Sweethearts

I've noticed this in most Gen Z rom-coms-most of the "com" in these new-age flicks happen when Gen Zs are basically interacting with millennials or boomers. In this film too, that's mostly the case. So, you end up getting a fun little stretch in a bus where Kiernan Shipka argues with an older co-passenger, a sincere scene where Caleb Hearon comes out (with another gay couple being his only audience), and a little tribute to When Harry Met Sally..., though these are some of the only high points. Also, my dude, Nico Hiraga was thirsted on by four girls (including his girlfriend, of course) in a span of like 12 hours, but he's painted as a dorky pushover for the entire first act in college-something's off with the character sketch here. I'll give marks for the trope subversion at the end, which plays into the film's overall light-hearted, non-dramatic tone. And okay, wow, director Jordan Weiss-you're so PHOTOGENIC! I look forward to your next.

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))

I was reading the previous reviews and noticed peoples mentioning "When Harry met Sally". I never saw that movie so i can't really compare them, but for me this felt like a toned down Superbad injected with useless woke stuff. Let me explain.

So you got 2 characters that go on a night of mischiefs, trying to acomplish a certain goal, but adventure happens to them. At the same time, another character is seperated from the group and goes on his own personal quest. Inject parties, boose and lust in there, and you have a formula getting very close to the afformentioned Superbad... exept its nowhere executed as well.

For a start the movie is very tame. Someone called it a "raunch-com", and maybe for today's standard it could be, but as a huge fan of this genre from the 2000s up until mid 2010s, it is VERY light on the raunch.

And of course you got some "woke stuff" injected in there to remind us of "current days" ... seriously Hollywood, you need to stop with this.

You got that side character Palmer going on a completely absurd and improbable side story. I didn't mind his journey as being gay in itself, its just so poorly executed and the "love interest" is basically an 8 or 9 out of 10 while the guy is like a 1 or 2... Everytime it switched to that character i was rolling my eyes how absurde it was.

Thanksfully the 2 main characters were more interesting, especially Ben. When it comes to Kiernan Shipka, i am still on the fence about her as an actress. I have not watch Sabrina yet, so ill have a better idea when i do. She was fine in this, but i feel she has a good comedy potential but the roles need to tap more into that potential. Also it may be just a coincidence, but she seem to lean into woke movies a bit (Totally Killer for instance).

Overall its not a bad movie, but its just lacking something. Its not funny enough to be a great comedy, its not romantic enough to be a great romance, it tease into the raunch but never really go deep enough, and overall you do feel a bit the "padding" to make it a full feature film.

With all that said, i did enjoyed some parts, i wasn't bored per say, and the cringe woke parts were not "overly cringy" to be offensive, just the movie would had been better without them. Ill still give it a 6 out of 10.

For those who thinks that this movie is the modern day "When Harry Met Sally", read my review title. The poster can easily misleading, you're gonna think that they're both breaking up with their partners because they finally realized that they're in love. Nope! Wrong! This movie is the proof that sometimes a guy and a girl can be best friends without developing romantic feelings. If anything, this movie is the antithesis of "When Harry Met Sally". But about how it went down, you just gotta watch it yourself. Although you'd probably won't enjoy the flick so much, cause I feel like the execution was kinda messy. Most of the silly and crazy scenes are just too unbelievably stupid for people to believe that they can happen in real life. I didn't really enjoy this comedy. So maybe you just watch this flick to confirm the antithesis to the saying "men and women can never be just friends".

..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.