Lonely Hearts

In the late 1940s, Detectives Robinson (John Travolta) and Hildebrandt (James Gandolfini) are hot on the trail of the Lonely Hearts Killers, Raymond Fernandez (Jared Leto) and Martha Beck (Salma Hayek), a twisted couple that finds victims through personal ads and murders them for their money.

Written and directed by Todd Robinson (the grandson of Travolta’s character), Lonely Hearts is a fascinating look at obsession. Haunted by the unexplained suicide of his late wife, Detective Robinson is as compelled to find and stop Fernandez and Beck as they are to keep swindling and killing to preserve their life together. These thematically loaded parallels, coupled with director Robinson’s commendable effort to flesh out every character, raises the film above the level of bland biopic or exploitative ripped-from-the-headlines thriller. Throw in some genuinely tense moments (beware the Se7en-esque sequence involving a bicycle box) and a solid period feel and it becomes hard to see why this didn’t get more notice upon its release in 2006.


The acting is certainly not the culprit. Travolta, whose roles have been almost unwatchably bombastic and smarmy in recent years, offers a powerful, controlled performance. He is nearly eclipsed by an almost unrecognizable Leto, who goes over-the-top at times, but otherwise manages an effectively conflicted portrayal of a delusional lowlife striving for something better. Gandolfini is so-so as Robinson’s sidekick, while Laura Dern makes the most of a thankless role as his mistress. The only real liability here is Hayek, who is badly miscast. She does the femme fatale routine to a T; problem is, the real Martha Beck was obese, homely, and a much more pathetic figure.


The film’s other major demerit is Gandolfini’s voiceover narration. Though he’s the one doing the talking, we learn relatively little about him compared to his favored subjects (Robinson, Martha, and Ray). His narration also contributes to the film’s somewhat haphazard sense of time. There is a lot of movement here, and it’s tough to figure out how far apart one killing is from the next.


Just as Fernandez and Beck are not household names, Lonely Hearts does not make nearly as big a splash as Zodiac or Changeling, two other period films dealing with brutal murders. It does, however, merit a viewing, if for no other reason than to see its evolution from personal family history into near-art.


7.5/10