LOVE THE HARD WAY (LtHW) and NOTHING TO LOSE would be an appropriate Adrien Brody double-feature because both had me muttering `Dumbass!' every time the protagonists acted like jerks. Don't blame Brody; he and the cast did their best with the material they had. LtHW was a shelved indie released to cash in on Brody's post-Oscar fame. Alas, this alleged romantic crime drama proves that some unreleased films should stay that way! Maybe something got lost in translation as German co-writer/director Peter Sehr and French co-writer Marie Noelle adapted a Chinese novel into a New York story with mostly American characters. Guess I should've sensed trouble when antihero Jack (Brody) wears a snakeskin jacket obviously intended to make him look cool; I couldn't help thinking, "Nicolas Cage called from the set of WILD AT HEART; he wants his jacket back!" Brody looks cute despite the "cool" touches, which at least help make the film watchable, as does LtHW's striking use of NYC locations like The Screening Room, where heroine Claire (Charlotte Ayanna) works part-time, and a former office building in the South Bronx that Jack and his partner-in-crime Charlie (Jon Seda) call home. Jack and Charlie's world brings to mind the grim-and-gritty quality of 1970s NYC-set thrillers (or maybe it's just the DVD's dingy print :-). The guys support themselves with thievery and con jobs. Their female confederates play hookers luring unsuspecting foreign businessmen in posh Manhattan hotels, only to have Jack and Charlie bust in, posing as cops willing to accept "bribes" from the eager-for-secrecy businessmen. These scams are LtHW's best bits, but then, I enjoy con games as long as they're only in movies! :-) However, Jack supposedly has a poet's soul beneath his streetwise demeanor, writing the Great American Pulp Fiction Novel in his spare time. He meets clean-cut Columbia University student Claire, and as the apparent opposites attract, the film turns schizoid. Despite his attraction to her, Jack realizes he and Claire are from different worlds -- but when he dumps her, angelic Claire becomes an "avenging angel" (her words) as she refuses to take no for an answer (Jack's told her all along what a scoundrel he is, so you'd think she'd have seen it coming -- especially after catching him in bed with one of the bogus "hookers"!), sending everyone involved on a downward spiral as I kept checking the clock to see how much longer this dreariness would go on. The actors are fine, but the script feels like a series of sample film noir scenes somebody wrote for film school, not a well-rounded story with any sense of internal logic. Though Brody's acting is terrific and he looks great (despite that jacket :-), the script and sluggish pacing defeats him, rendering Jack more obnoxious and smug than sexy and charismatic. Jack and Charlie are apparently supposed to be lovable rogues, but when Claire's ex and his Columbia U. pals start a fight with Jack and Charlie at a local night spot, I rooted for the collegians to mop the floor with them. (SPOILER ALERT...I cheered aloud when Detective Linda Fox finally catches the schemers red-handed and hauls 'em to the hoosegow for a 2-year stretch!...END SPOILER ALERT) As Claire, pretty Ayanna has a likable presence. She and Brody generate heat in their love scenes (which at least perk up the dour proceedings -- especially Brody's lean, sexy physique! Yum! :-), but screenwriters Sehr and Noelle seem unsure what she's supposed to be. Good-girl Claire is described as complex and multifaceted, but she merely comes off as erratic: first she's a jaded banterer, then a sweet, lovestruck babe-in-the-woods, then a possessive, self-destructive FATAL ATTRACTION type. Then sleazeball Jack suddenly shows a sensitive side as well as literary aspirations, schlepping around in a guilt-ridden, devastated daze as Claire shoehorns herself into the hooker/businessman scam, degrading herself in every way to teach Jack a lesson. Apart from the stupidity of degrading yourself instead of degrading the person who's done you wrong, if Sehr and Noelle wanted to make a movie about such a person, why didn't they foreshadow the characters' nutjob potential instead of having it happen out of nowhere? I felt like I was switching channels between several different glum, no-fun movies! Still, every so often there are amusing scenes taunting us with what LtHW might've been with better writing and directing; for example, Jack has a tape of traffic noises with which he fools people who call him on his cell phone wondering where he is. As a writer, I also enjoyed the scenes with Jack in his self-storage space writing his novel-in-progress. Pam Grier gives the film wit and style as Linda Fox, the undercover detective playing cat-and-mouse with Jack and Charlie. When Fox catches Jack with the faux-hookers' hotel room number, #1865, and tries to nail him with it, the guys cover up by pretending they're history buffs (Jack: "{1865 is} the year of Lee's surrender at Appomattox." Charlie: "It was a dark day for the Confederacy, ma'am."). Like Claire's loony behavior, this bit of daftness comes from nowhere, but at least it's funny and clever! Another atypically breezy scene: the playful "interview" between Jack and "future Nobel Prize winner" Claire. Too bad the fun's leeched from even that scene later on when we hear a tape of it under tragic circumstances; it's like LtHW hates to actually *entertain* its audience for long. The DVD cover screams "Academy Award Winner* Adrien Brody," with the asterisk meaning "*For Best Actor in 2002's THE PIANIST." I half-expected to see another asterisk next to the banner "'Two BIG Thumbs UP' -- Ebert & Roeper," since I can't imagine why they gave this depressing mess even one little thumb up, let alone 2 BIG Thumbs Up. To paraphrase Webb Wilder in HORROR HAYRIDE, I gave it a finger! :-)
45 Reviews
What I Did For "Love..." -- Watched This Bummer Flick, That's What!
dtb4 February 2004
Warning: Spoilers
Virgin Myth
RARubin21 March 2006
Pam Grier steals this film and she's only on screen for five minutes total. She's a whole lot of woman! Just kidding. I liked Love the Hard Way. Here is an attempt at a modern romantic myth, namely the American Virgin. Sure men want their love chick to be pure, to raise sons and daughters that are yours and yours alone, but Adrien Brody is a young thief in a porno world he did not make. After all, he's slept with 200 women. So in between hotel sleaze capers, he beds innocent Columbia biology genius with the big chest, Charlotte Avanna, and our Lothario gets more than he bargained for as his virgin becomes promiscuous in the cause of thievery. Naturally, our hero is stunned, angry, and confused.
