Year of Release: 2000
Director: Greg Berlanti
Starring: Timothy Olyphant, Zach Braff, Andrew Keegan, John Mahoney, Ben Weber, Dean Cain, Matt McGrath, Justin Theroux, Billy Porter, Nia Long, Mary McCormack, Chris Payne Gilbert, Jennifer Coolidge, Kerr Smith
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 4
Watch it on Tubi
Synopsis and Review
These days Greg Berlanti is an omnipresent name on TV, since he's a producer on so many successful shows, and has been the creator of so many shows himself, including "Everwood", "Eli Stone", and even mini-series such as "Political Animals", not to mention all the superhero DC shows that Warner Bros. which had his stamp, namely "Arrow", "The Flash", "Supergirl", and "Superman & Lois". "The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy" is Mr. Berlanti's feature directorial debut and follows the story of a group of gay friends in Los Angeles. The anchor element of the group is Dennis, a photographer, who is roommates with Cole, a struggling actor, who leverages his good looks to date multiple men. Benji the youngest of the group is still trying to find his own path, but is dazzled by the chiseled and buff men at the gym. There's also Taylor who is navigating a recent break up, Patrick who is disenchanted with the gay scene and always volunteers a razor sharp criticism about everyone's lives to his friends, Howie who is a psychology student who keeps dangling the possibility of a reconnection with his ex-boyfriend, and Kevin, a recent addition to the group, following a tryst with Cole. All of them are also united by Jack who owns a local restaurant, where some of them work, and who always gets them to play softball against a variety of teams in the area. All of them are trying to make sense of their professional next steps, while also navigating the dating world, which at times creates some challenges even within the group itself. When tragedy hits, it leads them all to reevaluate their priorities and what they want to do in life.
Much like Jim Fall's "Trick", this feature by Mr. Berlanti comes at the tail end of what constituted the New Queer Cinema movement of the 1990s. However, and unlike Gregg Araki, Tom Kalin, and Todd Hayne's features, Mr. Berlanti's "The Broken Hearts Club" isn't a high concept examination on the lives of gay men in West Hollywood. It plays out like a pilot for a TV show about a bunch of gay male friends, whom we know very little of, and who are growing from their 20s into their 30s and need to figure out where they want to go, both professionally and emotionally. This film plays like a blueprint for what the show "Queer as Folk" would develop much further when it started in the same year this film was released (though the original "Queer as Folk" came out in 1999). The problem with this film in particular, lies with the fact that by wanting to make these gay characters palatable and relatable, they have lost any trace of uniqueness and distinctiveness. There's not much depth to any of these characters, and even the archetypes they fit into, much like William Friedkin's "The Boys in the Band", are rather shallow. What does this ultimately mean for the film: it simply means the film doesn't create an impact, it lives in a reality where everyone is a eunuch or close to it, and ultimately renders all these characters as neutered as the gay characters of "Will and Grace" for instance. This was always a problem at the time (still is to a great extent), where gay characters fall into two brackets: the lead gay character who is typically filled with angst and devoid of any sexual longing, or the supporting gay character who is a collection of clichés, much like the ones illustrated by Rupert Everett in "My Best Friend's Wedding", Roger Bart in "The Stepford Wives" or even Wanda Sykes in "Monster in Law" for instance (the latter doesn't even get to have an identifiable sexual orientation). There are films that break through these clichés, such as Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain" or Todd Haynes' stunning "Carol", but those are far in between. The cast is a bit all over the place on this one, but Justin Theroux manages to create a memorable supporting role. The production team is adequate but not particularly memorable. There isn't anything offensive about this film, it's simply forgettable.
0 comments:
Post a Comment