The Broken Hearts Club (2008)

Among its many attributes, The Broken Hearts Club — confirms a theory making the rounds: Carrie Bradshaw and her voracious women friends on HBO's Sex and the City really are gay men. The unflaggingly handsome, untiringly witty West Hollywood denizens in Greg Berlanti's cheery board game represent various positions in current gay culture — at least among those fortunate enough to live in supportive big city enclaves, where a man can display his precious Carpenters albums without fear.

For the warmth and proud cheekiness alone of this gay centric, straight friendly comedy — with its upbeat acknowledgment of how far homosexual characters have come since The Boys in the Band, sad AIDS dramas, and cute identity peekaboo sitcoms — Broken Hearts is something new: a majority oriented movie that assumes sophisticated familiarity with a sexual minority. ''We're here,'' Berlanti (coexecutive producer of Dawson's Creek) all but exults, ''we’re queer, we're funnier, with better haircuts. Get used to it.''

In a winning cast (including Frasier's John Mahoney as a surrogate ''mother'' to the young men who play with stereotypical girliness on his softball team), Dean Cain (Lois & Clark) stands out as a self absorbed actor and lothario who scores and scrams. ''Have a pleasant evening, bottom boy,'' a dumped conquest hisses. This to the man who played Superman? So very super!

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