Anvil Films, Aramid Entertainment, Capitol Films
Helen Mirren, Joe Pesci, Sergio Peris-Mencheta, Gina Gershon, Taryn Manning, Scout Taylor-Compton, Ling Bai
This film starts awful and gets a little better as it goes on. But not that much better. It’s very loosely based on the true story of Joe and Sally Conforte. These are the real names. But in this film we call them Grace and Charlie. They bought and ran the famous Mustang Ranch in Nevada, a legal brothel, but not for very long. Grace runs the business, and Joe is a true promoter, and rescues a deeply in debt gambler/boxer from Argentina. The idea was to promote him as a boxer and make more income from his efforts. Meanwhile, Charlie can’t keep his mitts off the working women, and the idea of what their marriage is seems lost on him. Until Grace leaves and then things go haywire. Eventually the IRS comes in to make quick work of them. The story is harsh, so it has an R rating, but it’s not too bad. Pesci’s language is what makes him, and he can cuss a storm like the best of them. So we get to enjoy that. Of course Helen Mirren is a class act, and so the acting goes pretty decently even with the lack of script. Gina Gershon is not in a big role here, but she does a great job with what she does.
Basically it’s hard to keep focused on this film and it’s be panned by critics everywhere. The film has a bit of conflict over whether it’s 2009 or 2010, but it was actually filmed in 2008, so who knows. The release was so small that it’s nearly, but not quite a direct to video endeavor. That may be there reason for the conflict on the date.
All in all the film is pretty boring, especially the first hour, and the ending is really just told, not shown, so it is a bit anti-climactic. It has it’s moments, but my view is that it’s not worth your time.
EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog
Movie Review - Love Ranch (2010) {R},
