Love Ranch (2010)

Director: Taylor Hackford

Starring: Helen Mirren, Joe Pesci, Sergio Peris-Mencheta, Gina Gershon, Taryn Manning, Scout Taylor-Compton, Bai Ling, M.C. Gainey

More info: IMDb

Tagline: When It Comes To Love... Everyone Pays A Price.

Plot: In the mid-70s, near Reno, Grace Bontempo runs the Love Ranch, a legal brothel. Her husband Charlie, with big dreams, a felony record, and an aptitude for spending and infidelity, is the brothel's public face. On the day Grace's doctor tells her she has cancer in an advanced state, Charlie takes on new client, Argentine boxer Armando Bruza, Charlie's ticket to fame: he hopes to promote a fight with Ali. Because of Charlie's felonies, Grace is Bruza's titular manager. With the IRS and the church ladies circling the business, Grace takes the manager's role seriously and, along the way, Bruza charms her. Secrets play out: is there love at the Love Ranch? How will Charlie respond?

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again? Nope. Too many movies to get to before I die.

I don't know how this one escaped my attention but when I recently came across it in one of my bulk buys I was shocked to see that there was a recent Joe Pesci movie that also starred Hellen Mirren as a couple of pimps running a whorehouse in Nevada! That's all I need to know. And it's pretty good. If you're a fan of either actor then you're going to want to see this. Pesci plays it charming and cruel but not as bastardly as his work with Scorsese. Mirren is a beast of an actor and seeing these two play opposite each other was a treat. For the record, Hellen Mirren needs to have my babies.


See! Does that look like a broad who is 63? That's not from this movie but it was taken two years earlier. RANCH is also a pretty good crime picture that's not only well acted but well directed and the ending is very satisfying. Director Hackford has done some big pictures including THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE (1997), one of the few Keanu Reeves movies I can take. Besides, this is the only picture Pesci has done since 1998! Check it out.