Warning: This article contains MAJOR SPOILERS for Sweethearts!Sweethearts replicates When 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 reviews praise 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 story about characters who want to break up with their significant others during Thanksgiving celebrations. Kiernan Shipka and Nico Hiraga brilliantly lead the Sweethearts cast, 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 ending changes When Harry Met Sally‘s final sequence, proving the latter’s message wrong.
When Harry Met Sally Plays On TV In Sweethearts
Sweethearts Sets Up A Friends-To-Lovers Romantic Comedy By Pulling From The Best
Sweethearts intentionally makes it hard not to root for its best friends’ romance. Ben and Jamie’s alluring chemistry is reminiscent 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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Sweethearts pays an interesting homage to Nora Ephron’s screenplay, including the most affecting clip from When Harry Met Sally on 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 the best 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.
How When Harry Met Sally Sets Up Jamie & Ben Not Getting Together
The When Harry Met Sally Reference Disguises Sweethearts’ Biggest Plot Twist
Fans of When Harry Met Sally would be elated to see Ben run towards Jamie, especially when the Sweethearts’ clever soundtrack plays 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 of When 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 to When 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 (via Decider). In utilizing the epic love scene, Sweethearts masks Ben’s real intentions in setting out to meet with Jamie and brilliantly sets the movie’s biggest twist — actually, giving a vision to When Harry Met Sally‘s original ending.
Was Sweethearts Right To Avoid A When Harry Met Sally-Esque Ending?
Sweethearts’ Platonic Love Story Is Just As Powerful & Real
Although the Sweethearts ending 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 offer rom-coms with big plot twists that reshape our understanding of love. The fact that Weiss celebrates the conclusion as the happiest ending for the characters shows how Sweethearts defies common beliefs that romantic love is the best thing to happen to a person. Notably, Sweethearts is far more interested in the characters’ personal growth and healing.
That’s not to say Sweethearts is 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 referencing When Harry Met Sally, Weiss offers an alternate story where the characters realize they just want to be friends and are just as happy. Sweethearts demystifies male-female friendships and demonstrates the power of the unconventional love stories that are part of life.
Sources: Decider
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.
- Director
- Jordan Weiss
- Release Date
- November 28, 2024
- Writers
- Jordan Weiss , Dan Brier
- Cast
- Kiernan Shipka , Nico Hiraga , Caleb Hearon , Tramell Tillman , Christine Taylor , Zach Zucker , Subho Basu , Aja Hinds , Charlie Hall , Jake Bongiovi , Sophie Zucker