Charlottes' revenge or strategy to get her man is pretty far fetched, but the director has created an atmosphere of slimy New York thieves on the make with a rap film score and big Cadillac's squealing tires amidst the riff raff, so we sort of believe the unbelievable. It's a nice try in the same vein as Tarentino's script, True Romance, but LTHW is grittier.
Charlottes' revenge or strategy to get her man is pretty far fetched, but the director has created an atmosphere of slimy New York thieves on the make with a rap film score and big Cadillac's squealing tires amidst the riff raff, so we sort of believe the unbelievable. It's a nice try in the same vein as Tarentino's script, True Romance, but LTHW is grittier.
Love the stupid way
=G=8 January 2004
"Love the Hard Way" tells of a penny ante crook who writes by day and runs an extortion scam by night (Brody) who falls in love with a college student (Ayanna). This meager premise is played out in all its meagerness by rote. She loathes herself for loving a crook and he loathes himself for being the crook that she loves, etc...blaa, blaa. This flick is doomed from the get go because he's a scumbag and she's a moron for giving him a tumble making it difficult to care for either of the pair of protags. In addition the film suffers from obvious low budgetness and, on the DVD I watched, it has projectionist signals, mediocre video quality, and no CC's or subtitles. A passable, forgettable loser. (C)
A bit more than a footnote to The Pianist, but only just
Chris Knipp29 November 2003
It's fun to watch the now famous Adrien Brody interact with the warm and pretty Charlotte Ayanna, the great Jon Seda of Homicide, and that Tarantino-revived 70's icon Pam Grier. Love the Hard Way has a more than decent cast that works well together: Brody has good chemistry with both Ayanna and Seda, and the New York of the movie has good chemistry too: it's real and beautiful without being obtrusive. The German director and the French cinematographer may be why the town has such a fresh look in this movie.
The clothes, however, are obtrusively bad -- it's lucky Brody has a model's body and Seda is hunky, or those duds would make us laugh them off the screen.
The German director's adaptation of a Chinese novel translated to New York may be a bit secondhand. Nonetheless it's not uninteresting to have a pimp/extortionist who's also a budding writer: the film and the actor are intelligent enough to make us entertain the possibility of the two people in one body.
But despite various points of interest, none of it quite works.
I wasn't convinced that any of this stuff was real--the emotional collapse of the petty criminal, the descent into prostitution of the brilliant med student, or their miraculous coming together two years later after prison and a botched suicide.
The trouble with the attempt to establish a hard-edged milieu is that what Brody and Seda's characters are doing doesn't seem ugly enough: the bedroom scams are too pat, and too independent of the outside big city world of crime. The big bachelor pad isn't mean and sleazy enough either; nothing is: I can't quite believe in Brody as a bad guy. The early scenes where Brody and Ayanna are wooing each other start him off not looking hard at all; in fact he just seems like a nice cocky young Jewish boy who's full of himself and bursting with joie de vivre. He could easily be a college student just playing tough and low-life to seem sexy to a studious, well brought up girl. His pimp clothes and pimp manner don't fit him right and just seem put on to strike a pose.
You keep watching your DVD for the acting job Brody, Ayalla and Seda do. As in 21 Grams, they manage to produce many powerful emotional moments even if it doesn't all meld together into a story. The incoherence is signaled by the confused ending. This is a bit more than merely an obscure footnote to The Pianist, but only just.
The clothes, however, are obtrusively bad -- it's lucky Brody has a model's body and Seda is hunky, or those duds would make us laugh them off the screen.
The German director's adaptation of a Chinese novel translated to New York may be a bit secondhand. Nonetheless it's not uninteresting to have a pimp/extortionist who's also a budding writer: the film and the actor are intelligent enough to make us entertain the possibility of the two people in one body.
But despite various points of interest, none of it quite works.
I wasn't convinced that any of this stuff was real--the emotional collapse of the petty criminal, the descent into prostitution of the brilliant med student, or their miraculous coming together two years later after prison and a botched suicide.
The trouble with the attempt to establish a hard-edged milieu is that what Brody and Seda's characters are doing doesn't seem ugly enough: the bedroom scams are too pat, and too independent of the outside big city world of crime. The big bachelor pad isn't mean and sleazy enough either; nothing is: I can't quite believe in Brody as a bad guy. The early scenes where Brody and Ayanna are wooing each other start him off not looking hard at all; in fact he just seems like a nice cocky young Jewish boy who's full of himself and bursting with joie de vivre. He could easily be a college student just playing tough and low-life to seem sexy to a studious, well brought up girl. His pimp clothes and pimp manner don't fit him right and just seem put on to strike a pose.
