User reviews

Stylishly directed, very well-acted, offbeat, adult film with good, complex characterizations and a terrific music score that pushes it forward. The only problems are a certain lack of direction (in the sense of destination and purpose), and some implausible scenes (the behavior of the French woman is rather totally unrealistic). Still, the film is never boring and deserved better than it got from the public. (***)

Heartbreakers has been a white whale for me for some time. I saw it several times in the 80s but since then have searched streaming sites and even tried to watch a Spanish dubbed version on MGM. But the new released Blu-Ray finally makes it available with solid picture quality and a clear stereo soundtrack.

The film revolves around the relationship of Blue, a struggling artist, and Eli who is unhappily successful. As the movie unfolds, layers in their relationship including romantic jealousy, a supportive power dynamic, and mutual career jealousy are revealed. The dialog is authentic and honest.

What I value in the film are its exploration of the depth Blue and Eli's friendship and a presentation of both sides of the conflict between art and commerce. In many instances, the characters express writer-director Bobby Roth's conflicted feelings about art and grasping for "success". It's a complicated subject that's handled with nuance and no judgement.

Peter Coyote is excellent as the up and down Blue who revels in life but is also frustrated by his relative lack of success. Carol Wayne, best known for her many appearances on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show as the Matinee Lady in the Art Fern's Tea Time Movie sketches, adds depth to the ensemble as the centerpiece of Blue's art work. Carole Laure is believable as the object of Blue and Eli's affections.

The film is a time capsule of 80s styles and culture. Many of the things you love or hate about that decade are present. The soundtrack of R&B and blues is rudely interrupted by Pat Benatar's "Love Is A Battlefield" which sounds like an early mix to the point that it's almost unrecognizable as her.

Heartbreakers is a rare film that explores male friendships, artistic vision and success, and what is ultimately important to each of us in life.

This sometimes lyrical, sometimes harrowing, exploration of male friendship is unique in its honesty and the fearless, fully revealing perfomances of both its male stars--Nick Mancuso and Peter Coyote. They open both light and dark sides of their characters in relationship to each other and to the women in their lives. Then one women becomes the focus for both, threatening to destroy years of common bonds. In today's more-fortuitous indie market, this haunting little beauty might have had the exposure it merits. It opens a window on man-to-man talk through which few of us are ever allowed to look.

I picked this up for 50 cents at a local video store. I usually browse the VHS section for the worst movies I can find. This one was a winner.

Okay, first things first -- the gaudy script, bold color-scheme, and acting are all charming as hell in how terrible they are. And the soundtrack by Tangerine Dream just rocks. Seriously, this soundtrack rules; I imagine every track must be titled something like, "Big Dreams (Coke Theme)". Of course, the film relies too heavily on the music. The music sets the emotional themes, provides segway (and montages!) and kicks in every 3 minutes. For real... every single scene change is accompanied by music (albeit bomb-ass '80s synth music with hard-core percussive filters!).

This movie is watchable because it is awful and cheesy (the dance scenes are totally precious). For some reason every woman in this movie takes her top off before kissing one of the male leads. And yes, it seems almost every woman in this movie takes her top off.

The characters are developed so poorly it is remarkable. This is largely the fault of the awful, awful pacing, but everyone in this movie just seems like such a shallow cheeseball. The relationships in this film are about as realistic as those in a bad pre-teen novella. Really one-dimensional stuff. The characters are like... slightly more developed than in a softcore porno, which is funny because the actors seem better than the script or film itself.

Which is what makes this stuff so weird and watchable. The script, story, pacing, and characters are all ludicrous, unrealistic and laughable, whereas the soundtrack, set, color scheme, unintentionally funny tag phrases, and cast are all decently charming (although I suspect they were conceived in a very earnest and serious coke-filled frame of mind). As a serious piece of film, this sucks pretty bad. But if you want something ridiculous, with weird early '80s and gaudy LA pomp... it's worth a watch -- especially if you are good at clever, sarcastic MST-3K comments. I just wouldn't pay more than a couple of dollars for it.

Oh, and despite my references to cocaine, there is none of it in this movie. But it's pretty obvious that the whole production was just FUELED by it.

Perhaps this excellent film could not easily be appreciated in its time. I was one of the few people I know of who thought this film was terrific when it was first released. I first saw it in at the Dallas Film Festival in 1984; then in 1999 on cable TV. Fifteen years later I realized it was even better than I had originally thought!

Viewing it in 1984, I saw it as a breakthrough film depicting a view of the dark side of the new young, hip culture of its time. The values and attitudes that are now emblematic of the 80s are all well-represented in this film.

