fine, I guess, if you’re into that kinda thing. The biggest impression I got from this film was that the actors were too good for the lines and direction they were getting, which both resembled soap opera-caliber. Yes, even Joe Pesci, who can be a decent actor if given a good role and a good director, I felt was better than this movie. And this was only like, three hours after seeing him in Lethal Weapon 4.
Films in Boxes 
Leave a comment