Sweethearts Review: Two Decent Stories in One Mediocre Film

Streaming Movie Review - Max - Teen Rom-Com

Photograph by Courtesy of Max

I admit that sometimes when I’m watching a movie, I start to make judgments about the story before it’s entirely finished. The upcoming Max Original Sweethearts by director Jordan Weiss is one such movie. Teen rom-coms have a lot of predictable storylines and plot points, and I thought I knew where this one was going. But Weiss, along with co-writer Dan Brier, managed to subvert my expectations.

Best friends Jamie (Kiernan Shipka) and Ben (Nico Hiraga) are finishing up their first semester of college, but they both feel bound by their high school relationships. Ben’s girlfriend Claire (Ava DeMary) is finishing her senior year, and Jamie’s boyfriend Simon (Charlie Hall) is at another school. Wanting to be able to have the full college experience, Jamie and Ben decide that they are going to break up with their respective partners over Thanksgiving. They employ the help of their friend Palmer (Caleb Hearon) to help keep track of Claire and Simon until they get home.

Nico Hiraga and Kiernan Shipka in SWEETHEARTS. Photograph courtesy of Max

The thing about Sweethearts is that if that were the plot of the whole movie, it would probably be a good time. But there is a whole separate story about Palmer coming out to all of his old high school friends that feels kind of like a different movie. In it, he discovers how to be a gay kid in rural Ohio and that is also a pretty decent story. But the disconnect between his story and the primary story is so significant that they feel almost like two competing movies.

Because of the structure of this movie, the performances are never given time to breathe. Hearon is a genuinely funny comedian, but until near the end, he felt stilted and unfunny for the bulk of the film. Shipka and Hiraga never build much chemistry between them, either as best friends or as potential romantic partners. As such, their performances never sing in the way that you would hope for a film like this.

Caleb Hearon in SWEETHEARTS. Photograph by Cara Howe/Max

All that said, there are some truly touching, not to mention surprising moments in Sweethearts. The turn taken in the relationship between Ben and Jamie was a fun twist that caught me off guard and subverted expectations. Palmer’s story was also interesting and not what I thought would happen. There were two unique and entertaining stories in this movie. Its primary downfall was not focusing on one of them, or at the very least, tying them together in a more coherent way.

At its center, Sweethearts is a film about growing up. I thought I knew what this film was about before it was over, and the characters think they know what becoming an adult is about before they quite reach that stage. Ultimately, we both were wrong, and finding out the truth is a lot more interesting than we expected.

This review originally appeared in The Dominion Post on November 23, 2024.