Broken Lines Review

Co-writers Doraly Rosa and Dan Fredenburgh headline this North London tale of illicit romance and clashing class mores. They generate adequate spark as the property developer and waitress cheating on prim fiancée Olivia Williams and stroke-victim ex-boxer Paul Bettany, but this is a ponderous melodrama that struggles to accommodate its Jewish subtext and keep its more marginal characters occupied. Sallie Aprahamian’s direction lacks authority, with Bettany’s angry excesses exposing the tepidity of the other performances, while sequences like the coastal tryst, Fredenburgh’s meeting with his estranged mother and Williams’ discovery of his betrayal smack of contrivance.