Screenwriting 101. Act 1, The Setup.
We start (years earlier) with an orphan boy who has taken to heart (quite literally) the fairytale-like yarn told to him by a motherly nun, to explain why he is so sickly. His father, a noted explorer, was captured by the Baboon King as he was stealing a magic ruby. But when his father explained it was to cure his ailing son, the Baboon King, struck with sympathy, gave his own heart so the boy might live. OK, some intriguing quirkiness.
And next (in real time) comes Caroline (Marisa Tomei), who we meet as she’s being jilted yet again. One must not criticize the screenplay for having the soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend say things like “maybe we should see other people” or “it’s not you, it’s me.” That’s the same excuse-making crap jerks have said since Mark Antony first told Cleopatra he needed a little time away back in Rome. The real offense here is leaning into the “girl who has bad taste in men” stereotype, though one could argue that means she is likewise soft-hearted in her own way. Still, we have our kind-hearted heroine.
Grownup Adam is a dishwasher and general-purpose gopher guy at the diner where Caroline works. At first he seems mute and slow-witted, but is in fact just incredibly shy and withdrawn.
Act 2. The Confrontation.
Their fates intertwine when, one night, he saves her from a brutal rape attack. It turns out he’s been following her, which she’s willing to forgive under the circumstances. She gets to know him as a kind, sensitive, book-reading, music-listening loner. He tells her, quite earnestly, about his baboon heart; he’s so intense that for a moment she thinks he might actually believe this. A lot of minutes slip by developing this relationship.
Act 3. The Resolution.
As their friendship grows, we begin to wonder where the screenplay is headed: happy, Hollywood miracle, or tear-jerker? Deep into the third act, that baboon heart thing comes back when Adam refuses a procedure that he fears will change him too much. To avoid spoilers (well, there are a few down below), I’ll leave it here.
Skip It
Untamed Heart is both a well meaning and well acted romantic drama. Unfortunately, good intentions and good acting don’t make it memorable and affecting enough to be worth your time. A key element is missing: a plausible story.
It seems petty not to like such a harmless little romance. Especially given the fine performances by Tomei and Slater, and the energetic supporting turn by Rosie Perez as Caroline’s spicy-talking pal. But there are stretches I found boring. Not just the frayed attempts to sew a thematic thread about the “damaged hearts” of the two lovers. But the musical interludes, the needless chatter. There are stretches — which feel longer than they probably are in actual screen time — when you just wonder … what is going on here that’s advancing the story?
Tomei, Slater and Perez give it their all, and if you’re ardent admirers of their work, you could do worse than to give this a try. But the screenplay was a promising first draft. When the creative flourish — the baboon heart thing — leads to Adam making implausibly stupid decisions, what was intended as beguiling quirkiness turns into a maddening distraction. The stereotypical final scene is the nail in the proverbial screenplay coffin.