A couple of young kids in love find themselves on the run with some stolen money and the poor man’s Jack Nicholson on their trail.
Duke (Brian Geraghty) and Amber (Jenna Dewan) is a couple of nice kids who live in a really crappy neighborhood. They’re engaged and very much in love, but Duke can only get low level work since he has a record and Amber works for minimum wage in a supermarket.
Since they live in a bad neighborhood the local gang steals from them and breaks into their place on a regular basis. When Duke gives his mother’s necklace to Amber for her birthday she’s elated. However, when she gets home two gangbangers are in their apartment and stealing the TV and VCR. They throw Amber into the couch and notice the necklace and steal it.
Duke doesn’t take this well and goes out and trades their car for a gun and is going to go to the gang’s place and get back the necklace. Earlier in the day DEA Agent Pollen (Christian Slater) tortured an informant because said informant had some money of Pollen’s and has mislaid it. Well it turns out that the same gang has stolen Pollen’s money. So he and his group of crooked cops show up to separate the punks from Pollen’s cash.
Duke comes in after the dealings done and only sees corpses and a bag of money. He reaches to take it but the wounded Pollen gasps out that the money is his before he faints away. So our young couple takes off with their riches to make a better life, but Pollen gets patched up and gives chase to make sure that he gets his money back and the witnesses take a dirt nap.
Love Lies Bleeding isn’t exactly a film that offers much new to the “on the run” genre. However, what it does offer is a likeable pair of “runners.” Brian Geraghty and Jenna Dewan are good in the two lead roles and I really liked these poor kids and wished they’d get out of that crap neighborhood and onto a better life. One thing stands in their way – the poor man’s Jack Nicholson.
I really shouldn’t be too hard on Christian Slater, but he really goes Jack in this one. He’s a much better actor than that (a review of “He was a Quiet Man” is coming and he’s great in that one) but he does tend to make you think that you’re watching a role that you could drop Nicholson in if this film had been made thirty years ago.
That being said, Slater does go to town in the psycho department, which can also be fun to watch. I ended up liking the film in the end, but don’t think that it’s a classic but can entertain you on a rainy afternoon if you’re in the right state of mind.
Love Lies Bleeding is presented in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Special features include 17 minutes of deleted scenes including an alternative ending. There are also trailers for other Sony DVDs.
It was a good ride, but the happy ending seems a little contrived. However it’s fun to see Christian Slater chew the scenery and the two leads are a nice couple of kids. One of those rainy day movies that’s not too tough on the brain.
