Directed by: Natalie Krinsky
Starring: Geraldine Viswanathan, Dacre Montgomery, Bernadette Peters, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Molly Gordon, Phillipa Soo, Sheila McCarthy
You could be forgiven if you think The Broken Hearts Gallery has a Hallmark movie feel to it. It checks the boxes for a romantic comedy, but while it has spirit and pluck, there is an undercurrent of melancholy because we are dealing with broken hearts. The Broken Hearts Gallery is carried along by attractive, likable leads. Does it stand above your run-of-the-mill romantic comedy? At times, yes, and at other times, not much. There were times in which the two-and-a-half star rating could've been nudged to three stars, and other times it could've been dropped to two stars. It's that kind of movie.
Geraldine Viswanathan stars as Lucy, a 26-year old woman unlucky in love who, perhaps masochistically, saves souvenirs as reminders of her failed relationships. Her bedroom is full of items which many wouldn't consider saving, including the thimble game piece from Monopoly, which we learn later comes from her first broken heart (and an unexpected source). She is perpetually optimistic that her current boyfriend, the older Max (Ambudkar), who works with Lucy at the art gallery owned by Eva Woolf (Peters-who looks great at 72), will be The One. Hours later, Max is back with his ex, and Lucy is crushed again.
In a Meet Cute for our times, a tipsy Lucy accidentally gets into the car driven by Nick (Montgomery), mistaking him for her Uber driver. Nick tries to dissuade her from her belief that he's the Uber driver, but not that much. This lack of communication comes into play later with a plot reveal you can see coming from fifty miles away. Nick drives Lucy home, and after a few more coincidental meetings, Lucy and Nick become friends, with a romance right around the corner. Nick is looking for funding to complete his dream project, the renovation of an abandoned hotel in midtown Manhattan (good luck), and Lucy one day nails Max's tie to one of the walls. She calls it the Broken Heart Gallery, and after a few Instagram postings, other brokenhearted folks contribute their own personal items which remind them of lost loves. Some people record their stories. The gallery takes off, and Lucy may have her dream of one day running her own gallery.
I don't think I need to recap what happens next. Romantic comedies by definition have a certain comforting predictability to them. Will there be contrived issues which keep Lucy and Nick temporarily apart? Will they be resolved with a grand gesture in a public setting? I'm not revealing any spoilers by suggesting that the answers will likely be yes. Viswanathan is a bubbly presence, while Nick is a bit more reserved and cautious. Their chemistry isn't off the charts, but it will do. The entire movie is like that. Not great, but passable. If you take into account the quality of movies currently showing in theaters thanks to the pandemic, with The Broken Hearts Gallery, I can safely say in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
No comments:
Post a Comment