Very disappointed :(

Fantastic!

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

It is a beautiful movie, all the scenes shot very nicely. But the reason I would not recommend it is because the movie has no clear focus.The focus of this film, which was split between Buster and the couples half-and-half, should have been solely on Ray and Martha instead, who would have had the chance to make the film a lot more twisted, gruesome and action-packed..., the sort of things you would expect in a serial killer movie. The movie-rated "R" anyway-is a lot cleaner than I thought. The most gruesome scene is probably the blood gushing out of the woman who was shot by Martha in a furry while she was riding on Ray having sex. That is all. I guess if there was additional 20 mins scenes shot on the killer couples and their preys, we would have the chance to look deeper into their twisted mind and the manic killing spree. Instead, the film spent a lot of precious time on Buster. If there was a good story about him, it would have been different. But it was none. Buster's wife died at the beginning, shooting her brain out in a bathtub. The scene was a lot like the later one, where Ray's victim committing a suicide because she caught him having sex with Martha. So I naturally thought there was some connection between Buster's wife and Ray. I waited until the last minute expecting to see it revealed, but nothing. The director did not give any explanation about Buster's wife's suicide, which basically devalued the starting scene-there was nothing in the end to echo the beginning. Then it was Buster's personal life: his son, his mom, Rene... has not much to do with neither the killing nor the detection. So does anybody care except the director, who is actually a descendant of real Buster?In the end, I was puzzled why Laura Dern joined this film. She was David Lynch's favorite leading actress. She looked like an angel in Blue Velvet. She was so skillful in Inland Empire. Then she played Rene, who was not important what so ever. I mean, Laura tried to show the different aspect of this woman, her harshness in the office, her tenderness in bed with Buster, her self-respect... All the effort was wasted again, when it came to the end scene, where it had no time to explain her reunion with Buster. There should have been some good emotional scenes.Even though the shooting was done beautifully, the storyline was planned very poorly. I can't say I enjoyed watching it.

I've just watched this film on YouTube so the resolution wasn't great, however what an atmospheric well acted movie. The cops are hard boiled flawed individuals and the perpetrators were truly sociopathic. The portrayal the evil couple Ray and Martha knocked the 60s portrayal of Bonnie & Clyde into a cocked hat & probably is only equalled by Martin and Cissy in Badlands. This film didn't follow the formula of having a crescendo like conclusion, but things like this don't in real life, no one wins and all that's left is a big hole of sadness and I think that's what this film does so well. It emphasises the complete self absorption of the perpetrators and the tiny world they inhabit between themselves and demonstrates the evil they do when they interact with the real world. Well worth 8.5 a great telling of a true crime!

I personally have a severe weakness for horror/thriller movies that are based on real-life serial killer cases, mostly because the truth is even viler and more disturbing than the imagination of any given Hollywood scriptwriter. I've seen numerous film adaptations of real murder cases, but one of the most jaw-dropping and fascinating stories for me undoubtedly remains Raymond Fernandez and Martha Beck's the Lonely Heart killings. Their modus operandi was simple but frighteningly disturbing. During only a very short period of time – the second half of the 1940's – Beck and Fernandez are believed to have killed over twenty women; all of them aged spinsters and single mothers who were unfortunate enough to place an add in the lonely hearts section of a newspaper. With his looks and natural charms Raymond could easily seduce the poor women and, with Martha posing his sister, they robbed and killed them. The ironic aspect about the case is that they themselves met and fell in love through an add in the paper. These are strictly the facts of the case, but the problem with "Lonely Hearts" is that it's a Hollywood production and thus naturally tends to deviate from the genuineness in favor to appeal to wider audiences. The film introduces an impressive list of cast members, including John Travolta, Salma Hayek and James Gandolfini, and writer/director Todd Robinson is the actual grandson of police inspector Robinson who was in charge of the Lonely Hearts investigation. He processes a lot of rather irrelevant sub plots into the script, like the remorse over his own wife's suicide and the personal issues with his teenage son and colleague love interest, which aren't directly connected to the murder investigation. Therefore, if you're interested in a truly faithful adaptation of the same case, I strongly recommend Leonard Kastle's film "The Honeymoon Killers". That movie also features a lot more detailed accuracy. For example, the real Martha Beck was a woman struggling with obesity and a lack of confidence, whereas in this version she's portrayed by natural beauty Salma Hayek who spontaneously gives oral sex to a highway patrolman to evade a speeding ticket. Now, the occasional lack of accuracy and diversion doesn't mean that "Lonely Hearts" is a bad film, of course. Far from it, in fact, as I can honestly admit I was glued to the TV-screen throughout the entire film. The biggest trump is that Todd Robinson re-creates an admirably moody and depressing film-noir atmosphere, complete with typical narration and an astonishing cinematography. The costumes and scenery (including old cars and farmhouses), as well as the color schemes and music, catapult you straight back to the 1940's. In spite the fact that "Lonely Hearts" is full of famous Hollywood faces, the film is also surprisingly shockingly violent and occasionally even quite nihilistic in tone. The murders of Jeanette Long and Delphine Downing are graphically depicted and definitely not suitable for sensitive viewers. Last but not least the acting performances are praiseworthy. Especially Salma Hayek impresses with her portrayal of the sickly jealous and psychopathic Martha Beck and Jared Leto isn't bad neither, as the emotionless and sly Raymond Fernandez.

Talk about flying under the radar... No doubt the strong sexual content has had something to do with this: we may be stupid and ultraviolent in this schizo country of ours, but we're also prudes. Beautifully written and directed, LONELY HEARTS gives John Travolta yet one more golden opportunity to be Golden. Likewsie, Gandolfini, whose performance goes hand-in-hand with Travolta's. Hyek does what she can with her role, but the fact that the character was changed from an overweight wallflower to... well, Selma Hyek... is a detriment. One could've (at least superficially) understood her obsession with holding on to "her man" if she'd been portrayed as the dumpy matron she was in Life: as it stands, Hyek seems shoe-horned into the part. (Kathy Bates would've been a much better choice.) Despite this, the movie resonates. It's hard to believe it wasn't more highly touted (I don't even recall seeing it advertised anywhere)...