Product Description

Treat yourself to a laugh-out-loud look at romance when an eccentric piano tuner and a shy bank clerk fall in love in this heartwarming romantic comedy that critics call a gem of a film (The Hollywood Reporter) and the Australian Film Institute named Best Picture of the Year! Peter (Norman Kaye) is quirky, a bit homely and quickly approaching 50a man in dire need of a well-matched mate. But when a dating service offers him a chance to find romance, he meets Patricia (Wendy Hughes),a reserved woman 20 years his junior. It's a pairing only professionals could manage and a courtship only true dating amateurs could endure! But from their excruciating first date at a geriatric bingo game to an intimate evening that ends with tears, these two hopeful romantics find themselves stumbling head over heels toward love. Their heartfelt and often hilarious attempts make Lonely Hearts an enchanting comedyand a pleasing reminder that even the loneliest of hearts can find its match.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #89170 in DVD
• Brand: HUGHES,WENDY
• Released on: 2001-12-26
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .26 pounds
• Running time: 96 minutes

Amazon.com
Director Paul Cox (Innocence) began his winning streak of offbeat pictures and off-center character pieces with this deft 1981 romantic comedy. Norman Kaye is a delight as the 40ish piano tuner with a whimsical streak who meets shy, sheltered single Wendy Hughes, a woman 20 years his junior, through a dating service. This unlikely couple hits it off right away, much to the disapproval of her smothering parents. Cox's deadpan observance of Kaye's wacky pranks is hilarious--Kaye convinces one woman that he's blind, and the confused look on her face as he wobbles back to his car and drives off is alone worth seeing the film. But at heart the movie belongs to the awkward, uncomfortable moments of new relationships that Cox so warmly captures in all their nervous excitement. Cox and Kaye followed this lovely little picture with the even more eccentric Man of Flowers. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews

Lonely Hearts
I was lucky enough to catch this movie from beginning to end on a local cable station. In the first five minutes of the film, I was so engaged that I could not change the station. I really enjoyed watching this movie. The characters were very funny and realistically human. At the end of this movie, as with any great novel, I wondered what else would happen to the characters. I highly recommend this movie for viewing.

"Lonely Hearts" won the Best Film award from the Australian Film Institute...
While many Australian directors of the '70s and '80s repeatedly turned to period nostalgia, broad satire and Hollywood-derived thrillers, Paul Cox moved on a more personal path, quietly exploring troubled romantic relationships in modern, middle-class suburbia...

After years of making (mostly short) experimental films, Cox attracted the attention of a wider public with "Kostas," a touching account of a Greek-immigrant taxi-driver's love for an Australian divorcée... Invalidated by obviousness in its portrait of class and racial prejudice, it nevertheless paved the way for "Lonely Hearts." Again an engaging romance - this time between a middle-aged piano tuner and a shy and frigid bank clerk, introduced by computer-dating - the film's emotional honesty was heightened by a fine comedy and by a penetrating awareness of repressive parental pressures: exerting their right to live together, the lovers expectedly win their freedom...

I just didn't get it
Other reviews have covered the story line so I won't do that again. I guess I just didn't get it. A lot of other reviews have indicated how much they like this movie and how touching and funny it is. I just did not find it very touching or funny. Like a lot of movies, it is not a terrible film, just not very engaging for me. Maybe it just appeals to certain viewers. I'm just adding my rating to balance the ratings total a little. I think a lot of viewers would not find this as interesting as many of the reviewers here do. Maybe we just don't get it, but that is OK - the world takes all kinds.