Well now, here’s an interesting one for us Virginia Madsen fans. Or, frustrating. Perhaps even both. No, definitely both.
A Change of Heart has never been released to the general public.
Shot in 2014, Directed and Produced by Kenny Ortega with some help from Emilio Estefan in South Florida the film stars the likes of Jim Belushi, Gloria Estefan and Virginia Madsen.
It seems to have sat on shelves for a little while before being shown at film festivals in 2017, The Miami International Film Festival, the OUTShine Film Festival and Parool Film Fest and was well received enough to get two nominations from the Imagen Awards that year. One for best Film and another for best Director.
Then, nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zerotown.
I’ve never seen the film, so I can’t really comment on it. I’ve done a fair bit of Googling around it though, and this is the best synopsis I can come up with based on reviews, interviews and snippets;
A Change of Heart follows the story of Hank (Jim Belushi), a gruff, old-school firegfighter forced to retire and now making is living as an exterminator. His life is far from perfect. His wife, Deena (Virginia Madsen), is leaving him, his youngest daughter, Josie (Aimee Teegarden), is a lesbian with a girlfriend, Teddy (Cody Horn), and his eldest daughter, Laurie (Dawn Olivieri), is dating a Cuban refugee, Carlos (William Levy). Hank, set in his outdated ways, struggles to accept the increasing diversity around him, clinging to the prejudices he’s always held without ever even knowing why he held them. We all, unfortunately, know the type here.
Hank isn’t exactly the type to be shy about his opinions, openly questioning Latinos about their citizenship and longing for the “good old days” when life seemed simpler (for him, at least).
Then, life throws Hank a curveball, he suffers a heart attack. His life is saved by a heart transplant, but, as there so often is in life when it comes to these movies, it comes with a twist. Hank believes that his replacement heart comes from a Puerto Rican drag queen.
And, so, he finds himself doing things he believes Puero Rican drag queens do. Because, that’s what happens with heart transplants…[cough]
Cue the “comedy” as we see him embrace a whole new way of living. He gets streaks in his hair, wears high heels, performs in drag at his local gay club and starts making fancy meals. As Hank stumbles through his new lifestyle, he’s guided by his therapist Dr. Farjado (Gloria Estefan), who tries to help him navigate these troubled waters he finds himself in, but just as Hank begins to embrace his new self, another twist…
As it turns out that his heart donor wasn’t who he thought. In fact, his heart came from a heterosexual Japanese sushi chef, leading Hank into yet another chapter of soul-searching…
And a fondness for sushi, because, again, that’s what happens…
I’m pretty sure it’s supposed to be a redemptive arc for Hank and by the end of it, everyone is laughing and joking and Hank is no longer the grumpy old man we met at the start of the film with a new appreciation for life and more tolerance and understanding for others…
Sooooooooooooooo. Yeah.
From all I can read, the best guess I have is that someone, somewhere, realised, or at least thought, that this film probably wasn’t going to land well with today’s, more aware, audience and it was quietly shelved before anyone could get their knickers in a twist over it.
I mean. I get it, I’m not 100% sure when we lost the ability to laugh at ourselves and others without causing offence. And, sure – I get that the film probably hits a few stereotypical outdated concepts and playing it for laughs in the way that it does probably sets off a few alarm bells.
But I suspect it probably wasn’t as tasteless as it would have been some time ago and that no actual harm was meant. The message was there “old Grumpy man changes his mind about things he’s been brought up with to enjoy a new enlightened life”, and it’s not a bad message.
I mean both Emilio and Gloria Estefan were both honoured shortly before their involvement with the film by Miami’s Gay & Lesbian Film Fest Ally Awards. Kenny Ortego is himself gay and has been known to comment on how he make films “queer kids can relate to” and would direct the remake of the Rocky Horror Picture Show shortly after making this.
And we all know how inclusive Virginia Madsen is with this kind of thing, especially having starred in well received films such as Becoming Colette and moving on later in her career to make 1985.
I honestly don’t think that anyone set out to make an offensive film here, I really don’t – I think some feet got cold about the way film could be perceived. Which, seems kinda dumb all things considered.
But. All this is a guess we shall never actually know.
Had it been released, this would have been the second time Virginia Madsen and Jim Belushi had worked together on a film, the first time being way back in 1999 in the movie, The Florentine.
Anyway…
In the absence of any form of Availability – Film poster:
Trailer:
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