Heartbreakers (2001)

53% of critics liked it
(118 reviews)
51% of users liked it
(69,731 ratings)

After the little white lies of Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (1997), director David Mirkin focuses on scheming of a different sort in Heartbreakers. Sigourney Weaver and Jennifer Love Hewitt play Max and Page Conners, a mother and daughter who share everything with each other: relationship… More After the little white lies of Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (1997), director David Mirkin focuses on scheming of a different sort in Heartbreakers. Sigourney Weaver and Jennifer Love Hewitt play Max and Page Conners, a mother and daughter who share everything with each other: relationship advice, hair and makeup hints, and the money they win in costly divorce settlements with rich men. When the film opens, the Conners are putting the finishing touches on conning Dean (Ray Liotta), an auto-body shop owner. When the dust from that scam clears, Page announces she's ready to move away from her mother and set up shop on her own -- but in order to clear an outstanding debt, Max insists they bankrupt one more bachelor together. They settle upon phlegmatic Palm Springs widower William B. Tensy (Gene Hackman), a chain smoker with a heart of gold and a similarly bountiful bank account. Only two things stand in their way: Tensy's Teutonic caretaker Miss Madress (Nora Dunn) and beachfront bartender Jack (Jason Lee), a wry stargazer with whom Page becomes unexpectedly smitten. Heartbreakers is the third collaboration from writers Steven Mazur and Paul Guy, whose previous screwball comedy was 1997's international hit, Liar Liar. ~ Michael Hastings, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 2 hr. 3 min.
Directed By: David Mirkin
Written By: Robert Dunn, Paul Guay, Stephen Mazur
Genres: Comedy

In Theaters: Mar 23, 2001 Wide
On DVD: Oct 2, 2001
Studio: MGM

Critic Reviews

Joe Baltake, Sacramento Bee
All I can say is that I enjoyed it -- and that I'm ashamed to admit it.
(CNN.com) Paul Clinton, CNN.com
Great escapist fun.
Susan Wloszczyna, USA Today
Director David Mirkin, whose Romy and Michele's High School Reunion was similarly afflicted, never gets the timing right and allows the story to drag with little internal logic.
Edward Guthmann, San Francisco Chronicle
Unless you're a Hackman aficionado, there's no reason to bother with Heartbreakers.
Charles Taylor, Salon.com
Hits just the right note between naughty and raunchy.
Jan Stuart, Newsday
There are not enough Hefty bags in all The Home Depots to contain the trash generated by this vulgar burlesque.
Nell Minow, Common Sense Media
Not terrible, it just doesn't work very well.
Louise Keller, Urban Cinefile
A funny and utterly charming romantic comedy
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
The only contribution--and it's a dubious one--that Mirkin makes in his trifle of a comedy is to feminize the perennially male profession of con artists with a mother-daughter team, played by the regal Sigourney Weaver and sexy Jennifer Love Hewitt.
Jordan Hiller, Bangitout.com
We can be sure that the makers of this movie know what their product and her assets are and intend to exploit them to the utmost
Tom Grealis, RTE Interactive (Dublin, Ireland)
Perhaps the biggest surprise is Liotta, who turns in a hilarious turn as Dean, in a blatant send-up of his mobster screen persona.

Read all 11 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

♥Robyn

A mom and daughter team,(Signourney Weaver and Jennifer Love Hewitt), work together to con men into loving them, cheating on them and then paying them upon divorce.This has worked 13 times.... It works like this, Max seduces a lovestruck desperado, marries him and, with the aid of… More
A mom and daughter team,(Signourney Weaver and Jennifer Love Hewitt), work together to con men into loving them, cheating on them and then paying them upon divorce.This has worked 13 times.... It works like this, Max seduces a lovestruck desperado, marries him and, with the aid of Page as "the other woman," scams him for a huge divorce settlement. But the tables turn when they go after William Tensy (Gene Hackman), a rich man with a smokers hack, and Page becomes smitten with bartender Jack (Jason Lee).
Dean !

It's a bit like Dirty rotten scoundrels but this time it's the women who are the con artists. It's funny in places and has a tad more of an adult theme to it than DRS. A bit long at around 2 hours but at least that means the sexy Jennifer Love Hewitt is on the screen a… More
It's a bit like Dirty rotten scoundrels but this time it's the women who are the con artists. It's funny in places and has a tad more of an adult theme to it than DRS. A bit long at around 2 hours but at least that means the sexy Jennifer Love Hewitt is on the screen a bit longer. Overall quite light hearted and predictable but not too bad.
Film C

Good cast, and i funny and really funny in places! However the storyline is weak and the film drags at the end that it just gets boring!! Weaver and Hwitt team up as mother and daughter who are con artists and they go on one last con , that then leads to another con, however the… More
Good cast, and i funny and really funny in places! However the storyline is weak and the film drags at the end that it just gets boring!! Weaver and Hwitt team up as mother and daughter who are con artists and they go on one last con , that then leads to another con, however the last con doesnt go as smoothly as they would have liked and both make the biggest mistake of their con careers by ..falling in love! Its a cute romcom and funny but it is predictable and slighly boring so you may enjoy this movie you may not!!
Candy R

Female version of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Mother and daughter duo set out to con men for their money. Quite funny.
Dean M

