User reviews

Max releases on its platform a youth comedy about the liberation of feelings, gender and friendship that is fun and fulfilling, but that does not propose any intention beyond the superficiality of the themes and the colorful world.

Directed by Jordan Weiss and starring Kiernan Shipka, Nico Hiraga and Caleb Hearon, we embark on a story about friendship and a kind of romantic comedy that ends up not being such, but rather a film about identity and friendship that delivers a couple of pleasant moments with a message of inclusion and respect that will reach a specific audience that will probably enjoy it with great enthusiasm.

It is a buddy comedy that works in several parts, due to the chemistry of its protagonists and the affection they put into dealing with the issues addressed in the script. This effort allows us to have a pleasant film that is not boring, but which, however, does not offer much novelty and even loses a bit of strength if we consider that it has a pleasant start, which later fades away as we add more stories to the path of its leading duo.

Although the film has clear intentions, they are not fully completed, beyond the fact that its protagonists end up providing a charming charisma with which as spectators we enjoy that everything is positive around them, but at certain moments its script lacks a bit of energy and intrepidity that prevent this story from reaching its full potential that it promises to have at the beginning.

In any case, it is a correct comedy for current times and for current generations in which they will feel identified with more than one character or with more than one subplot that its script addresses.

A comedy about love, friendship and identity.

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))

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.

"Sweethearts" has fragments of a decent movie but overall doesn't work due to horrible pacing and not enough focus on the main relationship. Basically the first and last 10 minutes of the movie which focus on the main characters are solid while the rest of the movie is a complete disaster.

Way too much time is spent on pointless cliches in the side character's subplot and the inane misadventure to find their 'sweethearts'. This leads to an underdeveloped relationship between the main characters, causing me to not really care about them at all.

They should have tightened the plot and focused significantly more time on the main characters and their relationship and I think this could have at least been an average romantic comedy instead of the (mostly) derivative snorefest it ended up being.

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.

..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.

Childhood best friends, Jamie (Kiernan Shipka) and Ben (Nico Hiraga), are freshmen at the same college. They both have trouble with their long distance partners who are still back in their hometown. They decide to both break up over Thanksgiving break.

There has an issue with the fraternal love and romantic love combination. The movie sets up the fraternal love well, but the romantic love is always bubbling beneath the surface for any young people coupling. Initially, I thought that the issue could be solved by making Ben a girl. Then the movie hits us with "When Harry Met Sally" and I wonder if they should have hit that theme a lot harder... like right from the start. It could be Jamie and Ben's favorite movie. They could play with it and turn it completely upside down. As it stands, this has a few good laughs in an otherwise mildly funny movie.

I started reading all the reviews after I watched the movie and all I have to say is that people are putting a lot of thought into a movie that doesn't need it. The plot is about two freshmen in college, basically teenagers who realise that they have outgrown their separate high school relationships and try to build up the courage to break up with their partner. It was a refreshing plot because what all the characters of the movie try to do is grow; perhaps through ending a relationship that kept them behind, finding their true identity or just forgiving. Yes, there was a sub plot that was over-shadowing the main plot and yes the main plot was a little shallow but who cares? It was a refreshing, silly coming of age movie that shows how real teenagers act and that it is okay to move on. It is also a good representation of healthy friendship between a girl and a boy and of LGBTQ. Movies are mainly meant to entertain and relate to you.

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.

The film is a star-studded one, with Kiernan Shipka showing off her comedic talents as she brings the character of Jamie to life. From her performance in dealing with awkward moments in long-distance relationships, such as the scene where she pretends to have sex on the phone, we can see that her precise grasp of the rhythm of comedy brings realism and sensibility to the character. Miraculously, the two seemed to have been friends for many years, and the tacit understanding flowed naturally, with every gesture. The helplessness and determination to strive to break through themselves make the audience feel the same. His various experiences and inner changes in the process of coming out were vividly portrayed.

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.

A modern take on When Harry Met Sally.

It's a typical string of events that happens with college students. Crazy adventures but with moments of clarity that each character has to contribute to their own story.

The pacing admittedly could have been better the first third of the movie but overall it's an enjoyable movie.

Give it a chance. Some of these other reviewers are a bit stuck up or too critical of a fun movie.

It's also refreshing to see a male Asian lead where his ethnicity isn't brought up and is just a relatable person. Something I wished I could have seen growing up and that's progress.

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".