You keep watching your DVD for the acting job Brody, Ayalla and Seda do. As in 21 Grams, they manage to produce many powerful emotional moments even if it doesn't all meld together into a story. The incoherence is signaled by the confused ending. This is a bit more than merely an obscure footnote to The Pianist, but only just.
Con-man with a Soft Center
tigerfish508 April 2010
Adrien Brody plays a hard-boiled con-man called Jack who arranges assignations with call-girls for Japanese businessmen - and then poses as a vice cop to extract bribes. Pam Grier is an equally hard-boiled NYC detective determined to end his shake-down business. Jack's life gets complicated when he hooks up with a beautiful student who dismantles his tough exterior to reveal a sensitive soul dreaming of being a writer. After Jack resists the girl's efforts to reform him and rejects her, she decides on a dangerous strategy to win him back.
In different hands 'Love The Hard Way' would be a mess, but writer/director Peter Sehr gives the story an original slant while Brody and Charlotte Ayanna are convincing as the troubled pair trying to resolve their issues. Like the movie itself, they walk a tightrope between sentimentality and realism, and it turns out to be an intriguing journey.
In different hands 'Love The Hard Way' would be a mess, but writer/director Peter Sehr gives the story an original slant while Brody and Charlotte Ayanna are convincing as the troubled pair trying to resolve their issues. Like the movie itself, they walk a tightrope between sentimentality and realism, and it turns out to be an intriguing journey.
Love the Hard Way review
JoeytheBrit9 May 2020
Absorbing enough drama of doomed love that fails to provides its two protagonists with any kind of emotional consistency, and too often leaves us wondering just why they do the things they do. Brody plays a small-time hustler who's secretly writing a novel in a storage container while Ayanna is the straight-A biology student who falls under his improbable spell. A better writer might have had us believing, but not writer/director Peter Sehr.
Preposterous
pinmonk-it4 February 2006
Warning: Spoilers
I'm not going to finish watching this movie. I just can't buy much of anything about this movie. Everything from the lead actresses fake breasts to the improbable con jobs they run is just completely, literally unbelievable in any sense.
Brody doesn't seem like a criminal - definitely not a rough, intimidating one - and it is difficult to see what about him would lure the girl out of her college world. It's even more difficult to see how she could go from someone who is sweet, sharp-witted, and presumably of near-genius IQ given her position in school, to someone suicidally stupid enough to serially risk getting murdered or contracting AIDS... especially since this transformation seemed to happen all in the one scene where she sees what she must have suspected was happening anyway: Brody in bed with another girl. I could go on picking it apart, but it isn't worth the time.
Movies like this really aggravate me because it is obvious that a lot of talented people were involved, but the writers/producers have produced little more than a stylish insult to human intelligence. I get the feeling that what we are dealing with here is people coming from a cushy film-geek background aspiring to be hipsters, as opposed to people with something to say and/or a basis in real experience.
Brody doesn't seem like a criminal - definitely not a rough, intimidating one - and it is difficult to see what about him would lure the girl out of her college world. It's even more difficult to see how she could go from someone who is sweet, sharp-witted, and presumably of near-genius IQ given her position in school, to someone suicidally stupid enough to serially risk getting murdered or contracting AIDS... especially since this transformation seemed to happen all in the one scene where she sees what she must have suspected was happening anyway: Brody in bed with another girl. I could go on picking it apart, but it isn't worth the time.
Movies like this really aggravate me because it is obvious that a lot of talented people were involved, but the writers/producers have produced little more than a stylish insult to human intelligence. I get the feeling that what we are dealing with here is people coming from a cushy film-geek background aspiring to be hipsters, as opposed to people with something to say and/or a basis in real experience.
WOW
Utoepeea19 June 2003
Wow I cannot believe there is only one other comment for this movie. I have to agree about this movie staying with you. For almost two hours I was completely involved with two people I will never really know, yet for some reason it has changed me in some strange way. I watched the movie and like the others in the theater had the same rollercoster ride of feelings, but it was not until after I left the theater that I had an abundance of emotions come over me. The acting was amazing all the way around, story was an A+. I work hard for the money I make and for the high price I paid for admission, it was all worth it for this great creative process! I suggest that everyone support their local small theater when this film comes around to your town!!
just OK
kenpeterson24 January 2005
I'll believe that someone can get bit by a special poisonous spider and gain super powers before I'll believe that someone that looks like Charlotte Ayanna (and supposedly is a science student) would have ANYTHING to do with someone who looks and acts like Brody's character or would start to turn tricks for less than $10,000 per night. The acting is OK, and it is shot well, but the premise is a bit far-fetched. Brody isn't physically imposing enough to carry the role, and Ayanna is FAR too good looking. She would be at Columbia a month before she hooked up with the NYC jet set and, as for him...I mean...who does he intimidate acting like a thug? He's about 140 pounds soaking wet holding a brick...looks convincing as a starving war refugee, not as a tough-guy. Would have been better if Seda and Brody had switched roles. Pam Grier seems to just be going through the motions. The story is interesting, aside from the miscasting, but thoroughly unbelievable. Rent Mean Streets or Pope of Greenwich Village if you want a slice of the New York underworld that's a bit more palatable and easier to stomach.
sigh...
gunstreetgrrrl1 August 2003
Adrien Brody, will you marry me?
