"Untamed Heart" is a basically engaging love story that is quite corny and hokey at times, but it is compensated a good deal by its two main stars. Christian Slater is one of my favorite actors and Marisa Tomei is one of my favorite actresses. So naturally, it was a joy to see them on screen together. However, I still think Slater was slightly miscast, though his performance was impressive. I just felt, as I started to ponder the film's credibility more and more, that if this were a real situation I don't think the character of Adam would be as handsome as Christian Slater. But it can happen by coincidence. That was just a minor flaw I was able to point out. Yes, this is a pretty sappy romance with one too many "I Love You" monologues by Tomei's character. The story is relatively predictable. The ending is depressing, but it's one of those sad endings you can kind of see coming. *THIS MAY BE A POTENTIAL SPOILER* Slater gets put in the hospital after the guys he beat up (for trying to rape Tomei) stabbed him, in a vow of revenge. Since he has a defective heart, the doctors want to give him a heart transplant. But he violently refuses. He "wants his own heart." Even though this heart is believed to be from a babboon. So he rids himself from the hospital bed, escapes and comes limping to Tomei's doorstep in terrible shape, exactly when Tomei calls up fellow waitress Rosie Perez asking if he's at work. His heart's in bad shape, but he still loves Tomei with all his heart--Well, with whatever's left. OK, that was mean. But I'm still laughing. There's some unnecessary dialogue and moments where the drama is pushed to melodrama--in other words, it has elements of a Lifetime Movie of the Week. The opening scene contains the usual breakup and a pretty obvious setup. Tomei gets ready for a hot date, overdoing the makeup and making sure she looks like a princess, then she hops into her boyfriend's truck and he gives her EVERY romantic cliche in the book. "It's not you, it's me." Gee, I never heard that one before! OK, I know I'm listing a lot of flaws. I probably scared you away from renting this movie, and now it's time to clear things up. If you're a sucker for romantic tear-jerkers, you'll absolutely LOVE this movie! I'm not a sucker for ANY movie. I'm a huge movie buff, and I don't discriminate against finding flaws in any genre of movies. So I hope females don't read this and say, "He's a guy. Naturally, he's not gonna like this movie all that much." I actually found this movie strangely engaging, probably because of the two performances. And there were moments of chemistry between the leads that really did spark. So this is more than a guilty pleasure. There are cliches, but it's not drowned with cliches and corny sentiment. Is it worth watching? Yes. But if you're a guy and you're watching this with a girl, be sure to purchase a box of Kleenex before heading to the video store.
My score: 7 (out of 10)
My score: 7 (out of 10)