Love the Hard Way
Tags: romantic, neo noir, murder, flashback

Plot synopsis:
Love The Hard WayScene #1:
A Punk From the Bronx
Movie opens with Jack (Adrien Brody) in his apartment in the Bronx. Jack brings a cup of coffee to his sleeping roommate Charlie (John Seda) and searches Charlies pants pockets for car keys. After finding the keys, Jack leaves the apartment and gets into his car to start his day. Jack goes to a storage unit that he uses as his office and starts to write about his fears of screwing things up.Scene #2Love is just a Four Letter Word
Jack is in a movie theater but leaves when his cell phone rings. In the lobby Claire
(Charlotte Ayanna) is working concessions; she is studying. Jack introduces himself and
starts to flirt with her. Claire is unimpressed. Jack confesses that he has slept with 200
women and Claire responds by saying that Will Chamberlin makes Jack look like a Punk on account that Will has slept with over 200,000 women. Claire confesses that she has a boyfriend that loves her, to which Jack tells her that Love is just a four letter word. He then leaves to meet up with Charlie with whom he had previously spoken to on the phone.Jack goes to a fancy hotel where he is supposed to meet up with Charlie to pull a heist.
Jack walks over to the concierge, Jeff (August Diehl) a co-conspirator, gives Jack a key and a room number. Charlie has not shown up yet so Jack goes outside to wait for him and have a smoke. Outside Jack meets a wealthy overly dressed woman. We learn later that she is Det. Linda Fox (Pam Grier) who works vice and is currently undercover investigating the crimes that Jack and Charlie commit.Scene #3The Great Dictation
Charlie finally shows up and both men change into police uniforms and barge into the
room Jeff had told them. Inside the room there are a number of foreign business men
engaging in sex acts with two prostitutes. Charlie cuffs the prostitutes and leads them out of the room, leaving Jack and the foreign business men alone. Jack threatens the business men with jail time and prosecution until they offer up a bribe, which Jack takes and leaves the business men to get dressed. He then goes into a different hotel room with the bribe money. When he enters, we see Charlie and the two prostitutes Sue and Pamela (Liza Jessie Peterson, Elizabeth Regen) as well as Jeff the concierge, waiting. We find out the women are not prostitutes, but actresses, and they want their cut of the bribe money and complain to Jack and Charlie that they need to barge into the room earlier next time. Jack and the rest of the gang go to a club to celebrate.The next day Jack accompanies Charlie to a university, so Charlie can collect money from a student that participates in a gambling ring Charlie runs on the side, on the way out Jack and Charlie run into Claire and her friend Deb (Katherine Moennig). It is clear that Deb does not approve of Jack or Charlie. It is revealed that Claire is studying biology.Scene # 4Big on Personal Experience
We soon meet Fitzgerald, Claires boyfriend, who is preparing to do a presentation. Jack asks Claire to meet him at the Staten Island Ferry the next day at 5pm.
Jack waits alone at the Staten Island Ferry unsure if Claire will show up, but soon
enough she does. Jack takes Claire to a fancy restaurant and they discuss their likes and dislikes. Jack says that he likes anything that gives him a kick. He tells Claire about his and Charlies prostitute police heist. Claire flirts by saying that she is a cop and will
arrest him. Jack says that he prefers not to know what comes next in life; he does not
want to know everything. He is big on personal experience not book learning.Scene #5Naïve Claire
Claire asks Jack what comes next and he tells her that they are now in love with each
other. Claire protests and says she is not in love with him and Jack retorts not yetnot
yet! They go back to Jacks apartment and Jack asks Claire what type of movies she likes, sad ones or happy ones. Claire says she likes the sad ones; the ones that make her cry. Then the two have sex. Afterward, while Jack is sleeping, Claire sneaks out to the living room to study. Soon after, Jack wakes up and goes into the living room and asks Claire if that was her first time. She answers by asking if he has really slept with 200 women.Scene #6Whats going on Jack?
