Love Ranch (2010)

Every time I see “inspired by a true story” at the beginning of a film, I cringe. It usually means that there’s very little actual fact in the film and the movie is going to suck. With the single exception of DOLORES CLAIBORNE which is a terrific film, I’ve found director Taylor Hackford’s work to be routine to downright abysmal. LOVE RANCH is a botched job. “Inspired” by the true story of legalized brothels in Nevada, there’s a great movie subject in here but this isn’t it. What the film is is a crappy May-December romance between a sleazy Argentinean boxer (Sergio Peris-Mencheta, repulsive looking and a dreadful actor) and an older married madam (Helen Mirren) who runs the brothel with her sleazy husband (Joe Pesci). Hackford gets the sordid milieu correct, the only thing about the film that seems authentic. With a wasted cast including Gina Gershon, Bai Ling, Harve Presnell and Bryan Cranston. Well, after this, Mirren can no longer call CALIGULA the nadir of her career.