The rom-com genre may not be as prevalent as it once was, but it looks like there is still a niche out there for raunchy comedies aimed at young adults. HBO has dropped a first look at their upcoming movie Sweethearts starring Kiernan Shipka (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) and Nico Hiraga (Booksmart), and it looks like a fun time.
The movie is set to come out on Thanksgiving Day, and we take a look at the film and everything we know about it so far; from the great cast to the director.
What’s So Sweet About Sweethearts?
Seeing the title and the premise, it does look like Sweethearts is supposed to come from the term “High School Sweethearts”, and the movie has Shipka and Hiraga playing friends who make a pact to break up with their sweethearts now that they’re in college. Here’s a look at the film:
The synopsis for Sweethearts reads:
“Two college freshmen pull a "Turkey Dump" and break up with their high school sweethearts over "Drunksgiving" - the one chaotic night before Thanksgiving in their hometown that puts their codependent friendship to the test.”
The movie pokes fun at a lot of very real tropes that happen to high school couples that try to stay together during college, and there’s jabs at long distance relationships as well as the awkwardness of phone sex.
Like with any raunchy college comedy, there are also a lot of kooky characters that show up to cause their own kinds of chaos; plus there also seems to be a budding romance between Shipka and Hiraga’s characters—which could be ill-conceived, seeing as the two did go to high school together, and the point of going to college was to meet and hook-up with new people.
Who Stars in the Movie
In the lead roles, the film has Kiernan Shipka who has well grown from her role as Don Draper’s daughter from Mad Men and is now leading in all kinds of material aimed at women coming of age. Hiraga may be the smaller star here compared to Shipka, but he was still pretty memorable as one of the popular kids from Olivia Wilde’s fantastic teen comedy Booksmart.
Besides the leads, the film also seems to have gathered some great comic talent. Caleb Hearon looks to be eating up his role as this artsy gay youth, and Stavros Halkias has been steadily showing up in more things lately—even getting his own stand-up special on Netflix last year.
Severance fans will also recognize Tramell Tillman who is also listed in the cast; he’s best known for playing the very cheerful (but eerie) MIlchick. It’s doubtful this movie is going to have him throwing another ‘Musical Dance Experience’ though.
Hulu’s Dollface
The movie is also directed by Jordan Weiss, who was the creator of Hulu series Dollface starring Kat Dennings and Brenda Song.
Admittedly, Dollface does seem to be on the more abstract side of storytelling, but Sweethearts does have some very artsy vibes to it—almost like it’s a comedy version of another HBO hit, Euphoria.
Watch out for Sweethearts when it comes to Max on Nov. 28, Thanksgiving Day.