Broken Hearts Club
Encyclopedia
The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy is a 2000 American film written and directed by Greg Berlanti
. It follows the lives of a group of gay friends in West Hollywood, centered around a restaurant owned by the fatherly Jack (John Mahoney
) and the softball team he sponsors. The friends rely on each other for friendship and support as they search for love, deal with loss, and discover themselves.
The Broken Hearts Club was Berlanti's first feature film, based around his circle of friends at the time. The movie was met with generally favorable reviews from critics, receiving praise for portraying homosexuality as normal and its characters as average gay men. The film focuses on "the universal themes of romance, acceptance and family," as opposed to AIDS
, coming out
, and sex, which are more controversial and stereotypical topics commonly covered in LGBT films.
), a photographer who often holds the group together; Cole (Dean Cain
) a handsome, charismatic actor
who — often unwittingly — ends up with other people's boyfriends; Benji (Zach Braff
), the youngest member of the group, with a penchant for gym-bodied men, who finds himself going through some bad times; Howie (Matt McGrath
), a psychology student who is known for overthinking every situation; Patrick (Ben Weber
), the cynic of the group; and Taylor (Billy Porter), who has long boasted about his long-term relationship, which has just come crashing to an end.
Guiding them is restaurant owner Jack (John Mahoney
) who provides them with advice. But when tragedy strikes, and the group's newest member, 23-year-old Kevin (Andrew Keegan
), attempts to fit in, their friendships are put to the test.
The film also stars Nia Long
, Mary McCormack
and Justin Theroux, and features a cameo
by Kerr Smith
, who knew the director through their work on Dawson's Creek
and enjoyed the script so much he asked to be a part of it.
Filming took place over the course of 20 days on an estimated budget of USD
$1,000,000. The movie was filmed in Los Angeles
and West Hollywood, while restaurant exteriors and interiors were shot in Long Beach
. The hardware store scene was filmed in Laurel Hardware Company in West Hollywood, which closed in 2009. The hospital used in the film was an abandoned hospital which the crew had to clean it before they could film. The film was distributed by Sony Pictures Entertainment
and its subsidiary Sony Pictures Classics
and produced by Banner Entertainment and Meanwhile Films.
d at the Sundance Film Festival
on January 29, 2000. It received a limited release
on September 29, 2000. In its opening weekend, showing at seven theaters, the film made $109,694. Two weeks later, the film made $153,468 as it reached twenty-eight screens and the week later, it grossed $175,553 as it reached fifty-six. In its eighth week of release, The Broken Hearts Club played at sixty-two theaters. The film's domestic gross totaled $1,746,585 after twelve weeks of release. The movie was released in a number of countries in 2001 and played at various gay and lesbian film festivals worldwide. The Broken Hearts Club grossed $272,536 outside of the United States, bringing its worldwide gross to $2,019,121.
The Broken Hearts Club was released on Region 1
DVD
by Sony Pictures on March 6, 2001. It was released on Region 2
DVD on November 5.
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."
. The film also made use of songs by The Carpenters
, covered by Mary Beth Maziarz. On September 19, 2000, WILL Records (now Lakeshore Records
) released the film's soundtrack.
Greg Berlanti
Greg Berlanti is an American television writer and producer.- Personal life :Berlanti was born in Rye, New York. His parents are Barbara Moller Berlanti and Eugene Berlanti. Greg has one sister, Dina and is the uncle of two nieces...
. It follows the lives of a group of gay friends in West Hollywood, centered around a restaurant owned by the fatherly Jack (John Mahoney
John Mahoney
John Mahoney is a British born American actor, known for playing Martin "Marty" Crane, the retired police officer, father of Kelsey Grammer's Dr...
) and the softball team he sponsors. The friends rely on each other for friendship and support as they search for love, deal with loss, and discover themselves.
The Broken Hearts Club was Berlanti's first feature film, based around his circle of friends at the time. The movie was met with generally favorable reviews from critics, receiving praise for portraying homosexuality as normal and its characters as average gay men. The film focuses on "the universal themes of romance, acceptance and family," as opposed to AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
, coming out
Coming out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
, and sex, which are more controversial and stereotypical topics commonly covered in LGBT films.
