As soon as the main characters are introduced, their names give away a big hint about how this movie is constructed. This movie is about a woman called HOPE and her lover WILL. And about heroin addiction. 'Broken' is more or less a metaphorical reconstruction about the shattered hopes of a young woman, and her struggle with failure. Leaving home with the dreams of being a sing-a-song writer in LA, but soon finding out that this leads to basically nothing, she starts a path of self destruction.We see her working as a waitress, in a small restaurant where she meets all kinds of people. In between those scenes we see how she meets this charming guy Will, and how her romance with Will develops into a lot of misery. Will is obsessed by her, but he is the personification of emptiness. He needs her and after she breaks up with him, he desperately tries to get a grip on her again.At first this movie seems one-layered. It's a bit confusing in the beginning, as you soon find out that the parts of her relationship are not in the same time frame as what happens in the restaurant. Is she having flashbacks? Did she recover from her addiction to drugs? Towards the end of the movie it is slowly been made more clear that basically the people she meets in the restaurant are either a part of her, or show bits of her past. This gives the movie much more depth and it's an interesting concept. In my opinion it could have been worked out a bit better, but still it is pretty well done. I don't know if my interpretation is right, but how I see it is that Hope is actually the part of her that still has HOPE to escape from her misery. She desperately tries to get a grip on her life, and struggles with the need to fulfill her need for creativity and being valued for her talents, or the acceptance of being nothing more than a waitress. Will symbolizes her addiction, and basically the things that she WILL do in reality. The addiction also WILL get back to her to do everything in his power to seduce her again. I will not spoil more. It's an interesting metaphorical movie. If you are not into that, watch something else as you might find it quite boring. But if you do like double layered movies and you can stand a pretty slow pace, it's really worth to watch it. It could have been more, and I actually think this movie would do better as a stage play, but it sure could have been less.

On Nov. 11, 2008, Lou Silberling pointed out here, "Doesn't anyone get it? Will IS the heroin addiction . . . " To elaborate, Lou goes on "Will (Jeremy Sisto) is the embodied spirit of Hope (Heather Graham's) heroin addiction." Too bad the cast and crew of BROKEN did not realize this while they were making the movie. Let's review BROKEN in light of Lou's insight. Hope first meets "Will" while lying on the ocean beach. (Well, sure it's possible someone on a fishing boat was about to shoot up, and a wave caused them to drop their needle in the sea, where it washed up at Hope's feet, causing her to inject herself to find out what was in this mystery hypodermic . . .) "Will" tells Hope her crappy singing is wonderful (that's the drug talking--sounds plausible enough). "Will" goes into a desert bar a 48-minute drive away from Hope's diner (BROKEN's editor does a series of three paired clock shots to PROVE that "Will" is in one place while Hope is in another, as the time is exactly the same each time the clocks are compared) and robs the bartender of his prized El Camino--in which Hope NEVER appears--at gunpoint. Lou, how does your metaphor theory of "Will" explain this grand theft auto? Oh, wait, it doesn't, because they forgot to call you in as a script doctor, not realizing that their metaphor could not hold up to any serious scrutiny. Pirandelloism (the modern mass media-driven conflict between illusion and reality) has been around for nearly a century, but rarely has it failed so miserably as in BROKEN--if that was the film-makers' actual intent. So Lou, be sure to straighten them out in time for the 10th anniversary deluxe re-release; otherwise, you won't collect any residuals, dude!

never heard of this movie until i rent it on a local video place..not much a fan of heather graham,after seeing her performance in this movie,i wanted to see more and more of her...she stood up for what is right for her life and many actress now are not as good in performance in any movies..i love the scene between graham and sis-to ("jesus")and the movie carry a good message..no matter what the critics or the back of the box says...the pairs do work!!.the diner scene remind me of another great movie "crash"..graham is very sexy even as girl with problems in many of her dramatic scene..i love it and recommend it for a midnight snack or see it with friends..