But wait! That's not all that this film is about. In retrospect, it's a coming of age film that very subtly reflects the transition from the 1970s to the 1980s. We see the freewheeling spirit of the 70s while at the same time a longing for meaning and depth that being a free spirit alone cannot bring. Interestingly, the primary relationship is between two people who are seeking true friendship.

"Heartbreakers": Whose hearts are breaking? Mine for one. I am so disappointed that it took 15 years to be able to see this film again. The upside is that with so many new TV venues it's likely to be screened now more than ever so no one has to miss it for as long as I did. If you're a Peter Coyote fan, don't miss this one!

P.S. I wish this film would be released in video so it could be even more accessible.

I want to like it since it is trying to paint another section of Male 'Buddy' themes that has not been done to death but this film about two men in their own mid-life crises does not land.

Primarily, it centers about two friends. One: a newly single 'kink' painter, adjusting with his new life as his career is going upwards but alone. Another is a rich kid, who is aging out of his playboy days.

For me, it fails primarily since it just too hateful against its female character. They are mostly carnal objects or dull one dimensional characters that is used to counterpoint the titular heartbreakers. It really weakens to its wonderful viewpoint of two men finding meaning in their existence as they drew close to middle age and is about to be pushed out of their carefree lifestyle. As they try escapades that somewhat funnily closes by to homoerotism or I like to call them 'homieroticism', its becomes clear that maybe their are not as well equipped as they taught they where.

2/5 for mostly the promising premise. This needs to be remade.

Heartbreakers captures its place and materialistic time perfectly. It is a career peak for both Peter Coyote (projecting the charisma of a young Henry Fonda) and for the underappreciated Max Gail as his artist-nemesis. Carol Wayne, who was relegated through her career to playing arch-bimbos of the 60's pre-feminist variety (especially as Johnny Carson's frequent sidekick on the Tonight Show), turned in a moving performance here; sadly, she drowned not too long after this picture was released. This is well worth checking out, especially if you want to recapture what it felt like to be a single guy in LA in the early 80s.

Heartbreakers is a slow moving film about two friends who share more than friendship. They share a mutual feeling of wanting to outperform the other as well. Businesswise this is not a problem as one of the two is an artist. But where women are concerned, they want the one the other is having. After a slow build-up everything comes together when they share the same women in a threesome. Where the movie goes from there seems very logical from my point of view. It's a shame that this scene is sometimes omitted, as I once realised when I was watching this on the BBC.

It's a terrific movie and I consider it Peter Coyote's best. No action scenes, no violence, just psychological content to which anyone can connect. Recommended.

This film really impressed me when it was first released. Though it was hardly a box office hit, it (and "The Boss's Son") did contribute to Bobby Roth's reputation as a fine independent film maker. Roth captured the late 70s, early 80s LA art scene perfectly. It was a time when many people were having to temper the idealism of the 70s in order to survive. Perhaps its lack of wide success stemmed from the fact that you had to be familiar with Los Angeles at that time to appreciate it fully. Also a great soundtrack, especially the Etta James' songs.

"A frustrated artist and his feckless friend, search for meaning in LA's avant-garde art set. But their friendship is threatened, when a beautiful woman enters their lives. (1984)"

I really love discovering great films like this. I saw a brief description of it in a guide which intrigued me, (see above) and watched it in the early hours of the morning. I've never been to LA during or after the early '80s, but films like this seem to me, to accurately depict things as they were back then. Many people's optimisitic and hedonistic ideals were being crushed towards the end of that decade, due to AIDS, Reganomics, and other factors too numerous to mention. The characters are all well written and acted, even some of the cameos like Max Gail's. Peter Coyote is always excellent in small films like this, especially in Polanski's 'Bitter Moon'(1992), and receives some great support from Nick Mancuso as his long-time friend. Some of the scenes featuring nudity though, do seem unnecessary, and heavy handed. This is one of those movies which doesn't need car chases, or endless explosions to hold onto a viewer's attention, because it's about something most of us are familliar with; People's relationships with each other.

Another film I liked as much as this, with a similar story was 'Twogether' (1994) starring Nick Cassavettes.

This movie is so uncanny in that ,while relatively little plot is present, it says so much about the characters and their on the surface exciting but truly vapid lives. It is poignant and yet funny at times. It didn't fare nearly as well in critics' eyes and at the box office as it deserved to do. All the characters were so well cast--they make a most attractive ensemble--but for all these people who seem to have so much to envy, they are surprisingly unhappy, and this dichotomy is what makes this movie so moving and affecting. I've seen it perhaps 10 times and NEVER tire of watching it, because each time I glean something new!

Heartbreakers is a very special movie for me being an artist myself I could relate to some of the dialog in the movie. I remember going to see this movie by myself at the age of 21. I usually go to movies by myself if I felt that it would be too strange for my date. Art films like this are strange to the typical person and I didn't have to worry about anyone else not enjoying it. I live in Chicago and at that time it was about 3 art movie theaters that would show a movie like this, which, I'm very grateful for living in a big city and be able to see it then.

I connect to this movie in every way from the title, the male friendship, the music, the attractive ladies, the story and the strange artwork. Heartbreakers is the perfect title for the film because all the characters were selfish and unapologetic with their love. The friendship with Blu (Peter Coyote) and Eli (Nick Mandcuso) seem so authentic and at that time I felt similar to my own friendship I had with someone I grew up with. The music at that time didn't impress me but now that I gotten older I have a better appreciation for it. The art gallery receptionist was very sexy… She stayed on my mind for a while after seeing the movie and when I look at the movie now she still look sexy. I though the other women Blu's ex-girlfriend and Blu's muse were pretty sexy back then but now not so much but still attractive. The story had everything I wanted with romance, betrayal, friendship and payoff for perseverance. The artwork was hauntingly dark and sexy it was something I never seen before a big-breasted woman in lingerie painted in black and white… Oh, that was new creative territory for me. At that time I didn't know anything about Bettie Page but recently a movie came out about her and then I put two and two together.

I bought the VHS version of Heartbreakers but I'm eagerly waiting for it to go on DVD. I guess I will have to check out this Bettie Page movie until Heartbreakers make it onto DVD.

Heartbreakers (1984) Bobby Roth wrote and directed this humorous yet poignant depiction of a male friendship that is tested by a femme fatale art dealer. Peter Coyote is Blue, talented LA painter who has been scraping by with the help of best buddy Eli (Nick Mancuso), heir to a struggling garment business. Carol Wayne, Kathryn Harrold, Jamie Rose, and Carole Laure are the women they spar and sometimes sleep with. The friendship between the two men is one of the most authentic and affecting I have seen on film. They complement each other well, and their loyalty to each other is expressed in quiet ways. Look for the scene about 38 minutes in, when Eli comes over and finds Blue sleeping on his layout table. Cinematography by Michael Ballhaus, with a score by Tangerine Dream. A perceptive observation of young singles resisting the demands of full adulthood, and my choice as the best movie out there about modern day painters. Highly Recommended.

"Well, Syd told me, that you think abstractionists should be executed."

this movie is so emblematic of the 80's(such a phony and UNrealistic decade!),it's amazing this movie got made at all.it says so much for the short time it's on screen,that alone was worth my time.i wouldn't get too critical,though.it's all about MOOD.... .if women want to get a "peek" into the male psyche,this would be the way to go.(it's a good thing we don't do this to often)watch the movie and you'll see why.i enjoyed this movie immensely,from the raw production values,great acting (Peter Coyote especially.....BUT not to leave out the Others...)to the great soundtrack.B/T/W...if you buy the soundtrack of this movie by Tangerine Dream,some of the music is NOT on the CD!?!. i feel this movie is (or will be) an American Classic.Thank you, Mr.Roth.

Excellent movie films but these comments are really poor, they call impresentabili. 6.2 for a film of this sort is truly shameful, exactly the same applies to itanic vote, I am sure that most of those who have seen the film and have commented on this site have downloaded from the Internet and drew their conclusions from ignorant. But what meters of judgement you? Spoken with the alleged critics! E 'shameful read on a website of its kind ratings so low, push people not to consult more! I believe that by a good slice of the alleged critics there is a certain nostalgia for the past and a ancoramento emotional films of the 80s. the film is iperspettacolare, more realistic, a worthy successor of the series. My vote is 8.5 For comments, consider deleting the drafting and voting to raise 8.5. For those suspected reviewers, but please, go to follow the matches of rugby which is better!

Peter Coyote and Nick Mancuso are two edgy, slightly threatening character actors who routinely play intense dudes in action/horror/thriller stuff so it's refreshing to see them through the lens of a benign interpersonal drama, playing two regular dudes in the 80's navigating sex, relationships, the passing of a parent, corporate jobs versus artistic careers and most importantly the fierce, committed friendship they have to each other. Coyote is the restless artist having issues with his headstrong girlfriend, Mancuso the would be career man who yearns for a romantic relationship that has meaning to it, and both absolutely nail their performances, supported by an emotionally mature, grounded script by director Bobby Roth and a cheerfully ambient score by the great Tangerine Dream. A true hidden gem, streaming now for free on Tubi.