Sweethearts (2024) Review: Kiernan Shipka and Nico Hiraga’s Wonderful Chemistry isn’t Enough to Compensate For This Underwhelming Rom-Com
Sweethearts, which marks the feature-length directorial debut of TV’s Dollface writer Jordan Weiss boasts an interesting hook: Two best friends Jamie (Kiernan Shipka) and Ben (Nico Hiraga) since middle school made a pact to end their respective long-distance relationships with their sweethearts, Simon (Charlie Hall) and Claire (Ava DeMary). The reason? Their relationships no longer have the same sparks as they used to, particularly with Jamie and Ben now entering their college life. This is especially true with football jock Simon prefers to spend more time getting intimate with Jamie via video calls rather than do something meaningful in their relationship. The same also goes for Claire, who is constantly needy and demands Ben’s attention regardless of how busy he is.
This is why Jamie and Ben had enough, which leads to their planning to break up with them during the Thanksgiving break back home in Ohio. So far, so good as Weiss is off to a promising start while Kiernan Shipka and Nico Hiraga immediately hit it off with their wonderful chemistry as two best friends on a mission of break-ups. The earlier scenes are easily the funniest, notably Jamie’s embarrassing flashback when she was just a kid played by Juliana Joy Davies being wrongly accused as a “homewrecker” following a misunderstanding incident with her best friend Megan’s (Violet Tinnirello) dad during Megan’s 12th birthday party. Then, there’s the house party scene where Ben has trouble trying to get rid of a dancing girl flirting with him while Jamie, well, let’s just say she gets caught in an awkward situation in a bedroom, resulting in a hilariously disastrous night altogether.
Later, Jamie and Ben are forced to catch a last-minute bus ride to Ohio after Ben’s roommate Tyler (Zach Zucker) takes his car. With the plan slightly altered, they call their closeted Palmer (Caleb Hearon), who returns home from Paris and plans to make his coming-out announcement while ensuring Simon and Claire are there in his soiree until Jamie and Ben arrive. I enjoyed the bus scene where comedian Stavros Halkias in his memorable cameo appearance as the disgruntled passenger got annoyed with the two rehearsing their breakups.
It’s a pity that Weiss can’t sustain a consistent momentum as the movie progresses further. One of the biggest drawbacks comes from Palmer’s subplot, which takes up a substantial chunk of the movie from his meet-up with Coach Reese (Tramell Tillmann) to falling in love at first sight with a guy named Lukas (Miles Gutierrez-Riley) whom he met at the diner. The thing about his subplot feels more like a drawn-out filler to patch up the gap between Jamie and Ben’s main storyline of their dual breakup plan. Not to mention the disjointed narrative almost veers the story off course.
The movie does compensate for its shortcomings, albeit not by a large margin revolving around Ben trying to bluff his way into a bar with Jamie using his fake ID, only to find himself denied entry by a suspicious bouncer (an amusingly deadpan Darius Jackson). I realise the movie lacks a much-needed conflict to raise the stakes, which in turn, slows down the storytelling considerably.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the main premise here which has me anticipating whether Jamie and Ben’s persistence to break up with their respective partners is more of an impulsive act or the right thing to do. The movie also explores whether a platonic guy-girl relationship works since Jamie and Ben’s co-dependency feels as if they are actually meant for each other after all. It was an interesting perspective and again, Kiernan Shipka and Nico Hiraga are the heart of the movie but looking at the whole picture, Sweethearts remains a missed opportunity that could have been better.
Sweethearts is currently streaming on Max.
