It is a beautiful movie, all the scenes shot very nicely. But the reason I would not recommend it is because the movie has no clear focus.

The focus of this film, which was split between Buster and the couples half-and-half, should have been solely on Ray and Martha instead, who would have had the chance to make the film a lot more twisted, gruesome and action-packed..., the sort of things you would expect in a serial killer movie. The movie-rated "R" anyway-is a lot cleaner than I thought. The most gruesome scene is probably the blood gushing out of the woman who was shot by Martha in a furry while she was riding on Ray having sex. That is all. I guess if there was additional 20 mins scenes shot on the killer couples and their preys, we would have the chance to look deeper into their twisted mind and the manic killing spree.

Instead, the film spent a lot of precious time on Buster. If there was a good story about him, it would have been different. But it was none. Buster's wife died at the beginning, shooting her brain out in a bathtub. The scene was a lot like the later one, where Ray's victim committing a suicide because she caught him having sex with Martha. So I naturally thought there was some connection between Buster's wife and Ray. I waited until the last minute expecting to see it revealed, but nothing. The director did not give any explanation about Buster's wife's suicide, which basically devalued the starting scene-there was nothing in the end to echo the beginning. Then it was Buster's personal life: his son, his mom, Rene... has not much to do with neither the killing nor the detection. So does anybody care except the director, who is actually a descendant of real Buster?

In the end, I was puzzled why Laura Dern joined this film. She was David Lynch's favorite leading actress. She looked like an angel in Blue Velvet. She was so skillful in Inland Empire. Then she played Rene, who was not important what so ever. I mean, Laura tried to show the different aspect of this woman, her harshness in the office, her tenderness in bed with Buster, her self-respect... All the effort was wasted again, when it came to the end scene, where it had no time to explain her reunion with Buster. There should have been some good emotional scenes.

Even though the shooting was done beautifully, the storyline was planned very poorly. I can't say I enjoyed watching it.

Based on the true story, two homicide detectives track Martha Beck and Raymond Martinez Fernandez, a murderous pair known as the "Lonely Hearts Killers" who lured their victims through the personals. Lonely Hearts stars John Travolta, Salma Hayek, Jared Leto, James Gandolfini, Scott Caan and Laura Dern. This film received better reviews than i expected it to and currently has 6.5/10 on IMDb and 60% on Metacritic unfortunately it got a 5.6/10 and a 48% on Rotten Tomatoes and i do understand some of it's flaws that it might had for example i felt that the chemistry between Laura Dern and John Travolta could have been better but on the same time it wasn't that bad either but i think that the best part of the movie was Leto and Hayek and their chemistry was good unlike some other reviewers said and it shows how mad they both were. The performances from all the leads were good with Salma Hayek and Jared Leto stealing the show for the most part. The film could have done some things better like the chemistry between Dern and Travolta or even James Gandolfini's character that was kinda forgettable and had zero character development but for the most part the film had good performances and a good amount of Drama around it. (9/10)

The exploits of a murderous couple who, in the late 1940s, became known as "The Lonely Hearts Killers" generated a great deal of public interest because of their long-running crime spree and the gruesome nature of the numerous murders that they committed. It's no surprise, therefore, that their story has already provided the basis for a couple of movies and the most notable of these was Leonard Kastle's "The Honeymoon Killers" (1970). In Kastle's movie, the focus remained exclusively on the couple and there was never any intimation that the police were on their tails. "Lonely Hearts", by contrast, tells its story by providing a balanced view of what took place, from the perspectives of both the criminals and the police.

Interestingly, director and screenwriter, Todd Robinson is the grandson of the homicide detective who arrested the two killers and so his motivation for telling the story in the way he does is perfectly understandable.

After the unexplained suicide of his wife three ears earlier, Nassau County police detective Elmer "Buster" Robinson (John Travolta) had fallen into a deep depression and unable to come to terms with what had happened, confined himself mainly to desk work. This changed however, when a woman's dead body was found in circumstances very similar to his wife's and his colleagues immediately concluded that the death was a suicide. From that point on, Buster became determined to prove that the woman in question had been murdered and to hunt down her killer. Although Detective Charles Hildebrandt (James Gandolfini), who'd been Buster's friend and partner since their "squad car days" wasn't convinced, he was nevertheless, pleased to see this positive change in his old buddy.

Raymond Martinez Fernandez (Jared Leto) was a small-time scam-artist whose speciality was locating lonely single women through the newspaper personal ads and after writing to them for a while, would seduce them before relieving them of as much money as possible. One of his marks was ex-nurse Martha Beck (Salma Hayek), but after discovering that she was unemployed, he immediately lost interest in her. Unexpectedly though, Martha recognised what Raymond was up to and enthusiastically joined him in his endeavours, posing as his sister. Unfortunately, Raymond soon discovered that his new partner-in-crime was intensely jealous of the ladies he targeted and was, not only swift to turn her hand to murder, but also to goad Raymond into murdering as well.

The couple's murderous rampage continued unabated for some time before Buster, who was also preoccupied by problems with his personal relationships, was eventually able to catch up with the pair and bring them to justice.

"Lonely Hearts" is a beautifully made film that successfully captures the look and atmosphere of the period in which it's set and features some great hardboiled dialogue. At one point, Buster predicts that "Hell's coming home for Xmas" if Raymond ever decides to dump Martha.

Adding an account of the police perspective on the investigation provides some extra interest but what's more difficult to understand is why some departures from the true story were included for no apparent reasons. Fernandez didn't, in fact, kill a police officer and an old man as depicted in this movie and Martha Beck, in reality, was an unattractive, insecure woman who weighed over 200 lbs and was not Hispanic.

This movie boasts a terrific cast of actors who turn in some excellent performances. John Travolta conveys the troubled nature of his character who's struggling to come to terms with the death of his wife and to overcome problems with his relationships with his son and his secret lover. Jared Leto is good as the toupee-wearing gigolo who finds himself on the road to Hell after meeting Martha and Salma Hayek, although obviously miscast, brings great vitality to her role and does especially well in the scenes that she shares with Leto. James Gandolfini (who provides the movie's entertaining narration) also does a good job of playing a tough cop, whilst also simultaneously showing the warmth that exists between Hildebrandt and Robinson.

Overall, "Lonely Hearts" is a worthwhile remake that's interesting and enjoyable to watch (especially for those who aren't too concerned about its factual inaccuracies).