Roads to Riches (2002)

AKA: Strange Hearts

Director: Michelle Gallagher

Writer: Michelle Gallagher

Composer: Fletcher Beasley

Starring: Robert Forster, Rose McGowan, Kip Pardue, Harry Hamlin, Andrew Heckler, Meg Wittner, Tony Santoro, Keith Adams, Kelly Donovan, Christopher Michael

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Play the game... Work the crowd... Trust no-one...

Plot: An aging former child star tries to capture the wealth that has always eluded him by latching on to a lucky man while both have their eye on the same girl of their dreams.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!  YARRRRR!!!

Oh, this was so close to being a really good flick.  Harry Hamlin oozes with smarmy cheese, the relationship between Jack (Forster) and Moira (Rose) was nicely handled and it's nice seeing Robert Forster in a starring role.  I didn't buy Dan (Hamlin) thinking Henry (Pardue) would be a great host.  Nope.  And with Henry, Pardue plays him like he's going to con somebody, particularly Jack but that never happens.  It was weird not having that play out like it felt.  At the same time I liked Jack so much (except for that horrible, horrible thing with him growing a mouse in a soda can) that I didn't want anything bad to happen to him and that's to the credit of Forster, even if he has a couple of unusual line readings.  And what's even better is him ending up with the girl as the credits start to roll.  Nice.  The picture's funny and it's got some really nice moments.  The HBO DVD has a nice anamorphic widescreen print with no extras (except for text cast bios which don't count in my book).  Had this a director commentary I'd hold onto the disc to listen to it.  I bet it would be interesting.  It's definitely worth checking out.  I dug it.