Sweethearts (2024) Review!!

Synopsis – Two college freshmen pull a “Turkey Dump” and break up with their high school sweethearts over “Drunksgiving” – the one chaotic night before Thanksgiving in their hometown that puts their codependent friendship to the test.

My Take – With romantic comedies making a strong comeback, Max had used this opportunity to deliver something that can be best described as anti-rom-com, something that reverses the whole best friends-to-lovers trope. All the while exploring themes of platonic friendship and growing up as the lead characters navigate the pressure of breakups and newfound independence.

The resulting film is a little meandering, but winning feature that proves to be genuinely surprising and refreshing.

Marking the feature directorial debut of Jordan Weiss, known for creating the Hulu series ‘Dollface’ starring Kat Dennings, the film does not bring anything new to the scene through its technicalities and seems to be very inspired by other buddy comedies like Superbad (2007) and Booksmart (2019), yet the story is a nice enough rollercoaster ride that does not overstay its welcome.

Especially when it is challenging societal norms and the classic rom-com genre. But mostly, it is hard to dislike Shipka and Hiraga’s efforts here. Who ensure the film is at the very least consistently funny enough to warrant consuming 98 minutes of your time.

The story follows Ben (Nico Hiraga) and Jamie (Kiernan Shipka), who have been best friends since eighth grade. Since then they have somehow managed to attend the same out-of-state college, and are juggling the usual freshman year identity crisis with long-distance relationships; Ben’s girlfriend Claire (Ava DeMary), an overconfident thespian, is still in high school in Ohio and smothers her man, while Jamie’s boyfriend Simon (Charlie Hall) is playing football for Harvard on a weak GPA.

Though both are devoted to their high school sweethearts, as neither party, to avoid temptation, and struggle to make new connections at school – they also view them with believably youthful callousness.

But after a disastrous night out at an off-campus house party they realize they’re in a slump, no longer emotionally invested in their partners, and end up making a pact to break up with their high school sweethearts before Thanksgiving to avoid leaving an emotional scar.

Of course, their scheme doesn’t play out the way they hoped, with them facing several obstacles along the way. Here, director Jordan Weiss, who co-wrote the script with Dan Brier, lays out the basic ingredients in a clever intro invoking both the naive hope of high school love and the reality of being dragged along.

Despite the inherently emotional premise of learning to let go of your first love, the film is a laid-back and generally pleasant affair, never particularly reaching laugh-out-loud funny but staying consistently amusing with some sharp bits, including Ben failing to use the driver’s license he swiped from a dead classmate’s locker as a fake ID or Jamie complaining about their only being one Uber driver in their extremely small town.

It’s also impressive how much diversion it packs into a relatively short film that does eventually get to the disastrous dumping.The script shines the most when it is primarily focused on the scenes that center the duo, though Palmer (Caleb Hearon), the third wheel in this friendship, has his fair share of memorable moments.

Palmer’s hi-jinks filled route to readjusting his expectations on coming out, what he wants from his post-high school life, and that there are gay people in rural Ohio is far more nuanced and substantial than the usual subplot, sweet but not cloying, largely thanks to impeccable comedic timing by the helplessly endearing Hearon.

Although the buddy comedy’s pacing falters halfway through and could have benefitted greatly from a more chaotic, kinetic energy to give a sense of urgency to the leads’ self-made crisis. The resolution catches you by surprise. The charming final sequence makes you somewhat forget all missteps along the way. The ode to the classic When Harry Met Sally is simply delightful.

And of course, it helps that Kiernan Shipka and Nico Hiraga are entirely charismatic and carry the film easily as subversive young adult leads, which is the film’s main high point. Shipka and Hiraga‘s chemistry as Jamie and Ben is convincing from the get-go, awkwardly dancing in the corner at parties and making the most intimate revelations without fear of second-hand embarrassment.

Caleb Hearon also holds his own, bringing some excellent humor to the table. In supporting roles, Ava DeMary, Charlie Hall, Sophie Zucker, Tramell Tillman, Joel Kim Booster and Christine Taylor are perfectly effective. On the whole, ‘Sweethearts‘ is a charming teen comedy that challenges the classic rom-com genre with enough spice and sweet.