Review: Geraldine Viswanathan steals show in delightful 'Broken Hearts Gallery'

Geraldine Viswanathan is a star.

The "Blockers" scene stealer comes fully into her own in "The Broken Hearts Gallery," a fresh, funny romantic comedy in which she illuminates the screen like a glowing neon sign. 

Viswanathan stars as Lucy, an unlucky-in-love New Yorker who hangs on to trinkets from her past boyfriends, creating a sort of living museum of her past. 

Dacre Montgomery ("Stranger Things") is Nick, the boy whom she meets cute in a mistaken Uber ride, and together they form an art gallery dedicated to old stuff from failed relationships, which becomes a cathartic art world hit. 

Writer-director Natalie Krinsky brings a youthful perspective to the rom-com genre, and invests just as much in Lucy's friends (Molly Gordon and "Hamilton's" Phillipa Soo are indispensable as Lucy's roommates) as she does in her love life. She successfully captures that time in your early to mid-20s when your friends are everything and your job is a mess, and all the mistakes you make are the best opportunities for learning. The result is a bright, buoyant comedy that winks at romantic comedy cliches while also embracing them like a warm blanket.  

At the center of it all is Viswanathan, who is bright-eyed, bubbly, plucky, self-deprecating and altogether a joy to watch on screen. She can take a pratfall or deliver a line like "I love her so much it gives me diarrhea!" and sell it as endearing. She's a screen natural and "The Broken Hearts Gallery" is her showcase.

"If you get to know me, you'd be obsessed with me," Viswanathan-as-Lucy states at one point. Yep, checks out 

'The Broken Hearts Gallery'

GRADE: B+

Rated PG-13: for sexual content throughout and some crude references, strong language and drug references

Running time: 110 minutes

agraham@detroitnews.com

@grahamorama