Proposals aside, once again, Brody proves why he deserved his Oscar (and that kiss from Halle Berry). He gives a beautiful, touching performance here as a charming, rakish, snakeskin-jacket-wearing con artist who falls in love with a girl from the right side of the tracks. Jack Grace is no ordinary sleazeball, though. He keeps a secret storage unit seperate from the apartment he shares with his partner-in-crime Charlie (Jon Seda), where he keeps first editions of classic novels (he has a penchant for Melville) and works on his own novel. In other words, he's exactly the kind of bad boy that would attract intellectual Claire (Charlotte Ayanna), a beautiful, unstable biology major at Columbia. Claire tells him she likes movies best that make her cry, and he does his best to oblige her, ultimately sending her on a self-destructive bender that makes him look like a good boy.
Brody carries this film, and the lovely Charlotte Ayanna is unfortunately not given nearly as much to work with. She spends most of her time alternating between trying to change him (we all know how well that works), and having hysterics, and then finally goes on to attempt to prove that she can exist in his world and take the kinds of risks that he gets off on. The romance between the two is not well-developed at the beginning, either, so though we see plenty in him that makes us believe she loves him, we don't see what has gone on between them. Brody, however, makes up the slack in the script with every shot of his wonderfully expressive eyes. He is the walking, talking answer to the question, "Why do good girls like bad boys?"
Unfortunately, this film only had a limited engagement at the Starz Film Center, and as far as I know, does not have any wider distribution. This is a shame, particularly after Brody's Oscar win this year, and I hope that this will change and that more people will get to see this movie and see one of the most talented actors of his generation in action.
Proposals aside, once again, Brody proves why he deserved his Oscar (and that kiss from Halle Berry). He gives a beautiful, touching performance here as a charming, rakish, snakeskin-jacket-wearing con artist who falls in love with a girl from the right side of the tracks. Jack Grace is no ordinary sleazeball, though. He keeps a secret storage unit seperate from the apartment he shares with his partner-in-crime Charlie (Jon Seda), where he keeps first editions of classic novels (he has a penchant for Melville) and works on his own novel. In other words, he's exactly the kind of bad boy that would attract intellectual Claire (Charlotte Ayanna), a beautiful, unstable biology major at Columbia. Claire tells him she likes movies best that make her cry, and he does his best to oblige her, ultimately sending her on a self-destructive bender that makes him look like a good boy.
Brody carries this film, and the lovely Charlotte Ayanna is unfortunately not given nearly as much to work with. She spends most of her time alternating between trying to change him (we all know how well that works), and having hysterics, and then finally goes on to attempt to prove that she can exist in his world and take the kinds of risks that he gets off on. The romance between the two is not well-developed at the beginning, either, so though we see plenty in him that makes us believe she loves him, we don't see what has gone on between them. Brody, however, makes up the slack in the script with every shot of his wonderfully expressive eyes. He is the walking, talking answer to the question, "Why do good girls like bad boys?"
Unfortunately, this film only had a limited engagement at the Starz Film Center, and as far as I know, does not have any wider distribution. This is a shame, particularly after Brody's Oscar win this year, and I hope that this will change and that more people will get to see this movie and see one of the most talented actors of his generation in action.
Yuck, I Hated This Movie
chicagopoetry18 June 2011
Warning: Spoilers
I can't believe Ebert and Roeper gave this two BIG thumbs up, the only reason I bothered to watch it in the first place. I couldn't stand Love The Hard Way. It made absolutely no sense. There was no chemistry between the Adrien Brody and Charlotte Ayanna, despite two scenes during which she sticks her naked breasts into the camera, making this a horrible romance, and it was also an idiot crime thriller as well. The relationship between the two main characters had no motivation. The characters (most of whom just disappear after a while as if they were never important in the first place) never really get developed, and I'm talking even the main ones despite nearly two hours concentrating on them. Pam Grier floats around as sluggish as ever in a miscast role as a policewoman hot on their trail, I guess, I suppose, I really don't know actually. First Claire likes Jack and he just uses her, then she starts prostituting herself nearly to death and suddenly he cares, then he doesn't show up one night so she slits her wrists and we think she's dead, then two years later he gets out of jail and comes back to the same apartment, condo, squatter's crash palace or whatever the hell is still there waiting for him, and they get back together. WTF? Who cares? I actually stopped watching this about two thirds through because I was so bored but then finished it the next day just out of curiosity only to my disappointment. Blah!
It happens every day
chandra331406 September 2004
I don't understand why this movie has been so reviled by critics and IMDb users. The obsession and descent into darkness of the nice girl Claire, depicted by Charlotte Ayanna without any annoying mannerisms, are so realistic they made me ache. Stories like hers are very common, although not everybody goes to such extremes. Adrien Brody is an excellent actor and gives an interesting performance, but I find him miscast: he doesn't really exude a life of crime out of every pore. The script doesn't actually explain how Jack Grace became the way he is. The sketchy details about his background he provides Claire could be a figment of his overactive imagination. So all we can do is watch Claire sink lower and lower, but eventually redeem herself. And is Jack 'cured' after two year in jail and a close call? Probably not.
student to hooker...I get that....hooker to scientist....I don't
daniel-j-doughty20 February 2005
Warning: Spoilers
I watched the film to it's semi-awful end and I have to say that it just wasn't worth it. I liked the initial characters. I enjoyed the flirtation of the bad boy and the good girl. I even enjoyed the initial back and forth of I love you-Who are you again-I love you. But when we got to the Claire is a bloody whore part of the film I just fell a bit a apart.
