The Broken Hearts Club film review

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THE BROKEN HEARTS CLUB

As Harry and Sally discovered to their cost, if there's one thing that ruins a perfectly good friendship, it's sex. The circle of gay friends who orbit Greg Berlanti's effervescent romantic comedy learn that same hard lesson.

Photographer Dennis (Olyphant) is sick and tired of searching for physical perfection. Unlike Benji (Braff), who is drawn to the muscle men at thelocal gym, and actor Cole (Cain), who plies his good looks to snag asuccession of one night stands.

Meanwhile, Patrick (Weber) is convinced he is too ugly to find a partner, best friend Howie (McGrath) doesn't realise he's in love until it is toolate, and effete cook Taylor (Porter) milks the group's sympathy over a recent break-up. Group loyalties are tested when Dennis falls for one of Cole's recent conquests, the newly out Kevin (Keegan). Heartache and recriminations soon follow.

The Broken Hearts Club is a lightweight and soapy affair with a sharp witand a healthy appreciation of pop culture. The screenplay is so heavily weighted with one-liners in the first 30 minutes, that you begin to believe you are watching a sit-com. That's not to say that there aren't some killer lines in there, just that you yearn for fewer laughs and more emotion.

When the characters do finally speak from the heart, the picture has plenty to say about relationships and gay culture. Performances are appealing across the board, from Olyphant's hopeless romantic with a heart of gold, to Cain's pretty boy who refuses to let anyone get too close.

The brief running time forces writer-director Greg Berlanti to give short shrift to some of the friends (notably Taylor and Patrick). Also, the inclusion of lesbians Anne (McCormack) and Leslie (Long) feels like tokenism more than a concerted effort to enrich the character mix.

The Broken Hearts Club should play well to its target audience, but with its rather limited roll call of archetypes, it's unlikely to cross over into the mainstream.