
Sweethearts Synopsis: Two college freshmen who decided to stick with their high school sweethearts have to pull a ‘Turkey Dump’ and break up with them over ‘Drunksgiving’ the one chaotic night before Thanksgiving in their hometown that puts their codependent friendship to the test.
Directed by: Jordan Weiss
Written by: Dan Brier, Jordan Weiss
Released: 11/28/2024
Runtime: 98 minutes
Rated: R
Best friends, Jamie and Ben, decide to break up with their respective significant others, Simon and Claire, while at home for Thanksgiving in order to enjoy the full college experience without being tied down. Upon returning to their hometown, they run into many obstacles in their quest to end their respective relationships.
Sweethearts is yet another movie in the vein of Superbad, Booksmart, and I Love You, Beth Cooper, where things spiral out of control in the span of twenty-four hours. Yet, Jamie and Ben’s night of shenanigans is decidedly more tame, even if they, like the friends in those other films, must confront the fact that their co-dependent friendship may end as adulthood looms.
Ben is a people-pleasing free spirit, while Jamie is uptight and still healing from high school-related wounds. Yet, Kiernan Shipka and Nico Hiraga work well together, and their chemistry is strong enough to believe that they’ve been best friends for years.
As a subplot, Jamie and Ben’s other best friend, Palmer (Caleb Hearon), has returned from Paris openly gay and ready to tell everyone in their small town. To be honest, I was more entertained and invested in Palmer’s story than Jamie and Ben’s. He inadvertently ends up with Coach Reese, who Palmer is stunned to find out is gay, and Reese’s boyfriend, Ethan.
Palmer begins to learn that one does not have to live in a big city in order to have a satisfying life as a gay man. Palmer’s story certainly felt more important and poignant than Jamie and Ben’s simple desire to end their relationships. And honestly, Palmer, Coach Reese, and Ethan’s night was a lot funnier and felt less contrived. If there’s one reason to watch this movie, it’s for this particular storyline.
Overall, Sweethearts is decent, if a bit uneven. Some of the jokes are pretty sharp and genuinely funny, and then some fall completely flat. Do we really need to see a flaccid penis? I guess that depends on the context, but during these moments, I felt Sweethearts desperately wanted to belong to the genre of edgier rom-coms by adding unnecessary shock value. It just didn’t work.
The movie also falls prey to the one-dimensional boyfriend/girlfriend trope that plagues so many rom-coms. Simon is a stereotypical horny jock devoid of personality. Claire is clingy and shallow, as all annoying girlfriends in these movies tend to be. Neither character has any depth, so honestly, we don’t care whether or not Jamie or Ben ever find them, let alone dump them.
As Sweethearts is being marketed as a rom-com, it’s easy to predict where their friendship is headed… or is it? This is a movie that is clearly trying to circumvent the typical rom-com. It asks, “What if Harry and Sally just decided to be friends?” but I am not sure it comes up with a very satisfying answer.
Watched: 01.10.2025
Notable Song: Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield