Sweethearts – Getting the Most Out of Its Stars (Early Review)

Shot in the summer of 2022, Sweethearts is yet another Max 2024 streaming release kept on the shelf for several years until being released this year after Turtles All the Way Down, Am I Okay?, Salem’s Lot, and Caddo Lake. The film follows Jamie (Shipka) and Ben (Hiraga), a pair of childhood best friends, now freshman at the same college, who found themselves stuck in long distance relationships with their high school sweethearts, Simon (Charlie Hall) and Claire (Ava DeMary). Realizing how unhappy they are and seeing the toll long distance relationships takes on people their age, they both decide to break up with their high school sweethearts on the same night before Thanksgiving. However, their breakups proved to only the beginning of what would become a chaotic night that would put their friendship to the test. Though not quite the new coming-of-age classic romantic comedy that it had the potential to be, it is still an enjoyable watch that succeeds in getting plenty of mileage out of its charismatic leads.

Shipka is a wildly talented actress, and this time around, the film gives her the opportunity to tackle comedy, a genre which she absolutely excels at thanks to her comedic timing as Jamie. In what was clearly a fun role for her, she and Hiraga have terrific chemistry. Equally great, Hiraga, who usually plays best friend characters, shines in his first lead roles, proving he can carry a film. In the end, a big reason why this works as well as it does, is the strong dynamic between them, creating the kind of friendship worthy of audiences to invest in. That being said, this type of film can easily run the risk of having unlikable leads. However, this is definitely not the case here, both are flawed and grounded characters that are easy to relate to. Meanwhile, it has a good heart and sweet nature to it, and is a lot raunchier than one might expect. While not the greatest film by any means, it is fun and doesn’t aim for anything more than that.

In terms of flaws, not all of the humor works, which can sometimes take away from the film’s more heartfelt side, and some of moments that stretch the realm of believability quite a bit. However, the biggest issue with Sweethearts is a subplot that, without giving anything away, not only doesn’t make sense, but also leads the film to drag whenever it takes the focus away from the main plot and becomes increasingly frustrating the longer the film goes on as it frequently keeps cuts back to it. On the other hand, the film fails to truly take advantage of it’s Thanksgiving setting.

At the end of the day, with a few tweaks to its script, Sweethearts could have been great but as it stands, is pretty darn good and a fun watch especially for fans of either leads. Though it’s a shame that the film didn’t play to its Thanksgiving setting enough to make it into the kind of annual watch, it is a perfectly solid romantic comedy that will surely leave audiences smiling by the end.

still courtesy of Max

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Connor Carey

www.connorsmoviereviews.com/