Year:
2000
Studio:
Columbia Tristar/Banner Entertainment
Movie:
3/5
DVD:
4/5
The Broken Hearts Club: A
Romantic Comedy -- yes, that is the title of the film, in order
to differentiate it from some famous book -- is a movie about a group
of guys who can't seem to get their love lives in order. There guys are
all gay, so this is a movie about a gay love scene as experienced by
writer/director Greg Berlanti. The theme is something along the lines
of "I don't remember when I first realized I was gay, but I remember
when I first realized it was ok to be gay, it was when I met these
guys, my friends."
Timothy Olyphant plays Dennis, sort of the main narrator of the movie.
Zach Braff (now in Scrubs)
plays Benji, who gets in trouble with some gym bunnies. Dean Cain plays
Cole, the handsome small-time actor who loves them and leaves them.
Andrew Keegan plays Kevin, the newbie who at the start of the movie
hasn't even admitted he's gay. John Mahoney plays Jack, the owner of
Jack's Place and sort of an elder father figure to the group. There's
also another guy but I forgot the character's name.
It's a slow paced movie with a lot of talk scenes. Very much and indie
film. I think the main point of the movie is that you fall in love, you
get hurt badly, but you move on and try again. The characters slowly
get over their hangups and change (probably for the better) by the end
of the movie. Some change more than others.
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I like
romantic comedies, more than like really. Person A meets person B and
through back and forth they fall in love. This isn't that kind of
movie. It's about love life but not about falling in love. It was an
interesting movie but at times it dragged on a bit. Perhaps it is too
true-to-life. Life is just not that exciting for film, usually.
The DVD has a commentary track with writer/director Greg Berlanti and
producer Mickey Liddell. It is probably more interesting than the
actual movie because of the details of filming an independent film and
the meanings behind certain scenes. There are also some deleted scenes,
one or two of them which perhaps should have made it into the movie.
What I liked: slice of life movie with interesting characters.
What I didn't like: at times nothing seems to be happening.
Recommendations: this is a personal movie. It's a movie that some
people will love deeply but most will think "huh?" Based on that, I'm
not sure if I could recommend it to, say, any of my friends.
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