The Price of a Broken Heart (1999) starring Park Overall, Laura Innes, Timothy Carhart directed by Paul Shapiro Movie Review

The Price of a Broken Heart (1999)   2/52/52/52/52/5


Laura Innes in The Price of a Broken Heart (1999)

Overall a Little Ordinary

Dot (Park Overall) and Joe Hutlemeyer (Timothy Carhart - Beverly Hills Cop III) were happily married, they had a nice house, two sons and Joe had a good career as an accountant. Joe also had Lynn (Laura Innes), a secretary whose marriage was not so good and after separating decided to have a make over, setting her sights on Joe. Soon Joe and Lynn start having an affair leading to Dot taking Lynn to court, suing her under an old law concerning the alienation of affection.

If you didn't know it should come as little surprise when I say "The Price of a Broken Heart" is based on a true story. It's worthiness for being made into a movie is because of the old law which Dot uses to sue Joe's mistress and the ground breaking court case. Unfortunately what we get is basically a movie about an extra marital relationship, how Lynn came to be Joe's mistress and how the staff at where they work were well aware of this relationship. It unfortunately makes it a very ordinary movie about an affair, nothing special or different to numerous other movies about affairs.

Timothy Carhart and Park Overall in The Price of a Broken Heart (1999)

Actually that is a bit of a lie as "The Price of a Broken Heart" has a curious tone which has a comical side. The whole relationship with the staff gossiping about Joe and Lynn has a touch of comedy about it as do some of the revelations we hear in the court room. We also have curious story telling as we enter the story in a diner where a group of people waiting to hear the outcome of the court case discuss it, leading to various flashbacks. It makes it a movie which at times seems like it is playing the things for laughs, maybe due to the curious nature of the affair and court case but it is a style which weakens the story.

As for the acting, well we are talking solid but forgettable with not a single performance standing out or at least for the right reasons. I say that because Laura Innes as Lynn ends up coming across as comically wrong when she turns from an uptight unhappy wife to a seductress in a short skirt.

What this all boils down to is that whilst the true story behind "The Price of a Broken Heart" is an interesting one due to the old law used to sue a mistress the actual movie is a mix between ordinary and comically wrong.


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