The next morning after Claire leaves, Jack goes to his storage unit/office and starts to
write using dialogue that Claire and he had shared. Time passes and we see a sad Claire going through the steps of day-to-day life. In a conversation between Claire and Deb we learn that Jack has not called in two weeks. Jack has continued to live his life and sleeps with other women as usual. Claire starts to call Jack constantly. Finally, Jack says he will meet her to talk, but instead sends Charlie to get rid of her. Charlie comes back to the apartment after meeting with Claire and we see that she has followed him demanding that Jack talk to her. Jack and Claire get into a fight.Scene # 7Fallen AngelThe fight is cut short because Jack and Charlie have to leave to pull off their heist. Jack is irritated by Claire, but also worried about leaving her on the streets outside his apartment.As Jack and Charlie leave, Claire confesses her love to Jack. Jack ignores this.
Back on campus, Deb tries to convince Claire that she will not be able to save Jacks soul.Claire proclaims that if Jack is going to hell then she wants him to take her with him.
After hearing this Deb confronts Jack and asks him to leave Claire alone. Deb says that
Claire is now failing her classes. Jack says he would love to break up with Claire and that he has tried. Jack confesses that he knows he is a bad influence on Claire and wants her out of his life.Scene #8Born to lose
Jack and Charlie go to the Hotel planning to pull their heist when Jack recognizes the
fancy dressed woman and begins to suspect that she is a detective. Jack and Charlie
decide not to put on their cop uniforms and to abandon their plans. They attempt to contact Sue and Pamela, but are unable to. Suddenly, real police show up and bust Sue and Pam for prostitution. Detective Fox comes over to Jack and Charlie and explains that she has no evidence on them yet, but will soon. Next Jack and Charlie discuss what to do without the girls. The two decide they must find two new actresses that want to make some money. Charlie suggests Claire and Jack says no.Scene # 9Give Claire a Try
The two men go back to their apartment and notice someone is waiting for them. Tensions run high, but it turns out to be Claire. This leads to Jack and Claire having sex again. The next morning the conversation is back to finding two new girls. Jeff is now in the apartment putting in his two cents. Jeff says that Jack and Charlie can never show their faces in the hotel again and reveals that he has quit his job. He says he has gotten a new concierge job at a new hotel where they all can keep on working.Scene #10XRay Eyes
The next day Jack goes to his storage unit and starts to write, in doing so, he finds that he does in fact have feelings for Claire. Jack picks Claire up from work and starts to parent her about staying in school and not fucking up her life. Then he gives Claire a gift; a matching pair of sunglasses.The pair go to a dance club and meet up with Charlie. While they dance, Fitzgerald walks into the club and a fight ensues. Jack, Claire and Charlie are arrested. While at the police station, Detective Fox once again threatens Jack and Charlie to stay clean or she will get them. Once the three are released, we learn a little more about Jack: he has never been to prison and he was raised in an all boys home.Scene # 11Avenging Angel
Claire tends to the bruises Jack received during the fight which leads to them having sex. Next we see Jack studying with Claire. She is taperecording her study session. Jack tells Claire that she is the sexiest future Nobel Prize winner and then pretends to
interview her after she has won the Nobel prize. In this interview Jack pretends that
Claire has been able to remove the criminal DNA from him and now he can live a normal
life. Claire asks Jack to stop pulling his heist. He promises he will and then notices that
the whole conversation has been recorded.Scene # 12Nervous Jeff
Claire has been invited to study at a another university for two weeks. She is reluctant to
go, but Jack tells her that it is an honor and she has her Nobel Prize to worry about. Just
before Claire leaves she gives Jack the tape and asks him to listen to his promise.
Later Charlie and Jack return to their apartment, which was clearly broken into. Once they enter they find Pamela inside. She has been released from prison and is ready
to get back to work. We learn that Sue will not be returning and that she has moved to the coast. Jeff and Jack have a meal together at which time Jeff reveals that he wants more money and respect because Jack and Charlie need him more then he needs them. Jack says he will handle it then leaves Jeff alone to finish his meal. It is assumed that the team has pulled their heist multiple times. One night Claire returns, but Charlie tries to get her to leave. She is insistent and barges into Jacks room where she finds Jack and Pamela naked. Jack plays it cool, but Claire loses it.Scene #13Some of Jack
Jack asks Claire if she is done with him, he says he does not deserve her tears, and that
the love story was just in her head. He confesses that he only wanted her for one thing.Scene #14A Foreign Body
Claire wanders the streets until it is late at night and she is mistaken for a prostitute.
