Untamed Heart [DVD] [1993]

Marisa Tomei is luminous as Caroline, the Minneapolis waitress with self-esteem problems who looks for love in all the wrong places, before finding it right where she works. She imbues Caroline with just the right measure of street smarts, working class edge, and little girl vulnerability. She is a needy, though nice, young woman who desperately wants to love and be loved. Unfortunately, the guys she meets tend to treat her as a one night stand. The sensitive and romantic Adam, the reticent and quirky busboy who works the midnight shift with Caroline, is just what the doctor ordered.

Christian Slater gives his best performance ever as Adam who becomes Caroline's veritable knight in shining armor. An orphan with a disability that he cloaks with an intriguing story, Adam is a true romantic hero. His quiet sincerity, delicate sensibilities, and apparent contentment in worshipping from afar touch Caroline, tugging at her heart strings. You see, he treats her as if she were a princess rather than as a strumpet. Christian Slater's sensitive and moving performance in a difficult role strikes just the right note. I would bet that nearly every woman who watches this film succumbs to his charms and finds herself half falling in love with him.

The film seems to tell the viewer that once one has love in one's grasp, hold it tight, as one never knows what the fates have in store. Though the ending may be somewhat predictable, it will not stop the viewer from needing a hanky. This is a wonderful film with excellent performances that will greatly appeal to those viewers with a romantic streak in their hearts. Beautifully directed with superlative performances by Marissa Tomei and Christian Slater, it is a film that merits being in one's personal collection.

The plot centres round the small town love story between coffee shop waitress, Caroline, played by Marisa Tomei and kitchen hand Adam played by Christian Slater. Slater is an orphan who also has a weak heart and Tomei, a optimistic romantic is always on the look out for real love, and it's not surprising that eventually the two fianally manage to begin a relationship, but after that there is really nothing else in the whole film.

Now before people start leaping up and accusing me of being just another bloke who doesn't understand romance movies I must say in my defence that some of my favourite films are romances, and I'm a stickler for small-town films that centre on a small number of characters. But I'm sorry; this long drawn out effort between these two just didn't push the right buttons for me.

The two main leads play their parts adequately well. Tomei plays her love seeking and slightly idealistic role with great grace and charm and her beauty and great range of facial expressions do work most of the time. The scene when she discovers the Xmas tree in her room is delightful and even an old cynic like me is drawn in. Slater on the other hand doesn't really have that much to do with the almost silent and somewhat retarded Adam. To be honest he came over just a little bit creepy to me and girls can you honestly say you would be thrilled to find out that this man had been sneaking into your bedroom to watch you sleep, even if it was Christian Slater.

The two main leads, especially Tomei, are well supported by Rosie Perez who makes the most of the little she has with the role of fellow waitress Cindy and it's here that I think the film is slightly lacking. I would have though a vital ingredient of a dialogue driven, limited cast film is to fill the minor parts with interesting and maybe quirky characters, but really aside from Perez there is no-one else in the film.

The film does use all the tear-jerking romance tricks in the book, and uses them unashamedly, which is at least refreshing that it doesn't try to pretend it's nothing it isn't, but for me alas it didn't provide the necessary "hook" to really get into it.