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‘Sweethearts’ Review: Kiernan Shipka Leads a Reductive, Raunchy Rom-Com That Examines Love and Life’s Complexities

Two college freshmen make a pact to dump their troublesome significant others in 'Sweethearts,' a well-intentioned albeit dull directorial debut.

However, in director Jordan Weiss ’ “ Sweethearts,” which revolves around two besties breaking up with their hometown romances over a holiday weekend, the time-honored query waits until the last minutes to develop, while a separate pair of screwball-comedy plotlines haven’t properly concluded. Yet from the first moment on the day of the breakup, Ben and Claire encounter a series of problems, everything from a bus ride with an obnoxious eavesdropping passenger (Stavros Halkias) to reuniting with an overzealous crush (Kate Pittard). And, in one of the picture’s smartest strokes of ingenuity, Ben gets caught using the ID of a dead guy by a burly bouncer (Darius ‘Nastyelgic’ Jackson) who happened to be a pallbearer at the funeral for its original owner.

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