Not to mention there are glaring holes in the logic of the film. Just because two guys are friends doesn't mean they'll get assigned to the same kitchen in prison. I mean with persuasion and some chance it might happen, but what happened to their dumbass third guy who pimped Claire out the first time? OK, and here is my finally bit of criticism. I, unlike others, have no problem seeing a good student fall from the pedestal. I personally would have expected drugs to be a part of the fall, but no matter the cause I'm not stunned to watch such a fall. I am however, AMAZED, to watch her be a serious scientist 2 years later. And in fact, to be screwing guys without condoms in NYC for several months before her beau was bagged? All I can say is AIDS AIDS AIDS. When they fast-forwarded two years forward I expected him to show up at her funeral plot, not to meet the successful scientist doing well without him.
Decent acting. Decent plot. BIG PLOT HOLES.
Not to mention there are glaring holes in the logic of the film. Just because two guys are friends doesn't mean they'll get assigned to the same kitchen in prison. I mean with persuasion and some chance it might happen, but what happened to their dumbass third guy who pimped Claire out the first time? OK, and here is my finally bit of criticism. I, unlike others, have no problem seeing a good student fall from the pedestal. I personally would have expected drugs to be a part of the fall, but no matter the cause I'm not stunned to watch such a fall. I am however, AMAZED, to watch her be a serious scientist 2 years later. And in fact, to be screwing guys without condoms in NYC for several months before her beau was bagged? All I can say is AIDS AIDS AIDS. When they fast-forwarded two years forward I expected him to show up at her funeral plot, not to meet the successful scientist doing well without him.
Decent acting. Decent plot. BIG PLOT HOLES.
Love Hurts
styx0r8 August 2005
This movie is not a high dollar production. It doesn't need to be. This movie is emotional, intellectual, heart-wrenching and sadly beautiful. I experienced a similar overall feeling from watching "Gia" - a movie about supermodels and the pitfalls of modeling (That happens to be Angelina Jolie's best film - unlike her others, and worth watching.) What Love the Hard Way has, that other films don't, are characters who you really connect with. Not because you share things in common with them, but because they are multi-faceted beings with enough background story to deeply invest the viewer in their fate.
This review/comment isn't going like I had planned. I think the IMDb rating of this film is far too low, and I think those people who gave it a low score were either not paying attention, or not allowing themselves to do so.
Which isn't surprising, because this film is hard to watch at times. Not because it's dull or poorly constructed, but because you don't want to feel the pain.
Watch it. The Ying and Yang are in full blossom here.
This review/comment isn't going like I had planned. I think the IMDb rating of this film is far too low, and I think those people who gave it a low score were either not paying attention, or not allowing themselves to do so.
Which isn't surprising, because this film is hard to watch at times. Not because it's dull or poorly constructed, but because you don't want to feel the pain.
Watch it. The Ying and Yang are in full blossom here.
overrated fake indie
romannoir1 October 2022
Tries to be slick, tries to be Indie, tries to be novel, but it's really just gratuitous sexual situations and male fantasies of what it means to be authentic and have street cred. What happened to their careers? I feel bad for Charlotte Ayanna who seemed to be exploited for her looks for the film. Not much to say on this wannabe "urban" self-serving male flic. This movie hasn't aged well, and hopefully degrading young women through sex is less accepted today. I don't recommend this and can hardly imagine people seeking out Adrian Brody. Give yourself a pass on this, especially if you're a woman. And if you know a male who likes this character and film, run! It's boring in addition to gratuitous.
A Beautifully Realistic Love Story
Hemily11 May 2004
This is a must for every Adrien Brody fan out there. Despite the dismal reviews this little known movie received, this movie is a true gem. Set in New York, Adrien plays Jack, a streetsmart con man who with his partner,Charlie, played by John Seda, rip off foreign businessman. Their actress friends pretend to be hookers, and seduce the businessmen, then Jack and Charlie break in dressed as policemen and make a fake arrest. In private, Jack is hard at work writing a novel, and frequently visits a run down movie theater where he meets Claire, played by Charlotte Ayanna. Claire is a "good girl" graduate student who eagerly ignores warnings not to date Jack. Jack is drawn to her innocence, while she is drawn to his charms and cleverness. Their first date begins with a pleasent little dinner and ends with a night of steamy sex in Jack's bed. From here the relationship becomes doomed. As the police slowly close in on Jack and Charlie, Jack does everything possible to end the relationship with Claire, it is at this point that they both begin to self-distruct. Their self-distruction leads them down a path that becomes a serious dose of reality for Claire and Jack. It's a story of love, jealousy, sex, betrayal, crime, suicide, it's a realistic love story and a lesson of everything that should not happen in a relationship.
Adrien Brody is outstanding in this one, and Charlotte Ayanna is also good. This is truely one of Adrien's best.
Adrien Brody is outstanding in this one, and Charlotte Ayanna is also good. This is truely one of Adrien's best.
Hardly loved it but I didn't hate it either
Seth_Rogue_One19 November 2015
I don't really understand the reviews praising it to the skies, not terrible but no one can say that it wasn't without it's flaws for sure.
The feeling in terms of look and acting is more or less of a 90's TV movie, the actual movie dabbles with a lot more psychologically darker elements though in the second half but I feel that it merely scratches the surface of that and doesn't really go down to the core of the issue and it just doesn't feel like a natural progress.