She goes through with the Johns requests. Later Claire meets up with Jeff and he
explains that she is just a foreign body in Jacks life and foreign bodies are always
rejected.The next thing we see is Charlie and Jack barging into a hotel room dressed as cops, both men are shocked to find Claire inside with a businessman actually having sex. Jack becomes extremely violent and beats up the businessman.Scene # 15
Bye
Jack now wants to kill Jeff. Jack finds Jeff and holds a gun to his head. Jeff explains that
Claire told him that Jack was ok with it. After some violence, Jack regains some control
and leaves. Reluctantly Jack allows Claire to take the place of Sue. Claire proves to
be good at the job maybe to good. Pamela is angry and refuses to work with Claire
because she actually lets the men have sex with her. Charlie becomes worried that
Claires self destructive actions will bring the whole group down. Jack agrees, and so the decision is made to kick her out.Scene #16Desperate
Charlie meets with Claire to tell her she is out of the group. Jack starts to follow Claire
and finds that she no longer goes to school and that she is still turning tricks. Claire takes a John into a bar bathroom and Jack follows them in. This turns out be too much for Jack to handle and he punches a wall then leaves. Jack continues to follow Claire for day and becomes more and more concerned about her well being.Scene # 17A Tired Straight Student
One evening Claire mysteriously shows up at Jacks apartment with last semesters
report card. She had received straight As. Claire is obviously tired and has a black eye.
She explains that she got straight As because Jack had spent so much time studying with her. Claire is weak and collapses. Jack helps her to the bedroom, where Claire cries and Jack just holds her. The next morning Jack is leaving to pull another heist, but before he leaves he asks Claire to be there when he gets back. During the heist things go wrong when the foreign businessman turns out to be an undercover cop and arrests Jack, Charlie, Jeff and Pamela. Back at Jacks Apartment Claire waits and waits but Jack never returns.Scene #18Two Years Later
Jack continues writing while in prison. We learn that when he did not return Claire
thought it was another lie and slit her wrists in a suicide attempt. As she bled
she listen to the tape of Jack promising to give up the life of a criminal. The police
found her in time to save her life. While working in the prison kitchen, Charlie starts a fight, and Jack gets stabbed. Jack is seriously injured and makes plans that in case he does not survive that Claire get his journal.Scene #19Charlie a Captive Audience
Soon Jack recovers and is given an early release from prison. Jack says goodbye to Charlie, who apologizes for starting the fight. Charlie asks Jack what he will do next. Jack says that he will write a book and that he will send Charlie a chapter a month. Jack goes back to his apartment and finds the blood stains on his bedroom floor where
Claire had tried to take her life. Claire has now graduated and is working in a laboratory. Jack calls her and asks her to meet him at his storage unit saying that he has something for her. She agrees and when she arrives Jack is not there. She goes inside and finds his journal and reads it. Once she is done reading Jack enters. He asks her what she thinks. She says she does not blame him for anything. Jack asks her what he should do with the rest of his life and she answers, do what any good writer does, write another book.

Review: He gives a beautiful, touching performance here as a charming, rakish, snakeskin-jacket-wearing con artist who falls in love with a girl from the right side of the tracks.
In other words, he's exactly the kind of bad boy that would attract intellectual Claire (Charlotte Ayanna), a beautiful, unstable biology major at Columbia.
Claire tells him she likes movies best that make her cry, and he does his best to oblige her, ultimately sending her on a self-destructive bender that makes him look like a good boy.Brody carries this film, and the lovely Charlotte Ayanna is unfortunately not given nearly as much to work with.
He is the walking, talking answer to the question, "Why do good girls like bad boys?"
This is a shame, particularly after Brody's Oscar win this year, and I hope that this will change and that more people will get to see this movie and see one of the most talented actors of his generation in action..
I watched the movie and like the others in the theater had the same rollercoster ride of feelings, but it was not until after I left the theater that I had an abundance of emotions come over me.
I experienced a similar overall feeling from watching "Gia" - a movie about supermodels and the pitfalls of modeling (That happens to be Angelina Jolie's best film - unlike her others, and worth watching.) What Love the Hard Way has, that other films don't, are characters who you really connect with.
I think the IMDb rating of this film is far too low, and I think those people who gave it a low score were either not paying attention, or not allowing themselves to do so.Which isn't surprising, because this film is hard to watch at times.
