THE BROKEN HEARTS CLUB – A ROMANTIC COMEDY
1/2
Choppy ensemble comedy about love and friendship among a group of gay L.A. twentysomethings.Running time: 94 minutes. Rated R (language). At Empire 25, Chelsea Cinemas, Quad.
NOTWITHSTANDING the fact that the filmmakers were so scared of people getting the wrong idea that they included the words “romantic comedy” in the title, “The Broken Hearts Club” represents a kind of breakthrough.
Not only is it a mainstream Hollywood movie about young gay men, it’s also a movie about gays that features no queer-bashing, no hysterical breakdowns, no tearful comings-out, and no heartrending of scenes people dying of AIDS.
The only “issue” touched on by the film – and lightly – is the occasional harshness of a subculture obsessed with physical beauty. (And, of course, even the guy who’s supposed to be ugly has better-than-average looks.)
Indeed, this film even presents a relatively plausible (yet comic) portrayal of gay life – or as least as lived by a group of good-looking twentysomethings in West Hollywood, Calif., whose lives and conversations are almost entirely informed by their sexuality.
But despite some funny and charming scenes, “Broken Hearts Club” turns out to be a choppily written, unevenly acted exercise, no less shlocky and predictable than any of Hollywood’s average second-string heterosexual comedies. (This one also gives away its best scenes in the trailer.)
Dennis (Timothy Olyphant from “Go”) is a 28-year-old photographer who together with friends Benji (Zach Braff), Cole (Dean Cain), Kevin (Andrew Keegan), Howie (Matt Mcgrath) Patrick (Ben Weber) and Taylor (Billy Porter) works and hangs out in a West Hollywood restaurant.
The restaurant is owned by the group’s genial father figure, Jack (“Frasier’s” John Mahony) who also coaches their softball team, the Broken Hearts Club.
Everyone talks all the time about being gay. Everyone except Jack has relationship problems of one kind or another, though most of them mistakenly think that they would be happy if only they had the dazzling looks of Cole. One character gets into a dangerously druggy social scene. Another cannot commit to the man he loves because he’s convinced he could do better.
There’s an underdeveloped subplot in which Patrick is asked to donate sperm to the partner (the fine Nia Long) of his lesbian sister (Mary McCarthy).
Olyphant and Cain give strong, convincing performances, but several scenes have the unconvincing feel of a filmed rehearsal.