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Before there was eHarmony or Match.com, the lovelorn perused the Lonely Hearts section of the newspaper, collecting pen pals in the hopes of finding love. For a passel of unlucky women across American in the late 40s/early 50s, their letters brought love into their lives in the form of suave Raymond Fernandez (Jared Leto), who brought with him his "sister," Martha Beck (Salma Hayek) and a storybook ending that eschewed fairytales for murder.

First-time director Todd Robinson has a personal connection to the Lonely Hearts case. His grandfather was Elmer C. Robinson (John Travolta), the detective who brought the duplicitous duo to justice and, ultimately, the electric chair. Robinson's own life was hardly free from turmoil, as he lost his wife to suicide, presumably as a result of his workaholism, a tragedy that turned him inward and chained him to a desk. The movie purports that the Lonely Hearts case brought Robinson out of his own living death, and ultimately led to his reconciliation with his young son. Unlike the picture painted in Zodiac, Lonely Hearts offers true crime with life-affirming purpose.

Ed and Martha got their lurid treatment in exploitation auteur Leonard Kastle's 1970 The Honeymoon Killers. Unabashedly grotesque, the film is far removed from the tasteful aesthetics of Lonely Hearts, which bathes the ghastly facts in the warm glow of sentiment and personal fulfillment. Travolta is a leaden weight, a black hole who only comes to life when he finally has a scene with Hayek, gleefully sexy as a femme fatale who really ought to read He's Just Not That Into You. Not even James Gandolfini, playing Robinson's partner with his customary black charm, manages to coax a performance out of Travolta, who seems to mistake glum pouting for depths of introspection.

Lonely Hearts is Hayek's film through-and-through, and Leto is a marvelous foil to her black widow in cha-cha heels. It's too bad Lonely Hearts isn't good enough for them. The script's structure manages to foil any inklings of suspense that try to sneak out, and the photography is 80s-television flat. By attempting to honor his grandfather (a worthy ambition) and shock the audience (also a worthy ambition), Robinson makes a mess that not even Martha Beck could clean up.