Sweethearts

Sweethearts (2024) is an okay enough rom-com for this year's Thanksgiving, but I was expecting a little bit more from this movie.

Positives for Sweethearts (2024): Kiernan Shipka and Nico Hiraga are decent as Jamie and Ben. It was fun to see a Rom-Com taking place during the Thanksgiving holiday. I liked the idea of these two stories and the journey of the two sets of characters as they try to meet each other before Thanksgiving. And finally, I can see people having fun with this movie during the Thanksgiving season.

Negatives for Sweethearts (2024): The execution in the movie is a little wonky at times. The movie feels rushed like they didn't know what to do with the plot. And finally, the main goal for our lead characters felt very underwhelming.

Overall, Sweethearts (2024) is an okay Rom-Com movie sent during Thanksgiving that had some potential, but got lost in the execution.

With a few thousand reviews here, I have discovered that some films only make sense if you put them in context. Films entirely about teenagers did not really exist until the 1960s, and even then most of those involved silly settings like the beach or the malt shop. By the 70s, creators had decided the real purpose of a teen film should be to scare other teens, hence the so-called slasher decade. By the 1980s, the teen film evolved again, and we had the raunch-com. Porkys. Revenge of the Nerds. This proved to be a popular spin as evidenced by the fact that, a half-century later, they are still making them. SWEETHEARTs 2024 is a raunch-com with a weak premise duly supported by an equally weak script. The only redeeming factor is Shipka, who can mug and pout with the best of them. But at age 25, there are not a lot of teen roles left for her, so her fans should enjoy this while they can. ((Designated "IMDb Top Reviewer." Please check out my list "167+ Nearly-Perfect Movies (with the occasional Anime or TV miniseries) you can/should see again and again (1932 to the present))

..the director kept insisting going back to the boring "coming out" side quest. To be fair, Caleb Hearon is good with his filler part but somehow the script keeps insisting in staying too long in what should've been just a gag deflating the main story. No doubt, the reason for this is that the main premise doesn't justify 90mns. Actually, this could've been a great 60mns of Kiernan Shipka, Ava DeMary, Charlie Hall and Nico Hiraga's story. Instead, we get a strong first act cut by a boring second act focused on an unnecessary "message" , and a weak third that tries to be original while paying an "homage" to "When Harry Met Sally". At the end we get the familiar performance from Shipka - who, surprisingly, looks physically weak and way older than her 25 years. Nico Hiraga tries to charm as the weak modern boy. Ava DeMary shines as the wildcard, while Charlie Hall gets boxed in a sad jock cliché. Overall, Sweethearts is only half good.

It felt rushed and the plot didn't work very well for me because the main charachters did have chemistry on screen. I loved the casting and was waiting for this movie, but I was rather disappointed, because I wanted it to be more. It was a lovely movie though, I just wanted something different from the main charachters. They had potential, it just felt like the story doesn't even know where to go. I think they wanted too much and then nothing really hit it right.

Palmer's story felt a bit off too, it didn't connect to the story not even a little bit, although I got the message, yet it was rushed too.

It was funny seeing Millie Bobby Brown's husband in this movie.

Usually I find myself saying that a movie had no right to be this good. With 'Sweethearts' it's a case of the moving having no right to be this bad. The film created some great characters and then gave them absolutely nothing to do.

This is a film that was unable to justify its existence. If your entire plot is just tracking down your significant other to break up with them in time for Thanksgiving, chances are you haven't put enough effort into your script.

The film started so well. As I mentioned some great characters, with some talented actors in the roles, and even some funny physical comedy. And then it just stopped. The movie stopped trying to be funny and it stopped being interesting in any sense. It's like they blew the comedy budget in the first 20 minutes. Quite bizarre. 5/10.