'The Broken Hearts Gallery' review: Breaking up is fun to do
Photo courtesy of Sony
Ending a romantic relationship never seems like a glamorous activity, but in the new film “The Broken Hearts Gallery”, young art student Lucy sets out to prove otherwise. She’s played by up-and-comer Geraldine Viswanathan (“Blockers”, “Bad Education”) and, through her unique charm and screen presence, is more than able to carry this by-the-numbers rom-com and turn it into something worth watching.
As the film begins, hopeless romantic Lucy has just been dumped by yet another terrible boyfriend. As played by Utkarsh Ambudkar (“Blindspotting”), he has no problems running into her at a social gathering and pretending that everything is normal between them. Aided by alcohol and well-meaning friends, Lucy strikes up a friendship with Nick (Dacre Montgomery), a fellow dumpee who also wants to move on from his romantic past but doesn’t have the emotional strength to do it just yet. If you’re thinking that the next step to this cinematic formula would be to bring our two leads together through a mutual activity you would be correct. And thus an idea between them is born, to create a pop-up experience for them or anyone in the vicinity to drop off unwanted items from their past relationships and unburden their drama for good. This space becomes known as The Broken Heart Gallery (singular) and proves to be an instant success for our leads. People all over the neighborhood come together to get rid of trinkets and mementos from old flames, and that positive energy rubs off on Lucy and Nick in ways that any avid watcher of romantic comedies can easily predict.
Yet despite the film’s A-B-C story structure, the aforementioned Viswanathan gives it her all and becomes the MVP of “The Broken Hearts Gallery”. Her giddy and warm energy is infectious throughout the film, making even the most pessimistic moviegoer let down their guard and have fun. At a time when new movies and positive energy are equally scarce, “The Broken Hearts Gallery” is a nice reminder that fun, love and smiles can come from the most unexpected places.
Grade: B-
“The Broken Hearts Gallery” is now playing in limited release.
