Summaries

Synopsis

Love The Hard Way

Scene #1:A Punk From the BronxMovie opens with Jack (Adrien Brody) in his apartment in the Bronx. Jack brings a cup of coffee to his sleeping roommate Charlie (John Seda) and searches Charlies pants pockets for car keys. After finding the keys, Jack leaves the apartment and gets into his car to start his day. Jack goes to a storage unit that he uses as his office and starts to write about his fears of screwing things up.

Scene #2

Love is just a Four Letter WordJack is in a movie theater but leaves when his cell phone rings. In the lobby Claire(Charlotte Ayanna) is working concessions; she is studying. Jack introduces himself andstarts to flirt with her. Claire is unimpressed. Jack confesses that he has slept with 200women and Claire responds by saying that Will Chamberlin makes Jack look like a Punk on account that Will has slept with over 200,000 women. Claire confesses that she has a boyfriend that loves her, to which Jack tells her that Love is just a four letter word. He then leaves to meet up with Charlie with whom he had previously spoken to on the phone.

Jack goes to a fancy hotel where he is supposed to meet up with Charlie to pull a heist.Jack walks over to the concierge, Jeff (August Diehl) a co-conspirator, gives Jack a key and a room number. Charlie has not shown up yet so Jack goes outside to wait for him and have a smoke. Outside Jack meets a wealthy overly dressed woman. We learn later that she is Det. Linda Fox (Pam Grier) who works vice and is currently undercover investigating the crimes that Jack and Charlie commit.

Scene #3

The Great DictationCharlie finally shows up and both men change into police uniforms and barge into theroom Jeff had told them. Inside the room there are a number of foreign business menengaging in sex acts with two prostitutes. Charlie cuffs the prostitutes and leads them out of the room, leaving Jack and the foreign business men alone. Jack threatens the business men with jail time and prosecution until they offer up a bribe, which Jack takes and leaves the business men to get dressed. He then goes into a different hotel room with the bribe money. When he enters, we see Charlie and the two prostitutes Sue and Pamela (Liza Jessie Peterson, Elizabeth Regen) as well as Jeff the concierge, waiting. We find out the women are not prostitutes, but actresses, and they want their cut of the bribe money and complain to Jack and Charlie that they need to barge into the room earlier next time. Jack and the rest of the gang go to a club to celebrate.

The next day Jack accompanies Charlie to a university, so Charlie can collect money from a student that participates in a gambling ring Charlie runs on the side, on the way out Jack and Charlie run into Claire and her friend Deb (Katherine Moennig). It is clear that Deb does not approve of Jack or Charlie. It is revealed that Claire is studying biology.

Scene # 4

Big on Personal ExperienceWe soon meet Fitzgerald, Claires boyfriend, who is preparing to do a presentation. Jack asks Claire to meet him at the Staten Island Ferry the next day at 5pm.Jack waits alone at the Staten Island Ferry unsure if Claire will show up, but soonenough she does. Jack takes Claire to a fancy restaurant and they discuss their likes and dislikes. Jack says that he likes anything that gives him a kick. He tells Claire about his and Charlies prostitute police heist. Claire flirts by saying that she is a cop and willarrest him. Jack says that he prefers not to know what comes next in life; he does notwant to know everything. He is big on personal experience not book learning.

Scene #5

Naïve ClaireClaire asks Jack what comes next and he tells her that they are now in love with eachother. Claire protests and says she is not in love with him and Jack retorts not yetnotyet! They go back to Jacks apartment and Jack asks Claire what type of movies she likes, sad ones or happy ones. Claire says she likes the sad ones; the ones that make her cry. Then the two have sex. Afterward, while Jack is sleeping, Claire sneaks out to the living room to study. Soon after, Jack wakes up and goes into the living room and asks Claire if that was her first time. She answers by asking if he has really slept with 200 women.

Scene #6

Whats going on Jack?The next morning after Claire leaves, Jack goes to his storage unit/office and starts towrite using dialogue that Claire and he had shared. Time passes and we see a sad Claire going through the steps of day-to-day life. In a conversation between Claire and Deb we learn that Jack has not called in two weeks. Jack has continued to live his life and sleeps with other women as usual. Claire starts to call Jack constantly. Finally, Jack says he will meet her to talk, but instead sends Charlie to get rid of her. Charlie comes back to the apartment after meeting with Claire and we see that she has followed him demanding that Jack talk to her. Jack and Claire get into a fight.

Scene # 7

Fallen Angel

The fight is cut short because Jack and Charlie have to leave to pull off their heist. Jack is irritated by Claire, but also worried about leaving her on the streets outside his apartment.

As Jack and Charlie leave, Claire confesses her love to Jack. Jack ignores this.Back on campus, Deb tries to convince Claire that she will not be able to save Jacks soul.

Claire proclaims that if Jack is going to hell then she wants him to take her with him.After hearing this Deb confronts Jack and asks him to leave Claire alone. Deb says thatClaire is now failing her classes. Jack says he would love to break up with Claire and that he has tried. Jack confesses that he knows he is a bad influence on Claire and wants her out of his life.

Scene #8

Born to loseJack and Charlie go to the Hotel planning to pull their heist when Jack recognizes thefancy dressed woman and begins to suspect that she is a detective. Jack and Charliedecide not to put on their cop uniforms and to abandon their plans. They attempt to contact Sue and Pamela, but are unable to. Suddenly, real police show up and bust Sue and Pam for prostitution. Detective Fox comes over to Jack and Charlie and explains that she has no evidence on them yet, but will soon. Next Jack and Charlie discuss what to do without the girls. The two decide they must find two new actresses that want to make some money. Charlie suggests Claire and Jack says no.

