Crimes of the Heart (1986)

100% of critics liked it
(14 reviews)
53% of users liked it
(2,572 ratings)

Adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Beth Henley (who also penned the screenplay), Crimes of the Heart stars three high-powered actresses as three high-strung sisters. Lenny (Diane Keaton), Meg (Jessica Lange) and Babe (Sissy Spacek) gather at Lenny's deep-South home for her birthday.… More Adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Beth Henley (who also penned the screenplay), Crimes of the Heart stars three high-powered actresses as three high-strung sisters. Lenny (Diane Keaton), Meg (Jessica Lange) and Babe (Sissy Spacek) gather at Lenny's deep-South home for her birthday. Lenny, the oldest, can't seem to sustain a relationship with a man. Meg is an aspiring actress who hasn't progressed beyond commercial voice overs. And Babe is released on bond from jail after shooting her senator husband. Add to this information the fact that the girls' mother killed herself in Lenny's house, and that when Meg offhandedly expresses the wish that grouchy grandfather Hurd Hatfield would slip into a coma, he does, whereupon the sisters, despite every effort to treat the situation with proper sobriety, burst into helpless laughter over her "psychic" powers. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 1 hr. 45 min.
Directed By: Bruce Beresford
Genres: Drama, Comedy

In Theaters: Dec 12, 1986 Wide
On DVD: Feb 3, 2004
Studio: De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG)

Critic Reviews

Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
Using eccentric personalities situated in seemingly ordinary locales, Beresford's comedy is still too theatrical to qualify as cinema, but it's well acted by Diane Keaton, Jessica Lange, and particularly Sissy Spacek, as three Chekhovian sisters.
Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall
superbly well acted
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice
Crimes of the Heart is a bittersweet comedy that is funny, inventive and affecting.
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Better than you might think with a real feel for the south.
James Sanford, Kalamazoo Gazette
Great work by all in a deliciously twisted comedy
Nell Minow, Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies
Okay, the Oscar-winning actresses chew the scenery, but if you can't do that in a movie about crackpot Southerners, when can you?
Robert Roten, Laramie Movie Scope
A wacky screwball dark southern comedy
Scott Weinberg, eFilmCritic.com
A gleaming adaptation that features three wonderful performances.

Read all 8 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

jay n

quirky in both a good and bad way
ashley h

I was really expecting alot more from this because I love the 3 stars,but it just wasn't quire there. There are some very funny parts and I enjoyed their interaction,but there needed to be more story.