There may indeed be smoother and more prolific serial scammers than Smith operating in the wild. And they do so part by calling upon Showtime's resources to bankroll the hunt. Just saw it at Black Nights Film Festival in Tallinn and I was stunned. Her whirlwind romance with Smith began with a motorcycle ride that gave her a taste of the freedom and fun that a life with him would afford her. In one scene, Carla stares out into a meadow and waxes poetic about the deadly ferocity of Ozark women. The filmmakers decided to use these visually adventurous asides instead of employing the cheap action recreation plot, and this choice adds to the sense of seduction and disillusion that fuels the narrative. ET on Showtime. There's a smidgen of comfort in knowing that so far, none of Smith's victims has perished. Smith's victims are candid and genuine in their vulnerability and frustration, and they're also visibly driven in a way that people aware of the camera's power tend to be. Their courtships with Smith move quickly, to the point that Tracy's daughter Kayla became suspicious at how fast her mother was falling for this man who still felt like a stranger. This being premium cable, Ewing and Grady elevate production by employing eye-popping animated mixed media collages by British artist Martin O'Neill to evoke Smith's mindset or give life to the stories he tells via disembodied voice recordings of phone conversations. The players in this story don't travel in exclusive or exotic circles, either. View production, box office, & company info. Anonymous. Associated Press articles: Copyright © 2016 The Associated Press. The married women he seduced are bored or unhappy and ripe for distraction. She recalls coming home from work to discover gifts left on the bed. Ditto for Sabrina. Con Artist Copyright © 2019 Salon.com, LLC. Look ahead to the TV shows still set to premiere in the rest of 2020, including "Selena: The Series" and "The Stand. "Love Fraud" is very much a work in which every participant evokes a keen awareness of the genre's tropes. But a bigamist who is the subject of a revenge blog is enticing enough of a subject for the filmmakers actually participate in tracking him down. Ewing and Grady simply happened to come across the blog exposing Smith precisely at the time when they were scouting out subjects for a documentary about con artists in the vein of "Dirty John.". Said bounty hunter, a grizzled, chain-smoking crusader named Carla, knows she's a character and plays up her toughness for the camera; she knows she's the main object of fantasy casting here (aside from Smith, who in his heyday resembles a bargain basement Bill Paxton, may he rest in peace). A phobic con artist and his protégé are on the verge of pulling off a lucrative swindle when the former's teenage daughter arrives unexpectedly. At best it's an odd confluence of true crime, documentary tropes, and visual artistry. SALON ® is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as a trademark of Salon.com, LLC. Use the HTML below. Con Artist ( 2009) Con Artist. Each woman is unique, but all fit a familiar profile – single (mostly) and self-supporting in their 40s or perhaps their 50s. Was this review helpful to you? Not Rated | 1h 24min | Documentary | 12 November 2010 (USA) 2:55 | Trailer. "Love Fraud" doesn't come across as expressly an advocacy project or as even all that justice driven. 2 VIDEOS | 2 IMAGES. and Jean, Sandy, Candy, Caroline, Tracy, Angela, Lisa, Jennifer and Christy, women whom Smith loved, left and leeched dry of their assets, savings and good credit. Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Constantly obsessed with money, fame and spin, Kostabi's critics claim he's either reflecting America's obsessions back on it or is simply a ... Trans Atlantic Partners names 26 producers for 2013, Five Questions With “BAM150″ Director Michael Sladek, Tribeca Takes: Michael Sladek on Con Artist. Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. In addition, Kostabi now produces and hosts a strange weekly game show called Title This wherein celebrities, art world luminaries and aging punk rockers compete for money to title "his" paintings. A brief online search yielded a website with Smith's photo at the top, followed by a blog post warning about the new man in her mother's life. ------------------------------------------, yielded a website with Smith's photo at the top. Add the first question. Check out some of the IMDb editors' favorites movies and shows to round out your Watchlist. Showtime's alluring "Love Fraud" exposes the common con artist charming America's lonely women The 4-part true crime documentary uses eye-popping … In many others she reliably cusses and spits nails whenever she catches evidence of Smith swindling yet another woman while continuing to evade her. In fact, the typical nature of his crimes works in the series' favor. The movie is about to explode of all memorable quotes in this movie and you really do not have to be an "art junkie" or somehow connected to "art-world" to enjoy this. Tracy and Kayla knew him as Mickey, but he had other aliases, including Scott, Richard, and Rick. Reproduction of material from any Salon pages without written permission is strictly prohibited. Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Nicolas Cage, Alison Lohman, Sam Rockwell, Bruce Altman. Documentary is really well balanced and even thought there is some sadness gathered as well, I consider it a very good comedy at its best. Smith was the perfect partner, she says . But it can make for tasty viewing. ", Title: There are so many funny aspects in it to find out. . Votes: 122,951 | Gross: $36.91M . This FAQ is empty. and at one time Sabrina would have agreed with her. These are very much Everywomen. In addition, Kostabi now produces and hosts a strange weekly game show called Title This wherein celebrities, art world luminaries and aging punk rockers compete for money to title "his" paintings. Through overt self-interest and lampooning of the art business, Kostabi catapulted to international fame via New York's explosive 1980s Post-Punk / Hip Hop-driven art scene but quickly fell from grace by the 1990's. Soon he was sleeping over and not long after that, he was moving in. Ellen tells a similar tale: weeks after they started seeing each other, he popped the question. One minute she and Smith were dating, Tracy recalls. This movie is hilarious in good sense of humor. Looking for some great streaming picks? They also know such fraudsters so common that police in multiple states can't be bothered to enforce the warrants against Smith or anyone like him.