The familiar rom-com beats are too hard to ignore in The Broken Hearts Gallery, but what holds it all together is a spunky little (lead) performance from Geraldine Viswanathan (who plays Lucy, an art gallery assistant). With a plot that's tailor-made for a romantic comedy (it has got a lot to do with Lucy's heartbreaks and the souvenirs she keeps from those broken relationships), The Broken Hearts Gallery makes the city of New York look like a standout character. Darc Montgomery plays Nick, the owner of a work-in-progress hotel, who bumps into Lucy in a rather unusual meet-cute. Their second (chance) encounter felt contrived as hell though.
When the duo decides to convert part of the hotel space into a gallery for exhibiting souvenirs from relationships that fell through, the film picks up speed, charm, and some romantic vibes. I didn't expect many surprises in the screenplay (which occasionally descends into downright cheesiness) but what bothered me was the distinct lack of humor. Here and there, we get a chuckle or two, courtesy of the largely silent Jeff (Nathan Dales), Eva Woolf (a spirited Bernadette Peters), and Marcos (Arturo Castro). The Broken Hearts Gallery wholly rides on Geraldine's star-making role and the chemistry she shares with Dacre (which was fine in parts, yes!).
While the inclusion of multi-ethnic (there's Utkarsh Ambudkar playing Max Vora, presumably of Indian origin) and LGBTQ (Philippa Soo plays Nadine, a lesbian) characters is commendable, they often recede conveniently into the background for the central plot to play out. It's not a bad film by any measure (Alar Kivilo's cinematography is a plus); The Broken Hearts Gallery, written and directed by Natalie Krinsky, is certainly one for audiences who savor their romantic comedies with a tolerable dose of clichés and syrupy feels.
When the duo decides to convert part of the hotel space into a gallery for exhibiting souvenirs from relationships that fell through, the film picks up speed, charm, and some romantic vibes. I didn't expect many surprises in the screenplay (which occasionally descends into downright cheesiness) but what bothered me was the distinct lack of humor. Here and there, we get a chuckle or two, courtesy of the largely silent Jeff (Nathan Dales), Eva Woolf (a spirited Bernadette Peters), and Marcos (Arturo Castro). The Broken Hearts Gallery wholly rides on Geraldine's star-making role and the chemistry she shares with Dacre (which was fine in parts, yes!).
While the inclusion of multi-ethnic (there's Utkarsh Ambudkar playing Max Vora, presumably of Indian origin) and LGBTQ (Philippa Soo plays Nadine, a lesbian) characters is commendable, they often recede conveniently into the background for the central plot to play out. It's not a bad film by any measure (Alar Kivilo's cinematography is a plus); The Broken Hearts Gallery, written and directed by Natalie Krinsky, is certainly one for audiences who savor their romantic comedies with a tolerable dose of clichés and syrupy feels.