Plot
The film follows the lives of a group of gay friends in West Hollywood. Among the group is Dennis (Timothy OlyphantTimothy Olyphant
Timothy David Olyphant is an American actor whose notable roles in television drama series include Deadwood as Seth Bullock, Justified as Raylan Givens, The Office as Danny Cordray, and Damages as Wes Krulik...
), a photographer who often holds the group together; Cole (Dean Cain
Dean Cain
Dean Cain is an American actor. He is most widely known for his role as Clark Kent/Superman in the popular American television series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.-Early life:...
) a handsome, charismatic actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
who — often unwittingly — ends up with other people's boyfriends; Benji (Zach Braff
Zach Braff
Zachary Israel "Zach" Braff is an American actor, screenwriter, producer, comedian, and director. Braff first became known in 2001 for his role as Dr. John Dorian on the television series Scrubs, for which he was nominated for an Emmy Award and three Golden Globe Awards.In 2004, Braff made his...
), the youngest member of the group, with a penchant for gym-bodied men, who finds himself going through some bad times; Howie (Matt McGrath
Matt McGrath (actor)
Matt McGrath is an American actor.McGrath's film appearances include roles in The Notorious Bettie Page, Boys Don't Cry, The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy, and The Impostors. On television, McGrath has appeared in episodes of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Now and Again, and New York...
), a psychology student who is known for overthinking every situation; Patrick (Ben Weber
Ben Weber (actor)
Ben Weber is an American film and television actor. He has appeared in TV series including Sex and the City and in films such as Kissing Jessica Stein and Coach Carter. Weber also played David on the ABC Family television series The Secret Life of the American Teenager along with Molly Ringwald...
), the cynic of the group; and Taylor (Billy Porter), who has long boasted about his long-term relationship, which has just come crashing to an end.
Guiding them is restaurant owner Jack (John Mahoney
John Mahoney
John Mahoney is a British born American actor, known for playing Martin "Marty" Crane, the retired police officer, father of Kelsey Grammer's Dr...
) who provides them with advice. But when tragedy strikes, and the group's newest member, 23-year-old Kevin (Andrew Keegan
Andrew Keegan
Andrew Keegan is an American actor and producer. He is best known for his role of Joey Donner in the film 10 Things I Hate About You.-Life and career:...
), attempts to fit in, their friendships are put to the test.
The film also stars Nia Long
Nia Long
Nia Talita Long is an American actress and occasional music video director. She is best known for her roles in the television series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Third Watch, and the films Boiler Room, Soul Food, Love Jones, The Best Man, Big Momma's House, Big Momma's House 2, Are We There...
, Mary McCormack
Mary McCormack
Mary Catherine McCormack is an American actress. Best known for her work in television, she has had leading roles as Justine Appleton in the series Murder One , as Deputy National Security Adviser Kate Harper in The West Wing and as Mary Shannon in In Plain Sight .Her film roles include Private...
and Justin Theroux, and features a cameo
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
by Kerr Smith
Kerr Smith
Kerr Van Cleve Smith is an American actor best known for playing Jack McPhee on The WB drama series Dawson's Creek, Kyle Brody in The WB's, supernatural drama, Charmed and more recently Axel Palmer in My Bloody Valentine 3D...
, who knew the director through their work on Dawson's Creek
Dawson's Creek
Dawson's Creek is an American teen drama television series which debuted on January 20, 1998, on The WB Television Network and was produced by Sony Pictures Television. The show is set in the fictional seaside town of Capeside, Massachusetts, and in Boston, Massachusetts, during the later seasons...
and enjoyed the script so much he asked to be a part of it.
Development and production
The Broken Hearts Club was written by Greg Berlanti about his own circle of friends at the time; the Howie/Marshall storyline is semi-autobiographical to a relationship Berlanti once had. The film had a working title of The Broken Hearts League as well as 8x10's, a term Berlanti's sister used to describe the men he dated.Filming took place over the course of 20 days on an estimated budget of USD
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
$1,000,000. The movie was filmed in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
and West Hollywood, while restaurant exteriors and interiors were shot in Long Beach
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
. The hardware store scene was filmed in Laurel Hardware Company in West Hollywood, which closed in 2009. The hospital used in the film was an abandoned hospital which the crew had to clean it before they could film. The film was distributed by Sony Pictures Entertainment
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc. is the television and film production/distribution unit of Japanese multinational technology and media conglomerate Sony...
and its subsidiary Sony Pictures Classics
Sony Pictures Classics
Sony Pictures Classics is an art-house film division of Sony Pictures Entertainment founded in December 1991 that distributes, produces and acquires specialty films from the United States and around the world. Its co-presidents are Michael Barker and Tom Bernard...
and produced by Banner Entertainment and Meanwhile Films.
