Love Crimes

source: Love Crimes

Atlanta D.A. Dana Greenway (Sean Young) takes risks in a sting putting her investigator Hannah on the line. Colleen Dells comes to her complaining about David Hanover (Patrick Bergin). He pretends to be a well-known famous photographer and scared her into posing * even having sex. A second victim comes with a similar story except this time he took her car. Dana's boyfriend/superior Stanton Gray suggests perversity could be more conviction worthy than the actual crime. With no one willing to file charges, Dana tracks down Hanover in Savannah putting herself in the position of his next victim. Sean Young gels back her hair so hard that it looks like it hurts. It's an overly overt visual cue to denote a hard cold female lawyer. This movie is caught between a salacious sexploitation B-movie and a serious take on the reality of rape. It makes this very awkward and unappealing. It tries to go into some dark murky psychological space but it feels more like a melodrama. I don't know what exactly her plan was going to his place. It seems very close to entrapment. It would have worked so much better if he could pick her up from the bar or the photo lab. The movie feels awkward in many places. Following Hannah tracking down Dana is not compelling. The movie should have ended after Dana gets out of imprisonment. The drama can't go any higher and the last section runs too long. Director Lizzie Borden has made mostly erotic fiction and this doesn't have the best production value.

This is bad, really bad, really really bad. The perfect storm of bad acting, unbelievable characters, vulgarity, pointless raunchy nudity including full frontal (Sean Young needs to stay dressed), a topless middle aged woman running around her living room in riding pants pretending she is on a horse, weak ending, and stupid plot. Essentially, a guy (Patrick Bergin) who pretends to be a fashion photographer easily convinces 20+ women to take their pictures, mostly topless, then gets them to agree to a bedroom romp with him. Feeling humiliated, they go to the cops but it was all consenting adults so no sex crime. Tough as nails scrawny pistol packing Atlanta prosecutor (Sean Young) decides to get the guy and chases him around the state even though the only crime he committed was stealing the car of one of his unattractive victims. Why bother? She eventually goes to his house in some remote hillbilly slum in Georgia and ends up being his photo subject. of some fully * pics He never attacks her or harms her yet she tries to kill him with a huge kitchen knife and her gun. Rattled by her persistence, he splits only to be caught. None of the characters are believable in their roles.

In Lizzie Borden's "Love Crimes" (1992), Sean Young plays a gritty D.A. in Atlanta. She's a loner who gets herself too deeply involved in the case of a man (Patrick Bergin) who poses as a famous fashion photographer and seduces women, takes compromising photos of them, then leaves them. Sean Young's tough loner decides to enter the phony shutterbug's life by posing as his prey, intending to bring him to justice. They meet, they have sex, then the next thing she knows, she is over his lap, getting spanked. (Note: The spanking scene is only in the "unrated" version of this film. The R-rated version omits it and several other scenes that would make the plot more lucid.) This psychological thriller includes several scenes of female nudity and disturbing images, such as Bergin chasing one of his victims around the room, flailing at her with a riding crop. As a thriller, "Love Crimes" is at its best when Sean Young is playing her cat-and-mouse game with Bergin, trying to catch him in an incriminating act. It's unfortunate that the film doesn't end, it just stops. That's true. Director Lizzie Borden may have just run out of story to tell, but after 92 minutes the credits roll, and we are left with a puzzling "what just happened?" bewilderment. The unfolding of Young's plan is played out in engaging style, but the lack of a coherent ending will be a turn-off for some viewers. Dan N. (daneldorado93@yahoo.com)

I can kind of and kind of not understand the hate for this film. It's set in Savannah (and take it from someone who's been everywhere) which is one of the most beautiful cities on earth... and it doesn't really feature Savannah. And it's content is kind of rapey BDSM before 50 Shades of Grey and before the new SJW crap that would make a movie like this impossible to be made... or even talked about. So I can understand the hate. But it does dramatic tension pretty well. And it does thrilled pretty well. And it does tension pretty well... ad when you sit down and watch a movie like this those are all very important things. Without them, you just have erotica... ... and I can understand the hate because it doesn't really do erotica well, but I don't think it was meant to do erotica well. I'm pretty sure it was meant to be a tension driven film, but the subject matter made and the nudity made it billed as an erotic thriller and, thus, killed the expectations people had walking into it. So what kind of works as a tense thriller turned out to be awkward erotica. I guess it all depends on what you thought you were watching when you rented it.... but, of course, the cuts also killed it.

Lizzie Borden, if that is her real name, attempts to direct a passionate, sexual thriller about seduction and love. Besides moments of nudity and sexual overtones, the movie falls flat on its face. Sean Young attracts an audience to see this mild excuse for a thriller. A low budget, none-the-less, Love Crimes is a story of passion, without the passion. While Sean Young is still learning how to act and the carry a film, Patrick Bergin, the evil husband from Sleeping with the Enemy, is five times a better actor than Young. However, it is Young who draws the audience to see her naked. Although she is not a super model or a top ten actress, Sean Young represents the average, everyday woman with the average figure. It is that audience, viewer make up, that is attracted to these movies. For that reason, Love Crimes has an audience but not much of a fan base.