In private, Jack is hard at work writing a novel, and frequently visits a run down movie theater where he meets Claire, played by Charlotte Ayanna.
Claire is a "good girl"  graduate student who eagerly ignores warnings not to date Jack.
It's a story of love, jealousy, sex, betrayal, crime, suicide, it's a realistic love story and a lesson of everything that should not happen in a relationship.Adrien Brody is outstanding in this one, and Charlotte Ayanna is also good.
Bad boy Jack meets good girl Claire--Can it work?.
After admiring Adrien Brody's haunted portrayal of the pianist trapped in Nazi Germany, I wondered if he could really be that good of an actor, maybe it was just the genius of Polanski's direction.
I'll believe that someone can get bit by a special poisonous spider and gain super powers before I'll believe that someone that looks like Charlotte Ayanna (and supposedly is a science student) would have ANYTHING to do with someone who looks and acts like Brody's character or would start to turn tricks for less than $10,000 per night.
Brody isn't physically imposing enough to carry the role, and Ayanna is FAR too good looking.
Adrien Brody, will you marry me??Ok, proposals aside, I think I'll be thinking about this movie for a while.
As a slick New York con artist who falls for a college girl, he is the answer to the question, "Why do all girls like bad boys?"  I think I've lived this story--not quite to the depths that Claire sinks to, but certainly felt like that before.
Also, Brody is fabulous, wonderful, and his character is developed to the point where we understand why she'd be in love with him, but she is rather one-dimensional.
I liked Love the Hard Way. Here is an attempt at a modern romantic myth, namely the American Virgin.
Sure men want their love chick to be pure, to raise sons and daughters that are yours and yours alone, but Adrien Brody is a young thief in a porno world he did not make.
It's fun to watch the now famous Adrien Brody interact with the warm and pretty Charlotte Ayanna, the great Jon Seda of Homicide, and that Tarantino-revived 70's icon Pam Grier.
Love the Hard Way has a more than decent cast that works well together:  Brody has good chemistry with both Ayanna and Seda, and the New York of the movie has good chemistry too:  it's real and beautiful without being obtrusive.
The trouble with the attempt to establish a hard-edged milieu is that what Brody and Seda's characters are doing doesn't seem ugly enough: the bedroom scams are too pat, and too independent of the outside big city world of crime.
The early scenes where Brody and Ayanna are wooing each other start him off not looking hard at all; in fact he just seems like a nice cocky young Jewish boy who's full of himself and bursting with joie de vivre.
His pimp clothes and pimp manner don't fit him right and just seem put on to strike a pose.You keep watching your DVD for the acting job Brody, Ayalla and Seda do.
Of course, there's a whole story and a lot of events, situations, well written characters, very good performances...Peter Sehr has created his own world, and set it in real life.
In movies that come close to reality, we cry because we know the things can happen or because we identify with them.
Adrien Brody plays Jack, a thief.
He wakes up every day, probably with a girl beside him in the bed, and wears the same jacket, just to go out for a walk, for a movie, or for a heist He has two friends (Charlie and Jeff), or colleagues, and knows two women (Sue and Debbie).
When Jack meets Claire (Charlotte Ayanna) he doesn't know how to act.
This great scene, shows Jack and Charlie following them, and ruining things every time they try to impress the girls.
They are a little ignorant (in another scene, when a detective asks Charlie what his work is, he says: "African American literature, until 1950"; he knows that doesn't exist, probably), however charming enough to arrange a meeting (I'm talking about Jack and Claire here) at a station.
Jack goes there, he invited Claire, and doesn't know if she's going to come.
"Do you already know what's inside or you want to open it and take a look?" This movie is wonderfully directed, edited, and of course, written.
Going back to Brody, hate me now, but he probably deserved that award, although his performance in "The Pianist" isn't as good as his Jack in "Love the Hard Way".
"I can't love anyone", Jack says to Claire, looking directly into her eyes..
"Love the Hard Way" tells of a penny ante crook who writes by day and runs an extortion scam by night (Brody) who falls in love with a college student (Ayanna).
Adrien Brody plays a hard-boiled con-man called Jack who lures Japanese businessmen into assignations with call-girls - and then poses as a vice cop in order to extract bribes.
After Jack resists Claire's efforts to reform him and rejects her, she decides on a dangerous strategy to win him back.In different hands - and with a less talented cast - 'Love The Hard Way' would likely be a horrible mess.
