Critical Reception
The movie review website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 62% of critics gave the film positive write-ups, based upon a sample of 26, with an average score of 5.9/10. According to Metacritic, the film has scored 51% based on 17 reviews, indicating mixed or average reviews. Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film three stars out of four, praising the film's positivity and "the ordinariness of its characters and what they talk about." Ebert noted that "instead of angst, Freudian analysis, despair and self-hate, the new generation sounds like the cast of a sitcom, trading laugh lines and fuzzy truisms." CNN.com's Paul Clinton also lauded The Broken Hearts Club for focusing on "the universal themes of romance, acceptance and family", as opposed to AIDS, coming out, and sex. Clinton viewed the film as "reminiscent of those classic films that explored the complex dynamics of friendship", calling it "a heartwarming, glorious movie for anyone who has ever had a friend -- or a family."
On the other hand, Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle felt the characters were boring and uninteresting. Bob Longino of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution summarized the movie as "sometimes funny, sometimes a yawn." John Nesbit of Old School Reviews felt the movie's strength lay in "the characterizations and the acting", but said the movie was largely void of a plot; however, Nesbit concluded that "The Broken Hearts Club may actually show its strength by being average."
The film was often compared to 1970's The Boys in the Band, directed by William Friedkin, although Ebert and LaSalle both felt that The Broken Hearts Club was generally more upbeat and optimistic. Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly exclaimed that the film shows "how far homosexual characters have come since The Boys in the Band, sad AIDS dramas, and cute identity peekaboo sitcoms". Longino, however, commented that "Broken Hearts doesn't break much new ground. Actually, The Boys in the Band did the groundbreaking 30 years ago." Nathaniel Rogers of Film Experience saw the movie as "no less than the 30th anniversary rerelease of the infamous 70s gay-angst drama, Boys in the Band." Dennis Lim of The Village Voice titled his review "Boys in the Bland."
Read more about this topic: The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy
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