"Lonely Hearts" *** (out of four): Simple retelling of the true story of Long Island's Lonely Hearts Killers features John Travolta's best work in almost a decade.

After the success of David Fincher’s thrillingly-detailed serial killer procedural, “Zodiac”, there may be a new breed of ultra-realistic non-fiction adaptations - but “Lonely Hearts” isn’t one of them. To be fair, “Hearts” was made a full year before Mr. Fincher’s film and is only now getting a wide release, but it partakes firmly in the tradition of embellishment for the sake of dramatic license. And it does it well. “Lonely Hearts” tells the true story of Raymond Fernandez and Martha Beck who went on a murderous rampage during the late 1940s, targeting single women who advertised in “Personals” columns, earning them the nickname “The Lonely Hearts Killers”. The film is written and directed by Todd Robinson who, through some once-in-a-lifetime cosmic alignment is the grandson of Elmer Robinson, the Nassau County Detective who helped bring the killers to justice. To call the project a labor of love would be an understatement. Mr. Robinson, the director, helps add an aching personal note to the life of Detective Robinson which elevates the film above the average cops-and-killers period piece.

Read More on BigPictureBigSound...