I can't really go into details without spoiling it but let's just say that you can't really complain about lack of character development because of that there's plenty, it just doesn't feel like it was handled in a realistic way the changes are pretty instantaneous.
Anyway, the movie also comes with a hip hop soundtrack which isn't all bad and nothing really screams hip hop like Adrien Brody with a ton of hair-gel making his hair stand in all directions and a snakeskin suit-jacket.
Or wait maybe it does, maybe Jon Seda in a Charlie Chaplin suit with a hat to match does?
Jokes aside, that is actual clothes that the characters wear casually in the movie and in the bonusmaterial Jon Seda says that the director (who's German) helped picking out the wardrobe and I'm thinking maybe that wasn't the best idea cause it gets distracting at times, they are supposed to be to guys from the hood (hence the hiphop soundtrack) and even though Seda manages to convey that regardless of what he's wearing Brody could have done with some Rocawear or something to make it seem legit.
Overall it does have some interesting turns for a romance but it doesn't quite hit it's mark... 5.4/10, very close to a 5.5/10 which would sway me into rounding it up to a 6 but like they say close but no cigar.
The feeling in terms of look and acting is more or less of a 90's TV movie, the actual movie dabbles with a lot more psychologically darker elements though in the second half but I feel that it merely scratches the surface of that and doesn't really go down to the core of the issue and it just doesn't feel like a natural progress.
I can't really go into details without spoiling it but let's just say that you can't really complain about lack of character development because of that there's plenty, it just doesn't feel like it was handled in a realistic way the changes are pretty instantaneous.
Anyway, the movie also comes with a hip hop soundtrack which isn't all bad and nothing really screams hip hop like Adrien Brody with a ton of hair-gel making his hair stand in all directions and a snakeskin suit-jacket.
Or wait maybe it does, maybe Jon Seda in a Charlie Chaplin suit with a hat to match does?
Jokes aside, that is actual clothes that the characters wear casually in the movie and in the bonusmaterial Jon Seda says that the director (who's German) helped picking out the wardrobe and I'm thinking maybe that wasn't the best idea cause it gets distracting at times, they are supposed to be to guys from the hood (hence the hiphop soundtrack) and even though Seda manages to convey that regardless of what he's wearing Brody could have done with some Rocawear or something to make it seem legit.
Overall it does have some interesting turns for a romance but it doesn't quite hit it's mark... 5.4/10, very close to a 5.5/10 which would sway me into rounding it up to a 6 but like they say close but no cigar.
Bad boy Jack meets good girl Claire--Can it work?
astanford-126 July 2006
This well-acted, twisted, bittersweet story was a pleasant surprise. After admiring Adrien Brody's haunted portrayal of the pianist trapped in Nazi Germany, I wondered if he could really be that good of an actor, maybe it was just the genius of Polanski's direction. This role proved his talent is real for me. It is a contemporary tale about a hustler who secretly longs to be an author who becomes attracted to a comely coed who is studying to become a scientist. They couldn't be more different, yet they form a connection that changes their lives forever. The actress who plays Claire has beautiful sky-blue eyes and a nubile body as brilliant as her mind. Jack is not prepared for a woman like her. His friends are his partners in crime but he is the boss, he has all the answers, until he meets his match in a vice detective played by the always great Pam Grier. What will the future hold for him? Rent this movie and see. You won't be sorry.
Love is a four-letter word...
gunstreetgrrrl1 August 2003
Adrien Brody, will you marry me??
Ok, proposals aside, I think I'll be thinking about this movie for a while. Adrien Brody is fabulous, and I can't understand why this film hasn't been picked up for wider distribution post-Oscar. As a slick New York con artist who falls for a college girl, he is the answer to the question, "Why do all girls like bad boys?" I think I've lived this story--not quite to the depths that Claire sinks to, but certainly felt like that before. The weak points of the film are that the beginning of their romance is glossed over...we see them meet twice, and suddenly she's in love and won't leave him alone? Also, Brody is fabulous, wonderful, and his character is developed to the point where we understand why she'd be in love with him, but she is rather one-dimensional. Still, I wish I'd caught this movie before the end of its far-too-short run at my local theater, and I encourage anyone who has the chance to go see it to see it.
Ok, proposals aside, I think I'll be thinking about this movie for a while. Adrien Brody is fabulous, and I can't understand why this film hasn't been picked up for wider distribution post-Oscar. As a slick New York con artist who falls for a college girl, he is the answer to the question, "Why do all girls like bad boys?" I think I've lived this story--not quite to the depths that Claire sinks to, but certainly felt like that before. The weak points of the film are that the beginning of their romance is glossed over...we see them meet twice, and suddenly she's in love and won't leave him alone? Also, Brody is fabulous, wonderful, and his character is developed to the point where we understand why she'd be in love with him, but she is rather one-dimensional. Still, I wish I'd caught this movie before the end of its far-too-short run at my local theater, and I encourage anyone who has the chance to go see it to see it.
In real life...
jpschapira17 March 2005
"Love the Hard Way" is nothing more than what the title explains. Of course, there's a whole story and a lot of events, situations, well written characters, very good performances...Peter Sehr has created his own world, and set it in real life. The movies I like the most are the ones that show real people. I always say that reality causes emotion. We don't want to see anything fake. Well, many people cry in movies because the plot is manipulated for them to do so, and they just cry. In movies that come close to reality, we cry because we know the things can happen or because we identify with them. It's not something we don't know.
