The Broken Hearts Gallery; Grade: C
Let’s take a break from talking about the New York Film Festival, as we discuss some theatrical releases?
The Broken Hearts Gallery tells the story about a woman named Lucy (Geraldine Viswanathan), whom is currently going through a tough breakup. What has been a common trend for Lucy in past relationships, is she always keeps some kind of memento to collect as she doesn’t want to forget the men she has dated in the past. As Lucy goes through a tough night at a gallery she works at, she randomly gets into a car in which she thought was her Lyft. Turns out it happens to be a stranger named Nick (Dacre Montgomery), who is going through struggles of his own trying to put together his own hotel. As Lucy gets acquainted with Nick and his hotel that’s under developed, Lucy has however brought some inspiration on her own hands. She places a memento from her ex hanging on a wall, as Lucy has been inspired to create a gallery of her own catering to those that have been heart broken... The Broken Hearts Gallery.
The Cinematography was pretty flat, there is honestly not a single shot worth discussing at all, as this is a very generic basic looking film that honestly you can tell it’s shot from a set, as your mind is not taken somewhere else from the looks of the film. The Score was ok, the only thing I can remember is the music didn’t annoy me so that’s a plus. The cast all in all wasn’t half bad as a whole. I’ve enjoyed Geraldine Viswanathan in a couple comedies like Blockers and The Package, while also being in one of my favorite films of 2020 thus far Bad Education, so it’s nice seeing her in her own standout role. I believe Geraldine’s performance was perfectly fine, I felt she complimented the character how she was written, as I believed in this performance. What killed Geraldine in this performance was she wasn’t that funny this time around, but I’ll explain later on what might be the reason.
Dacre Montgomery playing Nick played a solid performance, in fact I was stunned to find out Dacre has a very strong Australian accent from his promotion video for this film. Dacre had solid chemistry along with Geraldine, making the romance portion very believable and cute. Nice to see Molly Gordon once again playing Lucy’s friend Amanda, I felt this performance was eh. I felt it was more towards the fact how Molly’s character was written, was pretty boring for my taste, for a comedic relief it honestly was dreadful.
I was honestly looking forward to Broken Hearts Gallery, chick flicks and rom coms make me smile, as they always inspire me to DM a ting for a movie date... Of course I end up not shooting a shot because flakes are everywhere unfortunately. I’m kind of glad I didn’t get a date for this one, as I felt kind of underwhelmed by this film.
The biggest strength for this Rom Com is most certainly the Romance portion. I felt the romance in this film to be cute, genuine, and sweet. I feel like a lot of people can relate to a story like this, where they feel an immense struggle to let go of someone from the past that they loved in a relationship, as they move forward with their life and the memories along with it. As I always say it’s best to think of the good times rather than the bad, but we must also come to reality they are never coming back as we search for love elsewhere.
The biggest weakness... The Comedy. There are a couple chuckles provided, other than that it honestly felt like the writer was beating me over the head, as her many failed attempts to provide laughter out of me. The comedy material is extremely obnoxious, sometimes jokes are replayed over and over again where the writer hopes you’ll end up laughing soon by beating you over the head with a joke, as it not only never comes but now I’m dealt with a massive headache. For example when the film cuts away to a recording of one talking about a memento of their past ex... Why does this joke have to be replayed fifteen times?! An experience film maker would’ve used this as a quick montage, as they no longer use it moving forward. But in this film I have to experience this exact same joke fifteen times over, as every time it comes around, I lose my mind more and more.
How about Amanda’s boyfriend not being able to speak, as we cut to him making facial expressions of certain situations?! It felt like a terrible version of Silent Bob in Kevin Smith movies. The difference is Silent Bob is more expressive with his facial expressions, as there is actual movement, personality, and charisma. Amanda’s boyfriend let’s out his expressions while on a phone or having headphones on, so it’s just not funny at all because basically he’s not doing anything. Scenes alone you can tell this writer is desperately trying to be funny, as she should’ve just let the story flown naturally, without trying so hard.
This film also has a couple pandering moments regarding Planned Parenthood. Whether or not you agree or disagree with the film maker’s point of view, with the subtlety of her displaying her views through a character wearing a T-Shirt of this theme or a scene where one asked Lucy to signed a petition... What does this have to do with the movie we’re watching?! It provides absolutely no purpose whatsoever in the story, it’s pandering to a certain targeted audience as without any moral purpose, it shouldn’t be randomly popping up in your film. It’s not as obnoxious as what The Kissing Booth 2 did, but it is distracting.
I kind of don’t like the conclusion. It felt very awkward and cringeworthy, especially where the romance in your film is fairly done and the story is doing well with it’s message at hand... However how it concludes kind of makes me vomit. It’s like what I would’ve done back in high school, as I really can’t stand remembering the things I’ve said and done in order for a girl to like me... Eh still have nightmares. If the film didn’t try so hard to be funny to the point where it’s obnoxious, I believe this would’ve gotten a nice recommendation from me, however it really messes with the mojo of this film.
Overall, The Broken Hearts Gallery was just ok. I don’t recommend seeing this film, if anything wait for rental. -Mitch Smietana