Directed by Jordan Weiss, Sweethearts is a sweet and simple story about two freshman-year students trying to maintain a long-distance relationship with their respective partners and trying to understand what they want from life at a personal level. I personally don’t know if this film adds any value to the plethora of films of the same genre that already exist, but I hope you will have a good time watching it. Let’s find out what Ben and Jamie get up to and if they are able to overcome the conflicts that come their way.
Spoiler Alert
Why did Ben and Jamie want to break up with their partners?
Ben and Jamie had been friends since 8th standard, and they understood each other more than anybody else could. They were each other’s support system, and they knew that they had one person in their life who would stand alongside them through thick and thin. Probably, they were well aware of the fact that such friendships are hard to find, and that is why they never took each other for granted. Also, they were the kind of people who didn’t socialize much and who had a lot of fun in each other’s company. There were times when they, too, felt that they were spending way too much time with each other, but then that’s what they wanted, and they didn’t bother about what people thought of it. In high school, Ben started dating a girl named Claire, while Jamie started dating Simon. Now these two people, i.e., Claire and Simon, were the extreme opposites of their respective partners. Simon and Claire were more expressive and more impulsive, and at times, it did feel like they would have made a better pair. Ben and Jamie moved to a different city to pursue further studies, and they had no clue how they were going to navigate their way and carry on their relationships. I personally feel that long distance is always more difficult for people who get left behind. Simon and Claire did have a life in their native city, Cranford, too, but still, the lives of their respective partners were going to change drastically.
Though it is not explicitly stated in Sweethearts, I believe that Claire would have felt insecure at certain points as she would have known that her boyfriend was going to meet different people in college. The same could be said for Simon, too, but I guess both Jamie and Ben were extremely loyal people. They made sure that their partners didn’t feel insecure at any point. But with time, it all started taking a toll on Jamie and Ben. They were going out of their way, making all the extra effort just to make sure that their partners were feeling fine and that they got what they wanted. But obviously, that dynamic was not going to last long. Very soon, Ben and Jamie both started feeling claustrophobic in their respective relationships. Claire used to Facetime Ben at all times of the day, and he felt obliged to pick up her call even if he had to miss an important lecture. There was a lack of communication between the both of them, and Ben chose to not address the issue, which later became a problem for him. Jamie felt that somebody had taken away her freedom. She didn’t go out, she didn’t make any friends in college, and all in all, she felt trapped in her relationship. So, both Jamie and Ben decided that they would go back to Cranford and break up with Simon and Claire on Thanksgiving Day. They knew that it wouldn’t be an easy thing to do, but they were up for the challenge.
How did Claire and Simon react?
Claire and Simon were going to be extremely busy on the day Ben and Jamie were coming back to Cranford. Simon had a match, and Claire was performing the national anthem at the opening ceremony of the same event. So Ben and Jamie asked their mutual friend Palmer to make sure that he brought Claire and Simon to his place before they went to the party. Now, Palmer was going through a lot in his personal life, too. He was gay, and he was done pretending in front of the entire world. Probably the people around him knew that already, but still not being able to explicitly express his emotions was making him feel trapped and claustrophobic. Coach Reese, who knew Palmer quite well, realized that his student was going through an identity crisis. He decided to help Palmer’s cause, and he took him to the Cranford queer bowling league, and that’s when Palmer found out that even Coach Reese was gay. Palmer felt liberated, and he felt like somebody had lifted a huge burden from his shoulders. But amidst all that, he forgot what Ben and Simon had asked him to do. Now, Palmer did bring Simon and Claire to his place, but before he could do anything, both of them got drunk and passed out. Ben and Jamie had the hardest time finding them, but in the end, they found them at a fellow student’s party. Claire wanted to jump on Ben and start making out, but the latter stopped her from doing so, and he took her outside to have a chat with her. Obviously, both Claire and Simon did not take things very nicely, and they felt even worse when they realized that both Ben and Jamie had planned the entire thing together. Claire felt betrayed, and she even blamed Ben for cheating on her with Jamie. Ben told her that no such thing had happened between him and Jamie, but Claire had made up her mind, and she was just not ready to listen to anything. Things ended on a bad note, and both Ben and Jamie didn’t know what to do next and how to navigate their way out of the mess.
Did Ben and Jamie end up together?
During Sweethearts’ ending, we saw that whatever Claire had said about Ben and Jamie always being together and having something between them left Jamie wondering if that was actually a possibility. Jamie and Ben were together most of the time. It was true that they didn’t have any other friends, and that they shared everything with each other. Jamie questioned if they were actually inclined towards each other romantically. Ben and Jamie kissed each other and then very awkwardly went back to their homes without talking about whatever had happened. Both of them thought about it the entire night and then came to a mutual decision that they just wanted to be friends with each other. Ben had been told a lot of times that men couldn’t stay friends with a beautiful girl, but he didn’t feel that that notion applied to him. He wanted to be friends with Jamie, and he didn’t have any other feelings for her. Thankfully, Jamie also felt the same, because if she hadn’t, then it would have been a blunder. Things ended on a good note for Ben and Jamie as they once again went back to Simon and Claire and made them understand their reasoning behind breaking up. Ben decided to go to Copenhagen, and Jamie decided to socialize more and give people a chance to enter into her life.
Now, I understand the point that Jordan Weiss is trying to make through her narrative, but I strongly believe that if there is a Sweethearts part 2, then things wouldn’t be as simple as they are right now between Ben and Jamie. It is human nature to develop feelings for one another, and I think that one of them would have that hard realization when they see the other getting close to someone else. I am speaking entirely through my experiences, but I have a feeling that even at that moment when Jamie and Ben were talking about just being friends, the former was not being truthful to herself and just nodding along with what Ben was saying. It would be interesting to see how things pan out between the two Sweethearts in case the creators decide to extend the franchise and come up with a second part.
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