A couple of months ago, I had the chance to sit down with relationship coach, Rick Soetieber. Rick has been helping cultivate healthy and successful relationships for the better part of seven years. During the interview, I inquired as to how he found himself in his occupation. He began to tell me how, after a long marriage, he found himself divorced and set off on a new journey. Throughout his process of healing from the divorce, he mentioned something I had never heard before. He talked about how we need to grieve a relationship before moving onto a new one. We need to find our own way of coping.
I can’t speak a great deal on grieving for a relationship these days. I have been married for the better part of six, now almost seven, years. However, heartbreak isn’t a foreign language to me. Speaking nostalgically, sometimes it was my native tongue, while other times it was a source of sorrow or anger. The truth is, heartbreak is “the great equalizer.” If you’re wondering why I just placed that in quotes, it’s because that is actually a line from the movie, The Broken Hearts Gallery, a movie which actually chronicles the healing process of a young woman who has experienced her own share of heartbreak.
Her grieving process involves collecting mementos from past relationships. Hey, we all grieve in our own ways, right? Gallery tells the story of the aforementioned girl, named Lucy (Geraldine Viswanathan), who stumbles across a struggling hotel owner named Nick (Dacre Montgomery). During this intersection, Lucy convinces Nick to let her open an art gallery in his hotel and the two fall in love, as one does in a romantic comedy. For as much new ground as Gallery attempts to break, it still follows the formula of the romantic comedies that have come before it. Boy meets girl. Girl has a conflict with boy. Boy and girl makeup and live happily ever after. Yes, all of that exists here.
The key to a great rom-com though is the chemistry between its lead actors. Viswanathan and Montgomery have tremendous chemistry together. They have a relationship which you find yourself rooting for the entire film, even before they make the jump and define the relationship. It’s entertaining enough just to have them as friends. But some of the best, and most memorable, parts of the movie actually come from the side characters which make up the movie, most notably, Molly Gordon and Phillipa Soo, who play Lucy’s roommates. They deliver the perfect blend of dry humor with endearing friendship - even if they do sometimes play into the tropes of the genre.
Gallery is heartwarming and a genuinely good time, though, it’s not without its own heartbreak. This seems like such a weird thing to complain about but the sound editing of this movie is awful at times. An actor’s lips will be off from the rest of their dialogue several times throughout the duration of the movie. It’s very jarring, but it only happens a few times. When it happens, you will notice it. As I’ve stated before this movie follows suit with the romantic comedy blueprint. For as inventive as it attempts to be with Lucy’s slightly weird therapy of the gallery, it doesn’t always succeed. It can be predictable and frustrating to go through all at once. Montgomery has a solid performance all the way through. Even for all her charisma, Viswanathan can be super awkward to watch at times. There are moments where the script feels like it’s setting up for a joke and it just falls flat. It kind of feels like that scene from School of Rock where Jack Black attempts to crowd surf and falls flat on the floor. Awkward.
Overall, The Broken Hearts Gallery won’t be breaking any hearts, but rather warming them. The pairing of Dacre Montgomery and Geraldine Viswanathan make the perfect casting. Montgomery proves once again he is a solid leading actor with range. While Viswanathan can be a bit hard to handle at times, she does eventually warm up to the audience through her empathetic charisma and vulnerability. For as much as the film revolves around finding healing for those with broken hearts, it’s not breaking away from the stereotypes and formula of the romantic comedy genre. The Broken Hearts Gallery makes up for it with its warmth and charismatic leading couple.
RORSCHACH RATING:
If you or someone you know is reading this right now and you are struggling with suicide, depression, addiction, or self-harm - please reach out. Comment, message or tweet to us. Go to victimsandvillains.net/hope for more resources. Call the suicide lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. Text "HELP" to 741-741. There is hope & you DO have so much value and worth!
Victims and Villains is written Josh "Captain Nostalgia" Burkey (and produced by), Caless Davis, Dan Rockwood, & Brandon Miller. Music by Mallory Johnson and others. The Broken Hearts Galley is property of Tristar Pictures. We do not own nor claim any rights. This review was edited by Cam Smith. The Broken Hearts Gallery is now playing in select theaters.
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