Review of When Will I Be Loved

Weird and rather pretentious movie, but it held my interest. It did feel like writer/director Toback forgot to write a third act. The film ends abruptly and unsatisfactorily. Neve Campbell plays a manipulative sexpot whose boyfriend (Fred Weller) prostitutes her to some rich old Italian guy (Dominic Chianese). The situation is pretty much ripped off from Indecent Proposal, although I never saw that one and don't know where it went with that same premise. Toback's film is interesting outside of the plot, especially in the introductory sequence, which cuts back and forth between Campbell and Weller without telling us how they're connected. Of course, if you've heard about this movie at all – and most have not, I think – it's because of Neve's naked body. She did the sex thing, and even the lesbian thing, way back in Wild Things. That was just barely a step above pornography. Last year, Neve worked with Robert Altman, in a project which she herself initiated. I guess with When Will I Be Loved, she decided that, now that she's becoming a respectful actress, she had to do an art movie where she gets naked and makes out with a girl. In reality, this is about a step and a half above porn. Well, okay, I'm not really complaining that she made such a decision. 6/10.