User Reviews

"Untamed Heart" is a basically engaging love story that is quite corny and hokey at times, but it is compensated a good deal by its two main stars. Christian Slater is one of my favorite actors and Marisa Tomei is one of my favorite actresses. So naturally, it was a joy to see them on screen together. However, I still think Slater was slightly miscast, though his performance was impressive. I just felt, as I started to ponder the film's credibility more and more, that if this were a real situation I don't think the character of Adam would be as handsome as Christian Slater. But it can happen by coincidence. That was just a minor flaw I was able to point out. Yes, this is a pretty sappy romance with one too many "I Love You" monologues by Tomei's character. The story is relatively predictable. The ending is depressing, but it's one of those sad endings you can kind of see coming. *THIS MAY BE A POTENTIAL SPOILER* Slater gets put in the hospital after the guys he beat up (for trying to rape Tomei) stabbed him, in a vow of revenge. Since he has a defective heart, the doctors want to give him a heart transplant. But he violently refuses. He "wants his own heart." Even though this heart is believed to be from a babboon. So he rids himself from the hospital bed, escapes and comes limping to Tomei's doorstep in terrible shape, exactly when Tomei calls up fellow waitress Rosie Perez asking if he's at work. His heart's in bad shape, but he still loves Tomei with all his heart--Well, with whatever's left. OK, that was mean. But I'm still laughing. There's some unnecessary dialogue and moments where the drama is pushed to melodrama--in other words, it has elements of a Lifetime Movie of the Week. The opening scene contains the usual breakup and a pretty obvious setup. Tomei gets ready for a hot date, overdoing the makeup and making sure she looks like a princess, then she hops into her boyfriend's truck and he gives her EVERY romantic cliche in the book. "It's not you, it's me." Gee, I never heard that one before! OK, I know I'm listing a lot of flaws. I probably scared you away from renting this movie, and now it's time to clear things up. If you're a sucker for romantic tear-jerkers, you'll absolutely LOVE this movie! I'm not a sucker for ANY movie. I'm a huge movie buff, and I don't discriminate against finding flaws in any genre of movies. So I hope females don't read this and say, "He's a guy. Naturally, he's not gonna like this movie all that much." I actually found this movie strangely engaging, probably because of the two performances. And there were moments of chemistry between the leads that really did spark. So this is more than a guilty pleasure. There are cliches, but it's not drowned with cliches and corny sentiment. Is it worth watching? Yes. But if you're a guy and you're watching this with a girl, be sure to purchase a box of Kleenex before heading to the video store.

My score: 7 (out of 10)

Christian Slater is a young man with rather freakishly long hair who has been raised in an orphanage and now works as a dishwasher in a Minneapolis diner. He rarely speaks and keeps to himself. Marisa Tomei is a waitress in said diner, and Rosie Perez is her earthy but sympathetic sidekick. Slater has developed a crush on Tomei and follows her around at a discreet distance, so when she's attacked while walking home from work he's able to rescue her. Later, her attackers wreak an unpleasant revenge on Slater. All of this brings the two of them together. Slater lets her know, in his recedent way, that he adores her, and she responds by falling for this shy, silent kinda guy. Their love is, how you say, consummated. But there is a problem. Slater was told by the nuns at his orphanage that he's had a heart transplant, with the donor being a baboon. Whether that's the case or not, his heart is now weakened and needs a booster shot, which Slater is unready to undergo. Eventually his heart, simian or hominid, beats its last, but not before he's had a heck of a good time exchanging tender gestures and body fluids with Marisa Tomei.

I can't really tell if this is a particularly well-done example of the genre because I watch so few examples. I could see most of the developments coming, and so would you. And the crooning of Johnny Mathis and Nat "King" Cole's mystical pop song, "Nature Boy," from the 1950s really wasn't necessary. We get the picture. Slater is quiet, shy, and mysterious -- like Montgomery Clift in "A Place in the Sun" -- the sort of man who attracts women, but only in the movies. In real life I would imagine that he would absorb the attention of women who were chiefly neurotics. A research plan for young men who DON'T look like Montgomery Clift: Get a menial job, speak to no one, don't meet anyone's gaze, and see what happens. If you save a co-worker from rape, you might get a Thank You note and a box of chocolates.

Well, I've made sufficient fun of the movie and it's a bit unfair, like stretching the iridescent wings of a butterfly on the rack. It's supposed to be a sweet and endearing story, and it is, even if it's some mutant form of Beauty and the Beast. At least I was able to get into it, though I hadn't expected to.

The "Nature Boy" business was an irritant, and the baboon heart slipped motionlessly by me, but Slater is quietly effective in the role and Marisa Tomei is quite good and thoroughly believable as a sensitive young woman who serves ham and eggs and reads "Catch 22" at home. Rosie Perez is always a kick in the pants too.

The film stands as a beacon of hope for those of us who trudge off to work, looking exactly the way we feel, and yet suffer from an intense desire to find love in an unpromising milieu. Or anywhere else.

I'm not going to heap praise or scorn upon this film. It deserves a little of both, but it's an "okay" film.

I guess it's successful in one sense at least -- Christian Slater's character does creep me out. But, he also made me think about all the people in our midst who are just a little odd and who are living very lonely lives because of it. So, overall, I would have to say this was a fairly good performance by Slater.

Although she's busy enough, I've long felt that Marisa Tomei is an under-appreciated actress. I wouldn't say this is one of her finest roles, but she's good enough in it.

Rosie Perez is here as a supporting actress. I don't follow her much, but it seems that every time I do see her in a film that she's playing sort of the same character. Is she type cast? In terms of the story, my complaint is that Slater's character is just a bit too weird to make it work really well. Sort of like the screen writer couldn't finesse anything...just went to an extreme caricature. I note that a couple of our reviewers pointed out that for a winter-time film there were an awfully lot of green leafy trees in a few of the shots. True, although I wouldn't have thought about it if it hadn't been mentioned here.

This is an okay film, but it certainly won't end up on my DVD shelf.

Tony Bill's film 'Untamed Heart' is a hugely annoying, kooky-girl-saves-social-misfit type romance. Christian Slater, playing the aforementioned misfit, gives a hugely romanticised performance that bears no relationship whatsoever to the real natures of people who have been unable to develop normal social skills; even so, no girl wants to live with a weirdo forever so from the moment it's mentioned that he has a weak heart, you just know that there's a soft and weepy get-out clause waiting at the end. The film is also coy in avoiding any sex scenes, even though for once these might have been interesting had the writer had the nerve to script them (instead, he blithely implies that everything is just wonderful). If you close your eyes (which is quite easy to do while viewing this boring movie), it's just about affecting; but never for a moment true to life.