‘Lonely Hearts’ might break the trend

The organizers of the Coeur d’Alene Film Festival , which begins its three-day run on Friday, were lucky enough – it appears – to snag the John Travolta film “Lonely Hearts” for their event.

Question is, will the film – which plays at 6 p.m. Friday and 3 p.m. Saturday at Coeur d’Alene’s Riverstone Cinemas – be any good? My colleague Jim Kershner , who attended a promotional screening of the film this morning, says yes.

Here is what he e-mailed me:

“The filmed-in-Spokane jinx might be over. The John Travolta-Jared Leto-James Gandolfini-Salma Hayek film ‘Lonely Hearts’ has several important scenes filmed in Spokane. Yet, miracle of miracles, the movie is not crappy.

I caught a screening of ‘Lonely Hearts’ Wednesday in advance of its showing at the Coeur d’Alene Film Festival Friday and Saturday. This turns out to be a well-cast and well-made movie with several memorable scenes and a couple of chilling characters. Director Todd Robinson plays the whole thing as formula film noir, with a lot of cigarette smoke and moody jazz. Yet this is film noir that works.

Leto and Hayek play the notorious Lonely Hearts Killers of 1949 – Raymond Martinez Fernandez and Martha Beck. He romances lonely widows for their money; she murders them for the hell of it. Gandolfini and Travolta are well-cast as the cops tracking them across the country. Director Robinson comes by this story honestly; he’s the grandson of the detective played by Travolta.

The Davenport Hotel in Spokane provides the setting for several key scenes, including a ballroom dancing scene and a scene in which Raymond romances a series of gullible women. The bulk of the movie was filmed in Florida, New York and various other settings.

Maybe that’s why it escaped the jinx.

‘Lonely Hearts’ is probably too dark and brooding to be a mainstream smash. Still, when this movie gets its theatrical release – on April 13 – it should break Spokane’s run of straight-to-DVD bombs.”

One can always hope. After all, can anything match the dreck of “End Game”? Or, even worse, “The Cutter”?