The Broken Hearts Gallery

Despite Broken Hearts’ eventual and disappoingtingly inevitable pile-on of motivational messaging and what essentially amounts to Hollywood peer pressure for a feel-good ending, there’s a lot to like about this effervescent and sometimes emotionally surprising rom-com, most of all, its luminous lead.

While The Broken Hearts Gallery doesn't turn the genre completely on its head, it's a nice reminder of how uplifting and life-affirming this kind of film can be.

Designed to simply make you happy, maybe want to pet a puppy or fall in love and kiss someone new.

A funny but conventional glossy romcom. But there is no messing with Viswanathan, who is undoubtedly the main attraction.

It's an unexpected basis for a rom-com, and Viswanathan throws herself into the material with a dazzlingly infectious energy.

The rom-com is dead. Long live the rom-com.

Too much feels off. The setting barely resembles New York. The key-to-everything backstories are terribly contrived, the setup of Lucy's failed romance inadequate to buy into what follows.

For anyone not in the very specific demographic group depicted, the experience of watching this is like being trapped in a tiny downtown club, where the food isn't that good and the portions are tiny.

For a film about heartbreak, The Broken Hearts Gallery is a bit too glossy for its own good.

The Broken Hearts Gallery will fit snugly on the shelf for tweens and teens as a source of comfort and maybe even empowerment, an ode to rebuilding, when the dissolution of a relationship leaves you feeling like a husk of yourself.

The Broken Hearts Gallery pushes all the rom-com buttons but does it knowingly, with a spirit that embraces killer cynicism and then comes out the other side.