Release and commercial response
The film premierePremiere
A premiere is generally "a first performance". This can refer to plays, films, television programs, operas, symphonies, ballets and so on. Premieres for theatrical, musical and other cultural presentations can become extravagant affairs, attracting large numbers of socialites and much media...
d at the Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
on January 29, 2000. It received a limited release
Limited release
Limited release is a term in the American motion picture industry for a motion picture that is playing in a select few theaters across the country ....
on September 29, 2000. In its opening weekend, showing at seven theaters, the film made $109,694. Two weeks later, the film made $153,468 as it reached twenty-eight screens and the week later, it grossed $175,553 as it reached fifty-six. In its eighth week of release, The Broken Hearts Club played at sixty-two theaters. The film's domestic gross totaled $1,746,585 after twelve weeks of release. The movie was released in a number of countries in 2001 and played at various gay and lesbian film festivals worldwide. The Broken Hearts Club grossed $272,536 outside of the United States, bringing its worldwide gross to $2,019,121.
The Broken Hearts Club was released on Region 1
DVD region code
DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region...
DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
by Sony Pictures on March 6, 2001. It was released on Region 2
DVD region code
DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region...
DVD on November 5.
Critical reception
The movie review website Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reported that 62% of critics gave the film positive write-ups, based upon a sample of 26, with an average
Weighted mean
The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others...
score of 5.9/10. According to Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, the film has scored 51% based on 17 reviews, indicating mixed or average reviews. Film critic Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
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
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
.com's Paul Clinton
Paul Clinton
Paul Clinton was an American film critic. He served as CNN.com film critic for 20 years. He was the co-founder of the Broadcast Film Critics Association ....
also lauded The Broken Hearts Club for focusing on "the universal themes of romance, acceptance and family," as opposed to AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
, coming out
Coming out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
, and sex
Sex
In biology, sex is a process of combining and mixing genetic traits, often resulting in the specialization of organisms into a male or female variety . Sexual reproduction involves combining specialized cells to form offspring that inherit traits from both parents...
. 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
Mick LaSalle
Mick LaSalle is an American Mick LaSalle is an [[United States|American]] Mick LaSalle is an [[United States|American]] [[film reviewer] and the author of two books on pre-[[Motion Picture Production Code|Hays Code]] Hollywood...
of the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
felt the characters were boring and uninteresting. Bob Longino of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is the only major daily newspaper in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, and its suburbs. The AJC, as it is called, is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is the result of the merger between The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta...
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
The Boys in the Band
The Boys in the Band is a 1970 American drama film directed by William Friedkin. The screenplay by Mart Crowley is based on his Off Broadway play of the same title, Crowley penned a sequel to the play years later entitled The Men From The Boys...
, directed by William Friedkin
William Friedkin
William Friedkin is an American film director, producer and screenwriter best known for directing The French Connection in 1971 and The Exorcist in 1973; for the former, he won the Academy Award for Best Director...
, although Ebert and LaSalle both felt that The Broken Hearts Club was generally more upbeat and optimistic. Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
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
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
titled his review "Boys in the Bland."
Awards
| Year | Organization | Award | Category | Won |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation | GLAAD Media Awards GLAAD Media Awards The GLAAD Media Award is an accolade bestowed by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation to recognize and honor various branches of the media for their outstanding representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and the issues that affect their lives... |
Outstanding Film (Limited Release) | Won |
| 2001 | Casting Society of America Casting Society of America Founded in Los Angeles, California in 1982, the Casting Society of America is a professional society of about 350 casting directors for film, television, and theatre in Australia, Canada, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States. The society is not to be confused with an industry union. The... |
Artios Awards | Best Casting for Feature Film, Independent | Nominated |
Music
The original music for The Broken Hearts Club was scored by Canadian composer Christophe BeckChristophe Beck
Christophe Beck , also credited as Chris Beck, is a Canadian television and film score composer....
