'HEARTS' PSYCHOTICALLY, MURDEROUSLY ON FIRE.

Byline: Bob Strauss

Film Critic

The late-1940s murder spree of Martha Beck and Raymond Fernandez has, understandably, inspired a couple of lurid movies, most memorably the 1970 "Honeymoon Killers."

"Lonely Hearts" is the latest version, and it certainly has its prurient moments. But it also boasts a solid (some would say stolid), police procedural element. And for a very good reason: Writer-director Todd Robinson's grandfather, Elmer Robinson, was one of the detectives who caught the Lonely Hearts Killers.

So this one is about evenly divided between the Long Island cops' investigation (John Travolta plays Robinson, James Gandolfini and Scott Caan are his bickering partners) and Fernandez (Jared Leto) and Beck's (Salma Hayek) cross-country scam-a-thon.

I wish I could say that the police portion was as compelling as the criminal activity, but that's just not the case. Robinson's character is coping with personal grief -- though it's not entirely clear, I'm pretty sure his wife recently committed suicide -- and that's rendered him relatively inexpressive. Travolta is only sporadically able to reveal the depths of the man's pain and obsession, and isn't given a lot of dialogue to do it with. Sometimes the other cops clunkily explain what Robinson is going through, and that just doesn't play on screen.

The killer couple are much more upfront emotionally, often frighteningly so. Fernandez, played by a toupee-wearing Leto with abundant smarm and nervous energy, went after war widows and other desperate women he met through classified ads. He'd romance them, often propose and then clean out their bank accounts before disappearing.

But Beck was different. She was broke, abused, pretty crazy and, unlike Salma Hayek, obese (Shirley Stoler played her in "Honeymoon Killers"). Hayek gives us a femme fatale that you can see a good-looking ladykiller falling for, historic record notwithstanding. Plus, Hayek makes her the type of gal whose default solution to any jam is oral sex.

But Beck is also a jealous lunatic, which is not the best way to act when she's pretending to be Fernandez's sister while he's wooing their marks. This leads to unnerving expressions of devotion and, of course, horrific murders, made extra poignant by the fragile performances of Alice Krige and Dagmara Dominczyk as two of the victims.

Hayek goes all-out to reveal Beck's pathology, and Leto is almost as live a wire, if not quite as electrifying. Mid-20th-century atmosphere is convincingly evoked on a limited budget, and Caan wears the era's sharp suits and fedoras best.

But accomplished and even thrilling touches aren't enough to compensate for a narrative that doesn't build much tension or momentum. While writer-director Robinson may have known and loved a key character, he hasn't really figured out a good way to bring his story to life.

Bob Strauss, [phone]

bob.strauss(at)dailynews.com

LONELY HEARTS - Two and one half stars

(R: violence, nudity, sex, language, children in jeopardy)

Starring: John Travolta, James Gandolfini, Salma Hayek, Jared Leto, Laura Dern, Scott Caan, Alice Krige.

Director: Todd Robinson.

Running time: 1 hr. 40 min.

Playing: Selected theaters.

In a nutshell: The true-life "Honeymoon Killers" story, told from the points of view of both the murdering couple and the detectives hunting them. Has some wild psycho moments but is generally pretty stolid.

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Photo:

John Travolta, left, James Gandolfini and Scott Caan are Long Island cops investigating a series of grisly murders in the late 1940s in "Lonely Hearts," based on a true story.