Credits Director : Keith Samples Starring : Ben Geraghty Jenna Dewan, Christian Slater, Craig Sheffer Our Score :

By Clint Morris

Christian Slater has always been compared to Jack Nicholson – he has the devilish brow, the cheeky grin, but most notably, the voice. Did anyone happen to notice that the young-time teen heartthrob also happens to experience a career dip whenever Nicholson does?

In 1990, Nicholson was bathing in riches after playing The Joker in the uber-successful “Batman”. At the same time, Slater was at the top of his game – headlining instant classics like “Pump up the Volume” and “Young Guns II”.
In 1993, just as Jack Nicholson was accepting his Oscar for “A Few Good Men”, Slater was again headlining another film that’d instantly garner both an audience and cult following – “True Romance”.
In 1996, Things started to look bleak for both men – Nicholson was keeping busy, but none of his films that year – including “Blood and Wine” and “The Evening Star” – made much of a noise at the box office. Though Slater had a big more success with “Broken Arrow”, his other film of the year, “Bed of Roses” confirmed that the young actor’s popularity was waning.
Nicholson may have scored a hit with 1997’s “As Good as it Gets”, but other than that, the last decade or so hasn’t been too kind to him – he’s been swimming in a river of shit. Slater, not surprisingly, has been doing the breaststroke in the same waters.

2008 marked a new low for both men – Nicholson with “The Bucket List”, Slater with yet another direct-to-video offering, “Love Lies Bleeding”.
Being a clone of Jack Nicholson-circa “Five Easy Pieces” isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, hey?

Christian Slater is a good actor – which we know, otherwise he wouldn’t have been compared to Nicholson - but the producers of some of his recent flicks, films like “Hollow Man II”, “The Deal” and “Alone in the Dark”, aren’t so much interested in a performance, as they are a mug for their poster (Slater’s name probably helps with international sales), so the actor is not usually given anything to work with. (It’s for this reason I’m guessing he has decided to do a TV show). Same deal with “Love Lies Bleeding”, Slater could have phoned his performance in – they weren’t looking for anything other than ‘token mobster’, but of course if ‘token mobster’ is played by Christian Slater, major movie star, the film becomes just that little bit more prestigious.

In the film, Slater plays a crooked cop whose hell-bent on catching two young lovers (Brian Geraghty and Jenna Dewan) that have stolen his – well, it’s not necessarily his money - loot. The youngsters are holed up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where they’ve just used some of the stolen cash to get married, book themselves into a hotel room and flutter in the local casino. When they come face to face with Slater’s character, they volunteer to give up the money – but not without an escape plan for themselves.

This isn’t a bad movie. It’s quite enjoyable. And everyone in it – even Slater, though as I said, there isn’t a lot for him to do other than swear and shoot – is quite good. Unfortunately, it loses the plot in the third-act – seemingly rushing towards the finish line (did the filmmakers run out of money?), and tying up the loose ends unforgivably sloppily. All the good work that was done in that first hour is undone within the last half-hour.

But shit, Slater won’t have time to worry about it any of this film’s problems…. He’s probably shot another two direct-to-dvd movies since this one, and like anyone who’s sat through “Love Lies Bleeding”, has already forgotten all about it.

Extras include deleted scenes and an alternate ending.