A mother-and-daughter team runs a scam on a series of wealthy men: the mum marries them, the daughter seduces them, then they split Mum's divorce settlement. The script is only serviceable and the "surprise" twists are telegraphed way in advance, but the star power of… More
A mother-and-daughter team runs a scam on a series of wealthy men: the mum marries them, the daughter seduces them, then they split Mum's divorce settlement. The script is only serviceable and the "surprise" twists are telegraphed way in advance, but the star power of the cast puts the film over in style.
Curtis L

I think I saw this one...not very memorable.
Steve K

JLH has never been hotter then she was here. And it was legitimately funny on top of that. Great cast having a great time.
Kylie B

I caught this on TV by accident, and I'm glad I did.
danny d

fantastic. very funny. jason lee and jennifer love were good together. i liked it
Jason S

I like it. Funny and silly. Jason Lee is there too.
Leigh R

So wonderfully great.
Rico Z

A gem that was overlooked by most. Sigourney Weaver and Gene Hackman show off their comedic chops and Jennifer Love Hewitt is a lot better in this than she is in most of her other crap.
Kalel J

There are some flaws but the overall comedy and attractions by the actors here really block up those holes. And of course, Jennifer Love-Hewitt is looking as fine as ever.
Mouhannad S

You can say that everything works great in the movie. The story is interesting, the laughs are plenty and the acting is top notch. Sigourney Weaver and Jennifer Love Hewitt play mother and daughter who con rich men into marrying them, to divorce them soon after for a hefty divorce… More
You can say that everything works great in the movie. The story is interesting, the laughs are plenty and the acting is top notch. Sigourney Weaver and Jennifer Love Hewitt play mother and daughter who con rich men into marrying them, to divorce them soon after for a hefty divorce settlement. For their last con they go to Palm Strings, where they are faced with their biggest challenge ever. Gene Hackman is probably the funniest in the movie, playing a retired businessman fanatical with smoking. Ray Liotta is also extremely funny proving his unlimited talent in a role that is almost a parody of his mafia roles. Jason Lee is the weakest in the movie, not bad really, but rather uninteresting and not that funny.
Deb S

The seductive and intriguing story of two con women who happen to be mother and daughter (Max Conners played by an attractive Sigourney Weaver and her daughter Page, a very skimpily dressed Jennifer Love Hewitt) who swindle rich men out of their money by marrying them to the mother… More
The seductive and intriguing story of two con women who happen to be mother and daughter (Max Conners played by an attractive Sigourney Weaver and her daughter Page, a very skimpily dressed Jennifer Love Hewitt) who swindle rich men out of their money by marrying them to the mother and then letting them be seduced by the daughter in order to obtain a very profitable divorce. The two leads share a good on-screen chemistry, and they are complimented wonderfully by Ray Liotta and Gene Hackman. A complicating factor arises when Page falls in love with Jack, a handsome young barman (Jason Lee) and the intended object of one of her cons, much to the disgust of her mother who believes that the male sex exists solely for the purpose of being cheated. <a href="http://tinypic.com?ref=wi0nc2" target="_blank"><img src="http://i55.tinypic.com/wi0nc2.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a> <a href="http://tinypic.com?ref=rlvvdk" target="_blank"><img src="http://i53.tinypic.com/rlvvdk.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a>
Joseph E

I actually quite liked this movie. It was a Romantic-Comedy, like-no-other. It wasn't hilarious, but more of Utterly Romanticly and Histaricly Outrageous. Of course it isn't a Grand and Pitch Perfect Comedy, but Every Scene that is good and funny, are Hysterical and they… More
I actually quite liked this movie. It was a Romantic-Comedy, like-no-other. It wasn't hilarious, but more of Utterly Romanticly and Histaricly Outrageous. Of course it isn't a Grand and Pitch Perfect Comedy, but Every Scene that is good and funny, are Hysterical and they have an Uncanny, Humerous Knack to them. I Suprisingly give it "Three and a Half Stars out of Four". A Slight reccomendation with promises.
Andre T

Caper-romantic comedy film directed by David Mirkin. It stars Sigourney Weaver, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Ray Liotta, Jason Lee, and Gene Hackman. Weaver was nominated for a Golden Satellite Award for her performance in the film. The plot revolves around an elaborate con set up by a… More
Caper-romantic comedy film directed by David Mirkin. It stars Sigourney Weaver, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Ray Liotta, Jason Lee, and Gene Hackman. Weaver was nominated for a Golden Satellite Award for her performance in the film. The plot revolves around an elaborate con set up by a mother-daughter team to swindle wealthy men out of their money, and what happens during their "last" con together.Extreme hilarious and fun, this comedy is a total surprise for me.In some moments reminds me the Billy Wilder comedies.
Doctor S

Dark comedy with some bite but not enough bark. Hackman has fun in his slimy role but Jason Lee bland as a bartender who puts up with waaaaay too much from J.L. Hewitt. Notable: wrings the most chuckles from a statue's broken penis in movie history.
d j

It's a cute movie. Jennifer Love Hewitt is not a fabulous actress so it kind of pulls it down for me. Fun plot.
Sunil J

I really like the scene where Sigourney Weaver sings 'Back in the USSR.'