. The film also made use of songs by The Carpenters
The Carpenters
Carpenters were an American vocal and instrumental duo, consisting of sister Karen and brother Richard Carpenter. The Carpenters were the #1 selling American music act of the 1970s. Though often referred to by the public as "The Carpenters", the duo's official name on authorized recordings and...
, covered by Mary Beth Maziarz. On September 19, 2000, WILL Records (now Lakeshore Records
Lakeshore Records
Lakeshore Records is the independent music division of Lakeshore Entertainment . They started out as WILL Records.Will Records were started by Skip Williamson in the early 90s...
) released the film's soundtrack.
- "Love Machine, Part 1Love Machine (The Miracles song)"Love Machine" is a 1976 number-one single recorded by Motown group The Miracles, taken from their album City of Angels. This single was one of two Billboard Hot 100 Top 40 hits recorded by The Miracles with Billy Griffin as lead vocalist; the other is 1973's "Do It Baby". Griffin had replaced...
" - The MiraclesThe MiraclesThe Miracles are an American rhythm and blues group from Detroit, Michigan, notable as the first successful group act for Berry Gordy's Motown Record Corporation . Their single "Shop Around" was Motown's first million-selling hit record, and the group went on to become one of Motown's signature... - "From Here to Eternity" (radio edit) - Giorgio MoroderGiorgio MoroderHansjörg "Giorgio" Moroder is an Italian record producer, songwriter and performer based in Los Angeles. When in Munich in the 1970s, he started his own record label called Oasis Records, which several years later became a subdivision of Casablanca Records...
vs. Danny TenagliaDanny TenagliaDanny Tenaglia is a New York-based DJ and Grammy nominated record producer.-Early life:At the age of ten, Tenaglia first started to collect records. In 1979 he began going to nightclub Paradise Garage, where DJ Larry Levan's genre-less blend of music appealed to him... - "Let the Music Play" (Junior Vasquez Mix) - ShannonShannon (singer)Shannon is an American singer. She is best known for her 1983 million-selling record, "Let the Music Play". The record re-defined the electro funk sound that would eventually be called freestyle music.-Biography:...
- "Beg for It" (Mad Tizzy Mix) - Barry HarrisBarry Harris (DJ)Barry Harris is a Canadian composer, artist, producer, musician, remixer & DJ. He created the band Kon Kan , who had worldwide top 5 success with "I Beg Your Pardon'. Initially issued on Toronto Indy label Revolving Records, was quickly discovered and signed by Atlantic Records U.S...
- "Time for Love" - Kim EnglishKim EnglishKim English is an African American electronica, soul, gospel, and house music singer, born in Chicago, Illinois, United States.-Music career:...
- "Share My Joy" - GTS featuring Loleatta HollowayLoleatta HollowayLoleatta Holloway was an American singer, mainly known for disco songs such as "Hit and Run" and "Love Sensation", both of which have been sampled extensively.-Biography:...
- "Learn2Love" - Kim English
- "Young Hearts Run FreeYoung Hearts Run Free"Young Hearts Run Free" is a disco song by American soul singer Candi Staton. Released in 1976 from the album of the same title, it spent a week at number one on the Hot Soul Singles chart. It also peaked at number twenty on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. Along with the tracks: "Run To Me"...
" - Kym MazelleKym MazelleKym Mazelle is an American dance-pop, Hi-NRG, soul, and house singer. She was brought up and lived on the same street as the Jackson family and knew Michael Jackson's mother and uncle.-Career:... - "(They Long to Be) Close to You(They Long to Be) Close to You" Close to You" is a popular song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. It was first recorded by Richard Chamberlain and released as a single in 1963 as "They Long to Be Close to You," without parentheses. However, it was the single's flip side, "Blue Guitar," that became a hit...
" - Mary Beth Maziarz - "We've Only Just BegunWe've Only Just Begun"We've Only Just Begun" is the signature song of The Carpenters, written by Roger Nichols and Paul Williams , and is often used as a wedding song. The song was ranked at #405 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of "the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".The song was recorded by Smokey Roberds, a friend...
" - Mary Beth Maziarz