In this instance writer/director Peter Sehr invests the story with some genuine originality - while Brody and Charlotte Ayanna give the star-crossed lovers some depth as they struggle to resolve their issues.
I don't really understand the reviews praising it to the skies, not terrible but no one can say that it wasn't without it's flaws for sure.The feeling in terms of look and acting is more or less of a 90's TV movie, the actual movie dabbles with a lot more psychologically darker elements though in the second half but I feel that it merely scratches the surface of that and doesn't really go down to the core of the issue and it just doesn't feel like a natural progress.I can't really go into details without spoiling it but let's just say that you can't really complain about lack of character development because of that there's plenty, it just doesn't feel like it was handled in a realistic way the changes are pretty instantaneous.Anyway, the movie also comes with a hip hop soundtrack which isn't all bad and nothing really screams hip hop like Adrien Brody with a ton of hair-gel making his hair stand in all directions and a snakeskin suit-jacket.Or wait maybe it does, maybe Jon Seda in a Charlie Chaplin suit with a hat to match does?Jokes aside, that is actual clothes that the characters wear casually in the movie and in the bonusmaterial Jon Seda says that the director (who's German) helped picking out the wardrobe and I'm thinking maybe that wasn't the best idea cause it gets distracting at times, they are supposed to be to guys from the hood (hence the hiphop soundtrack) and even though Seda manages to convey that regardless of what he's wearing Brody could have done with some Rocawear or something to make it seem legit.Overall it does have some interesting turns for a romance but it doesn't quite hit it's mark...
Love the Hard Way is a New York romance story of a grad student named Claire and the Jack, the petty thief and secret writer she falls for.
Jack, played by the wonderful Oscar winner Adrien Brody, claims to have been with 200 women.
One night stands are all they are to Jack, but when he meets Claire ,portrayed by the beautiful Charlotte Ayanna, who wants a real relationship, Jack's world is turned up upside-down by a combination of sex, true love, and loyalty.
Adrien Brody is an excellent actor and gives an interesting performance, but I find him miscast: he doesn't really exude a life of crime out of every pore.
I think this is a story that a lot of bright, intelligent women can identity with, but beyond that I thought the storyline had a great textural feel and the character development was pretty good.
I would have liked to have seen a little more delving into the characters' backgrounds - there is a brief hint as to Jack's (Adrien Brody's character) background and the reason he is the way he is, but the others are left purely to your imagination.
So, lacking this, I think the main question one would ask would be what brings a woman like Claire - intelligent, beautiful and sophisticated with a promising future ahead of her - to dive to the depths that she did in this story?
Once again, Brody's bad-boy persona comes through with such saturation youwould think this is the way he grew up in real life...wink-wink.
i don't know why it didn't get very popularand don't care i love this movie....Adrien Brody is soo incredibly hott in this movie and it is justawesome no other words can describe it....my friendsRoxy, Dustin, and Mike all agree that it is the bestmovie ever...and if anyone wants to borrow it i say i lost it cause i am not suppose to share it and i don't want too....it is the best movie in the world and i don't care what anyone says and i hate people who put down MY movie!!!!.
Adrien Brody is a fantastic actor.This is a better movie than Sideways or Closer or any other relationship melodrama.
Adrien Brody is excellent as Jack, a con-man-cum-pulp-fiction-writer who falls for a biology graduate student with a self-destructive streak.
Though some of the characters - including Claire's tough, loyal best friend - and dialogue are nothing new, a fresh soundtrack, well-acted supporting cast and unglamorous portrayal of New York City vice made this film stayed with me for weeks..
hmm good acting or off screen love affair.Now, Brody is a great talent, given, but don't be star-struck there are stellar performances all about and some where you might not be looking.((((SOUND)))) The soundtrack, music primarily composed by Me and the Other Guy aka Didi Gutman and Rahj is the best supporting role of all, providing the movie from beginning to end, a lovely and melodic groove, with velvety vocals and bitter sweet lyrics that cut to the core.
Adrien Brody's performance is one of his best and my personal favorite.
Also the story will make you think as it is a bitter sweet love story it also has dark mysterious qualities, what more do you want from a movie?
I'm sorry, but anyone who bought into this bile-fest doesn't know the first thing about what makes a movie good!