The Yellow Brick Road of Broken Dreams Is Broken a Nightmare, or a Place?Broken is Dorothy's trip retold, with LA as Oz, as seen from Mulholland Drive. From the clean shining sea light of Zuma Beach, to the superficial artificial light of Skid Row dives and midnight diners, Broken follows the arc of a young woman from the Midwest who follows her dreams to Los Angeles, and almost lets her nightmares do her in.Heather Graham is Hope, a young woman who doesn't think that Cleveland rocks, and goes west with her guitar in hand and a song in her heart called Hanging Tree. The sea light of California lights Hope up brown and golden, she looks beautiful and happy lying on the beach at Zuma, when she is approached by a stranger (Jeremy Sisto) who approaches her as if he walked out of the glare of a setting sun,. He asks for a cigarette, but Hope doesn't have any, she has quit, so he pulls two from his pocket and offers her one. The guy says his name is Will, and this gesture of his is more than a pickup tactic, it is a clue as to who Will really is, a clue that only makes sense at the end of the movie.The yellow brick road that millions have followed to Los Angeles is lined with permanent detours and dead ends, and Will takes Hope by the hand and leads her away from the golden, dreamy light at the beach and down one of those bad paths, the path of heroin addiction which plunges Hope into a world of bad light, artificial light, the light of tunnels leading to hell, of dingy apartments with the light blocked by foil, to the light of a butane lighter, bubbling heroin in a spoon. The heroin that is slowly taking the light out of Hopes eyes and out of her dreams.Broken moves backward and forward and sideways through time, but the real time of the movie takes place after midnight in a café where Hope scratches out a living as a waitress. This is the Blue Star Café in the movie, but those who know Los Angeles will recognize it as the Hellay Café, because the patrons that Hope waits on are everyone you don't want to become in Los Angeles: Jake Busey and Joe Hursley are sadly funny as two heroin-addicted losers who can't score smack or women at 2:00 in the morning. Jessica Stroup is beautifully sad as an Xd out Valley chick stuck behind two guys she doesn't like, and looking for salvation from Hope. Linda Hamilton is evil sad as a madame who plays on Hopes weaknesses and tries to lure her even deeper with promises of big money. Hope has already prostituted herself physically and mentally, for drugs, for Will.Tess Harper is just sad as a homeless woman who seems to be able to read Hope's mind – and a reflection of what Hope will soon become if she continues with Will.The other patrons are a wannabe producer and director – younger and older versions of the endless train of BSing hopefuls that pass through Los Angeles. There is a wannabe record producer luring three wannabe rock stars with promises of meeting "the most powerful man in Hollywood" at two in the morning. The Blue Star Café could also be called the Wannabe Café, as it is a purgatory between the heaven of all that Los Angeles promises and the hell of broken dreams. Hope is trapped in this purgatory, at two in the morning. She is flashing back on her relationship with Will, a relationship that is more sex and drugs than rock and roll, a relationship that is stealing Hope's youth and beauty, and her dreams and self respect. Hope is done with the relationship, but not Will. The homeless woman warns Hope that Will will be back, he will always come back. As Hope waits on the various sad cases in the Hellay Café, the clock is ticking as Will pulls his gun and steals cars and makes his way to confront the woman who has spurned him.There is a weird tension in the Wannabe Café when Will busts in with a gun, threatening everyone. A lot of these people need killing – they would be better off dead – but Will ends up shooting the saddest and most innocent of them all. Jeremy Sisto plays a believable psycho, a common type around LA: the guy who can't make it, and takes it out on everyone around him.Hope takes all of Will's wrath on herself, and faces her moment of truth, making a decision and with a loud bang forces the viewers to make up their minds about Broken: Is Will an addict, or is he Addiction? Is he a person, or a symbol? Did all of this happen, or was it all a heroin nightmare that took place as Hope nodded on a bathroom floor. Is this whole movie reality, or is it, in the words of Dorothy: A dream, or a place?