Directed by Justin Corsbie
Written byJustin Corsbie and Craig Ugoretz
Starring Michael Dorman, Sophia Bush, Dermot Mulroney, RZA
Rated R for language throughout, drug use, some violence and sexual references
Runtime: 1 hour 44 minutes
Opens in select theaters October 15

By Gary M. Kramer, Staff Writer

The Todd Snider song, “Just Like Old Times,” the source material for Hard Luck Love Song, is performed during the closing credits of this modest, unassuming drama. It shows just how faithful (and creative) director Justin Corsbie’s film—which he cowrote with Craig Ugoretz—is to its source material. The film, like the song, is all about despair and dumb luck. Corsbie captures these qualities well, and he coaxes flinty performances out of his cast.

Jesse (Michael Dorman) arrives in an unspecified town (an area code suggests Nashville; dialogue indicates he had come from New Orleans) and checks into the Tumble Inn motel. His suitcase contains a turntable and records, not clothes. Jesse has little cash, until he finds a big bill on the street one night. Pickup up liquor, and helping out a homeless man, Jesse’s fortune may be about to change.

In addition to the guitar he carries, Jesse also has a pool cue, and he uses it to hustle some folks before he learns about a tournament at a nearby bar. Entering the contest, he ends up going head-to-head with Rollo (Dermot Mulroney), and the fluidly-shot pool scenes are enjoyable, even if Jesse’s eventual win puts him in a tight spot with Rollo and his henchmen.

Hard Luck Love Song, however, like Jesse, is not concerned with Rollo—though the threat of Rollo’s revenge is planted in the back of viewers’ minds for payoff later. Instead, Jesse is focused on reuniting with Carla (Sophia Bush), the girl he has always loved and let get away. When he tracks her down and invites her to his motel room, she reluctantly accepts. They drink, and do some drugs, and he sings her a song he wrote—a terrific moment—until their partying is interrupted by a visit from a cop (Brian Sacca). Their reunion soon turns to remorse, recriminations, blame, and accusations, which puts a damper on things.

The film doesn’t provide enough of a history between Jesse and Carla to get viewers emotionally invested in their relationship; the action feels very stage-bound, and the drama is muted. Carla claims Jesse is manipulative and an addict, and viewers have seen this in his hustling pool and playing the angles, along with his endless drinking. There is a reference to what happened in New Orleans, but it feels vague. Jesse chastises Carla for being a sex worker, but she tries to disabuse him of this, chronicling her limited choices that begat poor decisions. It is hard not to want better for both of them, but Jesse is his own worst enemy, while Carla tells herself in Jesse’s bathroom mirror that he’s not going to change. Their codependent, self-destructive natures may deserve pity, and the actors are appealing. But this centerpiece section of Hard Luck Love Song feels hollow, even if viewers care enough to want the couple to leave town together.

Jesse and Carla may be catching up on their past, but when they head out into the night, their pasts catch up with them. Rollo, of course, reappears, and so, too, does a complication Carla has. This contrived last act is where Corsbie’s film goes off key because what begins as a nice (albeit seedy) slice of life does not need to have all the loose ends tied up. (There are a few too many deus ex machina moments).

But there is an undeniable scrappy charm to the film. (Also apparent in Snider’s rendition of his song). Jesse and Carla may be stock characters—the charming swindler and the hooker with a heart of gold—but Michael Dorman and Sophia Bush never make them caricatures. Alas, the same cannot be said for the supporting cast, which include Dermot Mulroney’s grizzled tough guy, and RZA as Louis, who is Carla’s track-suited pimp. Curiously, Eric Roberts has a few scenes as a friend of Carla’s, but his character, while entertaining, also feels completely superfluous.

Hard Luck Love Song just feels like the country tune it is, comforting like a shot of tequila with a worm, but not for all tastes.