I love to watch this movie when I want to make myself suffer.
I have always had a thing for bad boys like the one Adrien Brody plays here.
The acting by Adrien Brody is Excellent.
The direction is very good and the film is creative going from the first time they begin seeing each other to the time when Brody realizes he's in love and has a break down in a restaurant bar.
If everyone would just look at each movie as different and make no comparisons they should realize "Love the Hard Way" is excellent and well worth watching.
I think I have never felt more sorry for a girl like Claire in a movie.
This movie is much about feelings, love, sex, crime and downfalls.
I know guys like Jack and girls like Claire and they are very good portrayed here.
In a comment I read that Brody isn't the best choice for this role not because of his acting but of his look.
A person that a girl could fall in love with, no matter how she looks like.
Please Brody do "Love The Hard Way 2"?.
I am 51 and have never wanted to see a follow up movie until "Love The Hard Way".
Brody's tone of voice changed when he was humbled at thinking he lost her to the lifestyle he did not like, but, was compelled to "act out" the childhood nightmare he came from, and secretly wanted to have a stable life.
The movie I thought was interesting.I feel that Jack could not love anyone, and no matter how many times he told Claire that she wanted to change him.Claire was a moron.
Jack kept telling her that he did not love her and to not get involved with him but she did not listen.The downward spiral that she put herself in after wards by becoming a hooker, was that at this point she was dead inside and felt nothing.Like in the photo booth she looked like a walking corpse.
My favorite part about watching Brody perform is his ability to BE his character.
We have all known a "bad boy" and with Adrien Brody in the part we can all understand why so many chicks fall so hard for them.
The movie got such rotten reviews that I almost didn't bother, but I thought Adrien Brody was fantastic in both The Pianist and Oxygen, and Pam Grier is my girl.
I wish I could write a sequel to it in which Jack gets published, married to Claire, but probably he would go back to the world he knows while trying to publish.
I hope Adrien Brody doesn't screw up his Oscar win by taking stupid roles and going totally Hollywood; he is way too good for that.
It is worth watching for Adrien Brody's performance alone..
I could go on picking it apart, but it isn't worth the time.Movies like this really aggravate me because it is obvious that a lot of talented people were involved, but the writers/producers have produced little more than a stylish insult to human intelligence.
There was no chemistry between the Adrien Brody and Charlotte Ayanna, despite two scenes during which she sticks her naked breasts into the camera, making this a horrible romance, and it was also an idiot crime thriller as well.
First Claire likes Jack and he just uses her, then she starts prostituting herself nearly to death and suddenly he cares, then he doesn't show up one night so she slits her wrists and we think she's dead, then two years later he gets out of jail and comes back to the same apartment, condo, squatter's crash palace or whatever the hell is still there waiting for him, and they get back together.
LOVE THE HARD WAY (LtHW) and NOTHING TO LOSE would be an appropriate Adrien Brody double-feature because both had me muttering `Dumbass!' every time the protagonists acted like jerks.
Guess I should've sensed trouble when antihero Jack (Brody) wears a snakeskin jacket obviously intended to make him look cool; I couldn't help thinking, "Nicolas Cage called from the set of WILD AT HEART; he wants his jacket back!"  Brody looks cute despite the "cool" touches, which at least help make the film watchable, as does LtHW's striking use of NYC locations like The Screening Room, where heroine Claire (Charlotte Ayanna) works part-time, and a former office building in the South Bronx that Jack and his partner-in-crime Charlie (Jon Seda) call home.
Though Brody's acting is terrific and he looks great (despite that jacket :-), the script and sluggish pacing defeats him, rendering Jack more obnoxious and smug than sexy and charismatic.
Adrien Brody's acting in this movie is incredible, yet reminiscent to his portrayal of Richie in Summer of Sam. Charlotte Ayanna is also amazingly real and relatable in a way that i feel many other actresses could not acceive.
Although the romance between Jack and Claire seems to go progress too quickly it is one of the most real and unflinching screen love story i have seen recently.
I did not do anything that Claire did, but my ex, was very much like Jack, with sleeping with other girls and lying, but yet was in love with me.
My ex did change over time like Jack did, but he only did it by my threatening to leave him.
It's very useful and it makes people who know that Jack changed for Claire and had hope for the two to be together, learn that they ended up together.