Adrien Brody plays Jack, a thief. He wakes up every day, probably with a girl beside him in the bed, and wears the same jacket, just to go out for a walk, for a movie, or for a heist He has two friends (Charlie and Jeff), or colleagues, and knows two women (Sue and Debbie). The five of them created a plan, and periodically carry on with it, and succeed. These types of persons really exist. They are lost in their lives and are always looking for a way to find themselves again. Is amazing that Jack kind of hides a passion he has for writing. He "hides" inside a room he has, and starts to write about the things he deals with everyday.
When Jack meets Claire (Charlotte Ayanna) he doesn't know how to act. She's very intelligent, looks at him, and says: "You're trying to get some attention". He instantly leaves but they meet again in the University, where Jack and Charlie do some work. Claire has a boyfriend, Fitzgerald (Joey Kern), and a girlfriend, Pamela. The two girls are going to meet the boyfriend at a scientific presentation. This great scene, shows Jack and Charlie following them, and ruining things every time they try to impress the girls. They are a little ignorant (in another scene, when a detective asks Charlie what his work is, he says: "African American literature, until 1950"; he knows that doesn't exist, probably), however charming enough to arrange a meeting (I'm talking about Jack and Claire here) at a station. Jack goes there, he invited Claire, and doesn't know if she's going to come. I forgot to say, he has never met anyone like her. He's used to all these "one night stands", and never thought he would be meeting her, because she went to the meeting.
That same day they both have dinner and talk for a while. She's trapped by him, because she has never met anyone like him. She tries not to stare at him. He tells her, as they're going to his apartment: "You're in love with me". She answers: "No I'm not; I have a boyfriend". "You're not now", he replies. "But you will be". They both have sex that night, in a beautifully shot scene, with anticipations that seem to be coming from someone's mind. What happens next is part of their daily lives. It can be good, it can be bad; and that is the best about it. "I have a lot of personal experience". He explains that everything is like a box, and is always the same, so I know what I'll probably find in it". "And what about this box?", Claire says, referring to herself. "Do you already know what's inside or you want to open it and take a look?"
This movie is wonderfully directed, edited, and of course, written. You get involved in it, you want to see life. The score is amazing, and the team made an excellent work in finding every different song, with its style and lyric, just to explain each scene of the movie. Every frame is connected in every possible way.
We shouldn't forget the actors. They all do a good job. Some are important, some are just there; but they have to be.
I don't consider Adrien Brody a great actor. I think he knows how to choose a role, and that he chooses it because he wants to play it. That's good enough. Now I'm going to praise his performance in this film, and don't hate me for the things I'm about to say. He voices Jack with a humanity that makes him unique. He looks at people with a simplicity that makes Jack a real being. He walks with steps that define a performance. He won an Oscar, for "The Pianist", a movie I didn't find a masterpiece (as many say). Maybe it's because of the Holocaust, which has been used over and over for movies. Roman Polanski is a fine director, and in my opinion, he directed a fine movie. Going back to Brody, hate me now, but he probably deserved that award, although his performance in "The Pianist" isn't as good as his Jack in "Love the Hard Way". I just found all the elements, and the ones that make him shine; in this performance.
His manners and movements are part of the body language that wraps this wonderful portrayal. His character made me think about Mark Ruffalo's (an excellent actor) Coles, in the also real and compelling "XX/XY". The kind of character that doesn't know his feelings, because he doesn't feel anything at all. "I can't love anyone", Jack says to Claire, looking directly into her eyes.
Adrien Brody plays Jack, a thief. He wakes up every day, probably with a girl beside him in the bed, and wears the same jacket, just to go out for a walk, for a movie, or for a heist He has two friends (Charlie and Jeff), or colleagues, and knows two women (Sue and Debbie). The five of them created a plan, and periodically carry on with it, and succeed. These types of persons really exist. They are lost in their lives and are always looking for a way to find themselves again. Is amazing that Jack kind of hides a passion he has for writing. He "hides" inside a room he has, and starts to write about the things he deals with everyday.
When Jack meets Claire (Charlotte Ayanna) he doesn't know how to act. She's very intelligent, looks at him, and says: "You're trying to get some attention". He instantly leaves but they meet again in the University, where Jack and Charlie do some work. Claire has a boyfriend, Fitzgerald (Joey Kern), and a girlfriend, Pamela. The two girls are going to meet the boyfriend at a scientific presentation. This great scene, shows Jack and Charlie following them, and ruining things every time they try to impress the girls. They are a little ignorant (in another scene, when a detective asks Charlie what his work is, he says: "African American literature, until 1950"; he knows that doesn't exist, probably), however charming enough to arrange a meeting (I'm talking about Jack and Claire here) at a station. Jack goes there, he invited Claire, and doesn't know if she's going to come. I forgot to say, he has never met anyone like her. He's used to all these "one night stands", and never thought he would be meeting her, because she went to the meeting.
That same day they both have dinner and talk for a while. She's trapped by him, because she has never met anyone like him. She tries not to stare at him. He tells her, as they're going to his apartment: "You're in love with me". She answers: "No I'm not; I have a boyfriend". "You're not now", he replies. "But you will be". They both have sex that night, in a beautifully shot scene, with anticipations that seem to be coming from someone's mind. What happens next is part of their daily lives. It can be good, it can be bad; and that is the best about it. "I have a lot of personal experience". He explains that everything is like a box, and is always the same, so I know what I'll probably find in it". "And what about this box?", Claire says, referring to herself. "Do you already know what's inside or you want to open it and take a look?"
