The Good Heart

Plot

Short-tempered bartender Jacques (Brian Cox) has a heart-attack. Young homeless man Lucas (Paul Dano) fails in a suicide attempt. They share a room in the hospital. They agree that Lucas can stay in the bar, and that Jacques will coach him to become his successor. In the beginning Jacques complains that Lucas is too soft toward guests.

Lucas allows April (Isild Le Besco) to stay in his room, but Jacques tells Lucas that he should send her away. However, Lucas and April get married and both leave. Reluctantly Jacques allows April to come back, because he finds it important that the bar will stay after his retirement or death, and therefore that his intended successor Lucas stays.

Lucas is jealous about April's interaction with guests, and they break up. Jacques gets softer and Lucas less so. Lucas is killed after being hit by a car. His heart goes to Jacques, who has been waiting for a donor for a heart transplant. Although he always refused to sell his bar, he does so now, and starts living in the tropics, where he has friends who supplied the coffee for his bar.

Cast

Reception

On the movie reviewer Rotten Tomatoes, the file received a "rotten" 29% rating. On the movie Internet Movie Database, the movie received a 6.9/10 rating.

Box office

The film received a domestic total of $20,930 in the United States, and in other countries, the movie received a total $322,888, making the total movie box office $343,818 worldwide.