review for Heartbreak Hospital on AllMovie

Soap operas and their obsessive fans are a big easy target for satire, but director Rudolph Gerber still manages to miss the mark with Heartbreak Hospital. Chelsea Altman brings a fresh-faced appeal to her starring role as Neely, a struggling actress who lands what turns into a plum role on a soap, but there isn't much chemistry between her and Demian Bichir, who plays her boyfriend, Tonio. A pre-9/11 New York City, featuring several shots of the World Trade Center, provides the backdrop for the action. But beyond that, the film has little to offer. The humor is strained, and Gerber plays the thriller elements a little too straight. It's difficult to care very much about what happens to his cartoonish cast of characters. The script's points about how some lose the ability to distinguish between fiction and reality are presented heavy-handedly. Patricia Clarkson, as the demented soap fan Lottie, manages to show a flash of humanity underneath the unpleasant shrillness of her role. John Shea and the extremely talented Diane Venora ham it up as neurotic soap stars. The film's biggest problem is the vagueness that afflicts both "Heartbreak Hospital," the eponymous soap opera, and the relationship between Neely and Tonio. The show resembles nothing ever seen on daytime television. For one thing, there only seem to be three actors in the cast. Neely's relationship with Tonio takes a lot of twists and turns, all of which seem more plot-driven than organic to the characters. Gerber has, unfortunately, made a feature film that parodies soap operas, but doesn't have the depth of most soaps. Neil LaBute's darkly funny Nurse Betty and the lightweight Michael Hoffman farce Soapdish mine similar material with more interesting results.