Summary
The Broken Hearts Gallery is a quirky and often absurdly hilarious look at the love lives of New York City millennials.
It’s a shame that movies like The Broken Hearts Gallery will have trouble finding an audience this year. Many up-and-coming performer’s careers will end up not getting the boost they sorely needed. The new rom-com from writer and director Natalie Krinsky is a very funny movie with a handful of standout comic turns, most notably carried by a luminous, breakout performance by the upcoming actress Geraldine Viswanathan (Blockers), who steals the show. Which begs the question, if no one is there to watch her, did it even happen?
Viswanathan plays Lucy, a hopeless romantic and art gallery student who can’t let go of the past. She has kept a memento from every failed relationship (yikes) and subsequently cannot allow any personal growth to move into a better relationship future. After she is dumped by her boss/boyfriend Max (Pitch Perfect’s Utkarsh Ambedkar) she has a manic meet up with an assumed Uber driver named Nick (Stranger Things’ Dacre Montgomery). Their chance meeting leads to a partnership by opening up her Broken Hearts Gallery. Of course, it is in Nick’s boutique hotel he is struggling to open.
For all the classic romantic-comedy tropes (cute meetup, manic woman, calm man, hilarious besties, the third act rom-com playbook), The Broken Hearts Gallery is a quirky and often absurdly hilarious look at the love lives of New York City millennials. Yes, sure, some decisions defy logic like taking up valuable hotel space that you can’t make money off of. Another would be the fact that Viswanathan Lucy’s hot mess, cute meet up (think Anna Farris in any rom-com meets Shanna from Hoarders) doesn’t lead to a disaster, you know, by drunkenly climbing into a car that wasn’t an Uber wouldn’t lead to her murder, or Nick not calling the cops to avoid a false kidnapping charge. You forget all that because of the chemistry Montgomery and Viswanathan have. It’s absurd, sweet, and consistently entertaining.
However, the supporting characters with the leads are just as entertaining. In particular, Molly Gordon (Good Boys) steals the show as the sharply droll and one of Lucy’s besties, Amanda. Then you have Arturo Castro (Narcos) as Nick’s stealthy wise-cracking best friend, Marcos. Each steals every scene they are in and are as memorable as they come. Coincidentally, both Montgomery and Castro look like a man-child.
Admittedly, the script does lose some steam by its final act, while Montgomery’s boyish, mighty-mouse routine is engaging (seriously, if they ever had a live-action film remake of the anthropomorphic superhero, he’s is the spitting image) does strain credibility. Overall, The Broken Hearts Gallery is carried by the charming Viswanathan and funny supporting turns by Gordan and Castro, make for a satisfying Rom-Com.
Let’s hope this film finds the audience it deserves.