Scene # 9

Give Claire a TryThe two men go back to their apartment and notice someone is waiting for them. Tensions run high, but it turns out to be Claire. This leads to Jack and Claire having sex again. The next morning the conversation is back to finding two new girls. Jeff is now in the apartment putting in his two cents. Jeff says that Jack and Charlie can never show their faces in the hotel again and reveals that he has quit his job. He says he has gotten a new concierge job at a new hotel where they all can keep on working.

Scene #10

XRay EyesThe next day Jack goes to his storage unit and starts to write, in doing so, he finds that he does in fact have feelings for Claire. Jack picks Claire up from work and starts to parent her about staying in school and not fucking up her life. Then he gives Claire a gift; a matching pair of sunglasses.The pair go to a dance club and meet up with Charlie. While they dance, Fitzgerald walks into the club and a fight ensues. Jack, Claire and Charlie are arrested. While at the police station, Detective Fox once again threatens Jack and Charlie to stay clean or she will get them. Once the three are released, we learn a little more about Jack: he has never been to prison and he was raised in an all boys home.

Scene # 11

Avenging AngelClaire tends to the bruises Jack received during the fight which leads to them having sex. Next we see Jack studying with Claire. She is taperecording her study session. Jack tells Claire that she is the sexiest future Nobel Prize winner and then pretends tointerview her after she has won the Nobel prize. In this interview Jack pretends thatClaire has been able to remove the criminal DNA from him and now he can live a normallife. Claire asks Jack to stop pulling his heist. He promises he will and then notices thatthe whole conversation has been recorded.

Scene # 12

Nervous JeffClaire has been invited to study at a another university for two weeks. She is reluctant togo, but Jack tells her that it is an honor and she has her Nobel Prize to worry about. Justbefore Claire leaves she gives Jack the tape and asks him to listen to his promise.Later Charlie and Jack return to their apartment, which was clearly broken into. Once they enter they find Pamela inside. She has been released from prison and is readyto get back to work. We learn that Sue will not be returning and that she has moved to the coast. Jeff and Jack have a meal together at which time Jeff reveals that he wants more money and respect because Jack and Charlie need him more then he needs them. Jack says he will handle it then leaves Jeff alone to finish his meal. It is assumed that the team has pulled their heist multiple times. One night Claire returns, but Charlie tries to get her to leave. She is insistent and barges into Jacks room where she finds Jack and Pamela naked. Jack plays it cool, but Claire loses it.

Scene #13

Some of JackJack asks Claire if she is done with him, he says he does not deserve her tears, and thatthe love story was just in her head. He confesses that he only wanted her for one thing.

Scene #14

A Foreign BodyClaire wanders the streets until it is late at night and she is mistaken for a prostitute.She goes through with the Johns requests. Later Claire meets up with Jeff and heexplains that she is just a foreign body in Jacks life and foreign bodies are alwaysrejected.The next thing we see is Charlie and Jack barging into a hotel room dressed as cops, both men are shocked to find Claire inside with a businessman actually having sex. Jack becomes extremely violent and beats up the businessman.

Scene # 15ByeJack now wants to kill Jeff. Jack finds Jeff and holds a gun to his head. Jeff explains thatClaire told him that Jack was ok with it. After some violence, Jack regains some controland leaves. Reluctantly Jack allows Claire to take the place of Sue. Claire proves tobe good at the job maybe to good. Pamela is angry and refuses to work with Clairebecause she actually lets the men have sex with her. Charlie becomes worried thatClaires self destructive actions will bring the whole group down. Jack agrees, and so the decision is made to kick her out.

Scene #16

DesperateCharlie meets with Claire to tell her she is out of the group. Jack starts to follow Claireand finds that she no longer goes to school and that she is still turning tricks. Claire takes a John into a bar bathroom and Jack follows them in. This turns out be too much for Jack to handle and he punches a wall then leaves. Jack continues to follow Claire for day and becomes more and more concerned about her well being.

Scene # 17

A Tired Straight StudentOne evening Claire mysteriously shows up at Jacks apartment with last semestersreport card. She had received straight As. Claire is obviously tired and has a black eye.She explains that she got straight As because Jack had spent so much time studying with her. Claire is weak and collapses. Jack helps her to the bedroom, where Claire cries and Jack just holds her. The next morning Jack is leaving to pull another heist, but before he leaves he asks Claire to be there when he gets back. During the heist things go wrong when the foreign businessman turns out to be an undercover cop and arrests Jack, Charlie, Jeff and Pamela. Back at Jacks Apartment Claire waits and waits but Jack never returns.

Scene #18

Two Years LaterJack continues writing while in prison. We learn that when he did not return Clairethought it was another lie and slit her wrists in a suicide attempt. As she bledshe listen to the tape of Jack promising to give up the life of a criminal. The policefound her in time to save her life. While working in the prison kitchen, Charlie starts a fight, and Jack gets stabbed. Jack is seriously injured and makes plans that in case he does not survive that Claire get his journal.

Scene #19

Charlie a Captive AudienceSoon Jack recovers and is given an early release from prison. Jack says goodbye to Charlie, who apologizes for starting the fight. Charlie asks Jack what he will do next. Jack says that he will write a book and that he will send Charlie a chapter a month. Jack goes back to his apartment and finds the blood stains on his bedroom floor whereClaire had tried to take her life. Claire has now graduated and is working in a laboratory. Jack calls her and asks her to meet him at his storage unit saying that he has something for her. She agrees and when she arrives Jack is not there. She goes inside and finds his journal and reads it. Once she is done reading Jack enters. He asks her what she thinks. She says she does not blame him for anything. Jack asks her what he should do with the rest of his life and she answers, do what any good writer does, write another book.