Romantic comedies are a tough genre since they balance so many elements with drama, comedy and of course romance. More often than not they all stick to the same formula that is overly predictable and unispiring, but every so often one comes along to try and bring something new to the table. The latest, The Broken Hearts Gallery features a great young cast including Geraldine Viswanathan, Dacre Montgomery, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Molly Gordon, Phillipa Soo and Arturo Castro, but does it have that something special or will it just be more baggage?

 

The Broken Heart Gallery follows the always unique Lucy, a 20-something art gallery assistant living in New York City, who also happens to be an emotional hoarder. After she gets dumped by her latest boyfriend, Lucy is inspired to create The Broken Heart Gallery, a pop-up space for the items love has left behind. Word of the gallery spreads, encouraging a movement and a fresh start for all the romantics out there, including Lucy herself.

 

I didn’t have all that much interest in this film, but did enjoy Viswanathan in both Blockers and Bad Education so was looking forward to seeing her lead the charge. I am glad I decided to give this a chance because it was pretty cute. Viswanathan is great here bringing all the emotion needed but fusing it with humor and so much character you can’t help but smile watching her. The scenes with her and her friends played to perfection by Molly Gordon and Phillipa Soo are some of the most fun. You fully buy into their friendship and in turn helps to make the film feel like something more than just another of the genre.

 

Make no mistake there are a lot of by the numbers clichés here, but that is par for the course with these films. There aren’t any big twists and it goes pretty much where everyone already knows it’s going, but the journey to get