Love the Hard Way

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Love the Hard Way ★★ 2001

Would-be hipster writer Jack Grace (Brody) runs smalltime scams with his friend Charlie (Seda). Grad student Claire (Ayanna) falls for the romeo, even though she can see he's a loser. Though Jack cheats on her, Claire hangs around, even deciding that the best way to keep him is to join in Jack's con games. The characters are tedious as is the story; Grier shows up to give the film some spark in the small role of a cop out to bust Jack. “Inspired” by the Chinese novel “Fire and Ice” by Wang Shuo. 104m/C VHS, DVD . US Adrien Brody, Charlotte Ayanna, Jon Seda, Pam Grier, August Diehl, David W. Ross; D: Peter Sehr; W: Peter Sehr, Marie Noelle; C: Guy Dufaux; M: Darien Dahoud.