The Joy of Being High School “Sweethearts”

Written by Trinity Ray. Photos by Trinity Ray.

“Sweethearts” made its world premiere to a full house of excited and understanding students at the SCAD Savannah Film Festival on October 31. This comedy follows two best friends, Ben (Nico Hiraga) and Jamie (Kiernan Shipka), as they navigate their new life as college freshmen. With their high school life now unwantedly influencing their new one, these codependent friends make a pact that on Thanksgiving break, they will break up with their partners. When things don’t go to plan, a series of unfortunate events follow them through the night, and they realize what their friendship means to each other.

The movie starts off strong when they show us the closeness between Ben and Jamie. Watching this as a student who is close in age to the characters themselves makes the experience even more enjoyable and relatable. We follow them through their struggles to find their place in the college scene and realize, along with the characters, that nothing can seem to come between their relationship with each other. Ben and Jamie finally get the opportunity to express how they truly feel and end their relationships, but then they are pushed into believing that the reason they need to break up with their partners is because they like each other. Exploring this idea and putting it to the test, they realize that the world doesn’t need to approve of the friendship they have with each other, and it can be just that. This story gives amazing commentary on the expectations of female/male relationships to show us that sometimes they really are just codependent best friends.

The secondary plot of this movie, the ‘B’ story, highlights Ben and Jamie’s friend Palmer (Caleb Hearon). His journey through self-discovery teaches not only him but us as well that it is not a location that accepts you but the people. Following Palmer through this revelation, we see the strong support system that has been hiding in plain sight. We learn that sometimes, even when we think we are alone in something, there are usually a lot of others who can understand our experiences. 

After the premiere, director, writer and executive producer Jordan Weiss, writer and executive producer Dan Brier, and actors Shipka, Hiraga, and Hearon join us for a Q&A about the film. We find out during this conversation that Ben and Jamie’s story is inspired by the story of “Sweethearts” creators Weiss and Brier. Actor Hiraga says that when preparing to play Ben, he studied Brier as he wanted to make his character feel authentic and true to its inspiration. Weiss says that “Sweethearts” is a story that she and Brier decided they wanted to share with the world because it is not often that the media covers purely platonic young relationships. Hearon says that Weiss and Brier wrote a hilarious script and made it easy for him to create the funny character Palmer.  

Stream “Sweethearts” on Max, November 28, to experience Thanksgiving Day alongside Ben and Jamie!