A Brilliant Conflict

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

I can't believe Ebert and Roeper gave this two BIG thumbs up, the only reason I bothered to watch it in the first place. I couldn't stand Love The Hard Way. It made absolutely no sense. There was no chemistry between the Adrien Brody and Charlotte Ayanna, despite two scenes during which she sticks her naked breasts into the camera, making this a horrible romance, and it was also an idiot crime thriller as well. The relationship between the two main characters had no motivation. The characters (most of whom just disappear after a while as if they were never important in the first place) never really get developed, and I'm talking even the main ones despite nearly two hours concentrating on them. Pam Grier floats around as sluggish as ever in a miscast role as a policewoman hot on their trail, I guess, I suppose, I really don't know actually. First Claire likes Jack and he just uses her, then she starts prostituting herself nearly to death and suddenly he cares, then he doesn't show up one night so she slits her wrists and we think she's dead, then two years later he gets out of jail and comes back to the same apartment, condo, squatter's crash palace or whatever the hell is still there waiting for him, and they get back together. WTF? Who cares? I actually stopped watching this about two thirds through because I was so bored but then finished it the next day just out of curiosity only to my disappointment. Blah!

This well-acted, twisted, bittersweet story was a pleasant surprise. After admiring Adrien Brody's haunted portrayal of the pianist trapped in Nazi Germany, I wondered if he could really be that good of an actor, maybe it was just the genius of Polanski's direction. This role proved his talent is real for me. It is a contemporary tale about a hustler who secretly longs to be an author who becomes attracted to a comely coed who is studying to become a scientist. They couldn't be more different, yet they form a connection that changes their lives forever. The actress who plays Claire has beautiful sky-blue eyes and a nubile body as brilliant as her mind. Jack is not prepared for a woman like her. His friends are his partners in crime but he is the boss, he has all the answers, until he meets his match in a vice detective played by the always great Pam Grier. What will the future hold for him? Rent this movie and see. You won't be sorry.

Wow..Adrian Brody CONTINUES to blow me away. He made this a year before his Oscar-winning performance in "The Pianist" and....you can see that his intensity & believability as a tortured soul in this film paved the way to Roman Polanski. This film was very intense & leaves you thinking. Anyone, esp. women, who has fallen in love with a "dangerous/mysterious" type will surely relate. Adrian's "Jack" seethes with loyalty to his longtime friends & lifestyle. His performance is very subtle, so he slowly let us in to the interior that lies under the criminal, streetwise exterior. Also, great performances by Jon Seda & Pam Grier. For anyone out there who understands that with deep love comes deep pain...this movie is HIGHLY recommended.

I watched the film to it's semi-awful end and I have to say that it just wasn't worth it. I liked the initial characters. I enjoyed the flirtation of the bad boy and the good girl. I even enjoyed the initial back and forth of I love you-Who are you again-I love you. But when we got to the Claire is a bloody whore part of the film I just fell a bit a apart.Not to mention there are glaring holes in the logic of the film. Just because two guys are friends doesn't mean they'll get assigned to the same kitchen in prison. I mean with persuasion and some chance it might happen, but what happened to their dumbass third guy who pimped Claire out the first time? OK, and here is my finally bit of criticism. I, unlike others, have no problem seeing a good student fall from the pedestal. I personally would have expected drugs to be a part of the fall, but no matter the cause I'm not stunned to watch such a fall. I am however, AMAZED, to watch her be a serious scientist 2 years later. And in fact, to be screwing guys without condoms in NYC for several months before her beau was bagged? All I can say is AIDS AIDS AIDS. When they fast-forwarded two years forward I expected him to show up at her funeral plot, not to meet the successful scientist doing well without him.Decent acting. Decent plot. BIG PLOT HOLES.