This movie is wonderfully directed, edited, and of course, written. You get involved in it, you want to see life. The score is amazing, and the team made an excellent work in finding every different song, with its style and lyric, just to explain each scene of the movie. Every frame is connected in every possible way.
We shouldn't forget the actors. They all do a good job. Some are important, some are just there; but they have to be.
I don't consider Adrien Brody a great actor. I think he knows how to choose a role, and that he chooses it because he wants to play it. That's good enough. Now I'm going to praise his performance in this film, and don't hate me for the things I'm about to say. He voices Jack with a humanity that makes him unique. He looks at people with a simplicity that makes Jack a real being. He walks with steps that define a performance. He won an Oscar, for "The Pianist", a movie I didn't find a masterpiece (as many say). Maybe it's because of the Holocaust, which has been used over and over for movies. Roman Polanski is a fine director, and in my opinion, he directed a fine movie. Going back to Brody, hate me now, but he probably deserved that award, although his performance in "The Pianist" isn't as good as his Jack in "Love the Hard Way". I just found all the elements, and the ones that make him shine; in this performance.
His manners and movements are part of the body language that wraps this wonderful portrayal. His character made me think about Mark Ruffalo's (an excellent actor) Coles, in the also real and compelling "XX/XY". The kind of character that doesn't know his feelings, because he doesn't feel anything at all. "I can't love anyone", Jack says to Claire, looking directly into her eyes.
best movie ever!!
ilovekillhannah15 June 2005
this is my all time favorite movie..... i don't know why it didn't get very popular
and don't care i love this movie....Adrien Brody is soo incredibly hott in this movie and it is just
awesome no other words can describe it....my friends
Roxy, Dustin, and Mike all agree that it is the best
movie ever...and if anyone wants to borrow it i say i lost it cause i am not suppose to share it and i don't want too....it is the best movie in the world and i don't care what anyone says and i hate people who put down MY movie!!!!
and don't care i love this movie....Adrien Brody is soo incredibly hott in this movie and it is just
awesome no other words can describe it....my friends
Roxy, Dustin, and Mike all agree that it is the best
movie ever...and if anyone wants to borrow it i say i lost it cause i am not suppose to share it and i don't want too....it is the best movie in the world and i don't care what anyone says and i hate people who put down MY movie!!!!
best movie
mllelucille12 April 2006
This is the best movie I've ever seen. It's so bittersweet.
The feel of it was real, I could really imagine it as real life. Brody didn't act like a fake punk.
It's so sad because stuff like this does happen all the time.
And it's the best movie, I can't stress that enough.
It has great acting, even in parts with no lines, the pain or happiness is real. Adrien Brody is a fantastic actor.
This is a better movie than Sideways or Closer or any other relationship melodrama.
That's personal opinion.
But i suggest all go out and see it, you won't be sorry, really.
The feel of it was real, I could really imagine it as real life. Brody didn't act like a fake punk.
It's so sad because stuff like this does happen all the time.
And it's the best movie, I can't stress that enough.
It has great acting, even in parts with no lines, the pain or happiness is real. Adrien Brody is a fantastic actor.
This is a better movie than Sideways or Closer or any other relationship melodrama.
That's personal opinion.
But i suggest all go out and see it, you won't be sorry, really.
Dark Side of The Moon
Prepskoolqueen925 January 2007
Warning: Spoilers
I found this movie as a last resort to leave my blockbuster and once i saw it i couldn't understand how it had not gotten more publicity or acclaim. Adrien Brody's acting in this movie is incredible, yet reminiscent to his portrayal of Richie in Summer of Sam. Charlotte Ayanna is also amazingly real and relatable in a way that i feel many other actresses could not acceive. Although the romance between Jack and Claire seems to go progress too quickly it is one of the most real and unflinching screen love story i have seen recently. Overall this movie is incredibly real and the acting is superb. It deserves far more credit than it is given.
Stayed with me for weeks
snbuzzelli10 April 2003
Peter Sehr, the German director, picked up several awards for this film along the festival circuit. I understand why. The moody, disturbing story of a love affair stretched to painful extremes is well acted and stays intriguing - despite a few clichés. Adrien Brody is excellent as Jack, a con-man-cum-pulp-fiction-writer who falls for a biology graduate student with a self-destructive streak. (Played with intensity by the daring Ayanna.) Everything about him - from his leopard pleather jacket to his studied swagger - is sleazy. Everything about her - from her Ralph Lauren clothes to her idealized notions of love - is innocent. She tries to get closer to him, but he pushes her away until his games push her over the edge. Though some of the characters - including Claire's tough, loyal best friend - and dialogue are nothing new, a fresh soundtrack, well-acted supporting cast and unglamorous portrayal of New York City vice made this film stayed with me for weeks.
My Favorite Movie
adrien_brody_luver25 September 2004
This movie is one of the best movies I have ever seen. The story is so intriguing and is full of underlying themes. The cinematography and use of colors also captures the viewers attention as remarkable. Adrien Brody's performance is one of his best and my personal favorite. As well as Charlotte Ayanna's performance as Claire was equally wonderful. Peter Sehr is a great director. Every time I watch this movie I find a few small things I missed before. Also the story will make you think as it is a bitter sweet love story it also has dark mysterious qualities, what more do you want from a movie? All around this movie is definitely worth seeing if not owning!
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