MOVIE REVIEW: THE BROKEN HEARTS GALLERY

 

Dumped by her boyfriend, a New York art gallery assistant creates an exhibit for souvenirs from past relationships.

Director: Natalie Krinsky

Cast: Geraldine Viswanathan, Dacre Montgomery, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Molly Gordon, Phillipa Soo, Bernadette Peters

Release Date: September 11, 2019

Genre: Comedy, Romance

Rated PG-13 for sexual content throughout and some crude references, strong language and drug references

Runtime: 1 h 48 min

Review:

The Broken Hearts Gallery doesn’t reinvent the rom-com, in fact you won’t find many surprises here, but it’s successful because of endlessly charming star.  Natalie Krinsky doesn’t miss any rom-com tropes or turns but she’s smart enough to give her film a light breezy feel that makes it easy to like.  Her biggest weapon though is Geraldine Viswanathan and she makes great uses of her. Viswanathan has incredible screen presence and comedic timing; anyone who saw her in 2018’s Blocker shouldn’t be surprised.  Here she’s given the spotlight and she nails it from start to finish, making the film pop for the majority of the film’s runtime.  Her supporting cast is equally strong with the film really perking up when she is paired with her droll roommates/best friends played by Molly Gordon and Phillipa Soo.  Still a rom-com won’t work if the two leads don’t have chemistry.  Thankfully Geraldine Viswanathan and Dacre Montgomery, who set his dreamy meter to 11, have a playful but believable chemistry.  The cast makes the film worlds better than it deserves to be.  Personally I’ve never been the biggest fan of this genre because of how predictable they are, something that holds true here, but it’s a testament to how good this cast is that it’s easy to overlook most of the genres failings on display. 

B+

MOVIE REVIEW: GOOD BOYS

Invited to his first kissing party, 12-year-old Max asks his best friends Lucas and Thor for some much-needed help on how to pucker up. When they hit a dead end, Max decides to use his father's drone to spy on the teenage girls next door. When the boys lose the drone, they skip school and hatch a plan to retrieve it before Max's dad can figure out what happened.

Director: Gene Stupnitsky

Cast: Jacob Tremblay, Brady Noon, Keith L. Williams, Molly Gordon, Lil Rel Howery, Will Forte

Release Date: August 16, 2019

Genre: Adventure, Comedy

Rated R for strong crude sexual content, drug and alcohol material, and language throughout - all involving tweens

Runtime: 1 h 29 min

Review:

Good Boys is one of those comedies that pops up every now and then, much in the same vein of Superbad and this year’s Booksmart.  There are similarities to those films but moving the age range down gives its own sense of character and innocence that’s missing from the high school comedies.  Gene Stupnitsky directs his film at a brisk pace letting the jokes shoot by at a dizzying pace.  The script is sharp even if it’s not groundbreaking, the jokes work nearly from start to finish.  The pace of the film never lets anything lingers too long so any jokes that miss don’t hang around long.  The cast is likeable and all three boys share solid chemistry across the board.  Jacob Tremblay is clearly the most talented of the three but Brady Noon and Keith L. Williams more than carry their own weight.  Their delivery of the script is incredibly naturalist and authentic which really helps the film particularly since the film has a hefty amount of heart behind its racy exterior.  Good Boys ultimately has a lot going for it but more than anything it’s genuinely funny with a sweet message behind it.   

B+