Warning: This article contains MAJOR SPOILERS for Sweethearts!SweetheartsreplicatesWhen Harry Met Sally’s iconic scene but does it with a twist, subverting viewer expectations while still deepening Ben and Jamie’s love for each other. The HBO Max original rom-com takes a lot of inspiration from Rob Reiner’s classic, presenting two best friends who navigate troubling relationships while being evidently perfect for each other.Sweethearts’early reviewspraise its bold subversion of the romantic comedy and its fun dialogue, offering a raunchy but very authentic college experience of love and relationships.
Jordan Weiss' directorial debut smartly plays with long-established genre tropes, offering a reverse love storyabout characters who want to break up with their significant others during Thanksgiving celebrations. Kiernan Shipka and Nico Hiraga brilliantly lead theSweetheartscast, showing an old married couple-type dynamic similar to Harry and Sally’s charming bickering. Like its predecessor, the movie isn’t afraid to explore its crude and awkward moments, committed to being true to real life. However,Sweethearts’divisive endingchangesWhen Harry Met Sally’s final sequence, proving the latter’s message wrong.
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Sweetheartsintentionally makes it hard not to root for its best friends' romance. Ben and Jamie’s alluring chemistry isreminiscent of Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal’s friends-to-lovers performance. The way they know each other’s faults so well and don’t feel the need to censor themselves does plenty to motivate audiences' wishes for them to cross that line and be together. Not only that, but the characters themselves share the curiosity of what it would be like to be a couple, offering a lingering tension that creates a will-they/won’t-they expectancy throughout both movies.
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With Sweethearts, Kiernan Shipka wraps up a successful 2024, marking the actress’ fifth release and continuing her versatile slate of performances.
Sweetheartspays an interesting homage to Nora Ephron’s screenplay, including the most affecting clipfromWhen Harry Met Sallyon Ben’s family TV. After Ben and Jamie finally kiss, the pair spends Thanksgiving stuck in reflective thought, heavily implying they’re scared to confess their true feelings. As his mom (Christine Taylor) finishes watching one of thebest romantic comedies, Ben gets caught up in Harry’s love confession to Sally. The young character, clearly in a similar situation, runs away to talk to Jamie, recreating the iconic moment in a shocking new way.
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Actor Nico Hiraga and actress Kiernan Shipka as Ben and Jamie in Sweethearts.
Fans ofWhen Harry Met Sallywould be elated to see Ben run towards Jamie,especially when theSweethearts’clever soundtrackplays songs like"Love Is An Accident" after the friends kiss during Drunksgiving. However, the movie flips the classic rom-com scene, having Hiraga’s character confess he does not have romantic feelings for Jamie. It’s even more shocking to see her express her relief, creating an interestingly joyful exchange between the two. This is the opposite ofWhen Harry Met Sally’s ending and successfully subverts romantic comedy expectations of having a fictional male-female friendship always end in romantic love.
From the beginning, they knew Ben and Jamie had a platonic love for each other, but were willing to create “a bit of an intentional mislead” to make the deconstruction of the trope more powerful.
Weiss and her best friend Dan Brier co-wrote the movie, fully aware that they wanted to speak toWhen Harry Met Sally’s “can women and men be friends” question. From the beginning, they knew Ben and Jamie had a platonic love for each other, but were willing to create “a bit of an intentional mislead” to make the deconstruction of the trope more powerful (viaDecider).In utilizing the epic love scene,Sweetheartsmasks Ben’s real intentions in setting out to meet with Jamieand brilliantly sets the movie’s biggest twist — actually, giving a vision toWhen Harry Met Sally’s original ending.
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Sweethearts' Platonic Love Story Is Just As Powerful & Real
Although theSweetheartsending might disappoint hardcore romance fans, it’s undeniably authentic. Perhaps audiences may not have been ready to hear it in 1989, but the 21st century has slowly been working to offerrom-coms with big plot twiststhat reshape our understanding of love. The fact that Weiss celebrates the conclusion as the happiest ending for the characters shows howSweetheartsdefies common beliefs that romantic love is the best thing to happen to a person.Notably,Sweetheartsis far more interested in the characters' personal growth and healing.
That’s not to saySweetheartsis against love, but it specifically speaks to platonic love’s power to hold people up as they grow and find each other. Ben and Jamie’s friendship is far from perfect, but its real value relies on the pair’s willingness to always support and do right by the other.In referencingWhen Harry Met Sally,Weiss offers an alternate story where the characters realize they just want to be friends and are just as happy.Sweetheartsdemystifies male-female friendships and demonstrates the power of the unconventional love stories that are part of life.
Sweethearts
Cast
Sweethearts is a comedy directed by Jordan Weiss, centering on two college freshmen who face the challenge of ending their high school relationships during a chaotic Thanksgiving Eve. The film explores themes of friendship and growing up as the characters navigate the pressure of breakups and newfound independence.