This review is for the UNRATED version. The R-rated version would merit a *1/2 out of 4 rating. Slick thriller about a female district attorney (Sean Young) who uses herself as bait to lure in a con man (Patrick Bergen) who seduces woman and then forces them to do inexplicable acts. Intelligent, extremely thought provoking with a perfect performance from Sean Young. Most people call her turn wooden, because most people have only seen the awful R-rated version which edits out some important scenes. Here, her aloofness works because the con man has traumatized her and forced her into a little girl state of mind. Young's turn is complex and underrated. Her tall body and ballerina build only make her performance all the more convincing. Patrick Bergen is also very good. Sure he may not be very handsome, but the women he picks up are plain looking everyday women that could easily fall into his trap. His smooth dialogue and mannerisms make this turn work. Film also goes where most other films would not dare to go to. There is on screen * scenes (involving spankings and horses), full frontal nudity, and graphic sexual situations. All of this plays key parts to the story and move the action along. None of these scenes are done for just the thrill of it. The only thing that hurts the film is the rushed ending. It just doesn't cut it. For such a smart thriller one can only naturally feel extremely disappointed. The story is progressing and then boom the ending just comes out of nowhere. Still this is a noteworthy film worth watching. Unrated; Graphic Nudity and Sexual Situations, Strong Adult Themes, Violence and Profanity.

This is by far my favorite film of all time. That's mainly because it's not afraid to delve into some very politically incorrect topics (such as spanking and female submissiveness) that other mainstream films are just too timid to touch. Nothing seems to be off-limits in this film as the director freely develops the story without any concern given to possibly offending the viewer. However, I don't think anything was done here purely for shock value or to purposely offend anyone. Sean Young turns in an excellent and courageous performance. Most established mainstream actresses would not have taken on this role or would have asked for some major script changes before accepting it. The other cast members do a fine job as well. Have you noticed that this movie hasn't appeared on pay cable since an obligatory brief run a year after it hit the theaters? Have you ever wondered why? The obvious reason is that it just doesn't fit today's political atmosphere. It seems quite ironic to me that some premium channels now carry softcore * (that's getting closer and closer to hardcore *) but will not carry a mainstream movie like "Love Crimes". Sadly, even though this movie is only 11 years old, it could probably not be made today.

Right from the opening credits and the full-blown saxophone score accompanying them, you know what you're in for: a typical erotic thriller of the early 1990's - the most prolific period of the genre. It does stand a little above the crowd because of the ambiguous "villain" - is he indeed a villain or is he really just exposing and satisfying the hidden desires of these (admittedly gullible) women for mutual gain? And the fact that the film was directed by a woman and co-written by another adds an extra layer: are Lizzie Borden and Laurie Frank trying to tell us something about their own secret fantasies? Despite all that, "Love Crimes" never raises the temperature high enough, probably because of the two leads: Patrick Bergin is miscast as a smooth charmer (especially after just coming off "Sleeping With The Enemy" where he played Julia Roberts' abusive husband), and Sean Young is wooden - which actually fits her character at the start. The problem is that she stays wooden even later when she shouldn't be (she is also a little too skinny for my tastes in this one). ** out of 4.

"Love Crimes" leaves us with many questions that do not get answered during the film. For starters, why does this particular predator, played by Patrick Bergin, demand so much of her attention? None of his victims want to press charges and, really, only the latest was actually assaulted physically. An Assistant District Attorney should know that without these women coming forward, she does not have a true case against Bergin's character. Also, her tape recording Bergin confessing his crime when she first meets him could be seen as entrapment. So again, why is that this case is compelling for Sean's character to want to pursue it? Next is the cabin sequence. Young follows Bergin to his remote rural cabin by the lake. She is spotted and quickly captured by Bergin who locks her in a closet overnight. Next day, he cuts her clothes off with scissors, leaving Young in her bra and panties. Depending on the version viewed, Bergin locks Young back in the closet where she breaks out and takes some clothes. Another version has Bergin sit Young on the patio while he prepares his gear for a fishing trip on the lake. He, then, gives Young some clothes to wear. My question was, other than for fan service, why cut her clothes off? He had her pistol. He wanted to control her so make her strip herself in front of him. Also, being picky, why let her get dressed again so soon after being stripped by him? It is not like he controls her by the outfit she wears. Finally, after he has escaped from her, Bergin breaks into Young's apartment. Granted he had held her hostage at his cabin but she did trespass and, technically break and enter there without probable cause or a warrant. He could have gone his own way and would not be pursued by the authorities. Instead, he now compounds his problems by going after Young. I saw this film at the request of my brother and thought I was going to see a police thriller. I was disappointed there. The only reason the film was not a total flop for me was that Patrick Bergin was a decent actor in the film. He played his character as a predator who felt like he was giving something to these women he preyed on.