Movie Review: SWEETHEART

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: February 10th, 2023 / 03:07 AM

SWEETHEART movie poster | ©2023 Film Movement

Rating: Not Rated
Stars: Nell Barlow, Jo Hartley, Ella-Rae Smith, Sophia Di Martino, Samuel Anderson, Tabitha Byron
Writer: Marley Morrison
Director: Marley Morrison
Distributor: Film Movement
Release Date: February 10, 2023

SWEETHEART is a generally credible if somewhat leisurely English coming-of-age story, directed and written by Marley Morrison.

Plenty of people are miserable at age seventeen. A.J. (Nell Barlow) is one of them. She drops in bits of narration as SWEETHEART chronicles a seaside vacation at a “holiday park” where the accommodations are a series of lookalike mobile homes.

A.J. is dragged along on to this destination by her mom Tina (Jo Hartley). Also on the trip are eight-year-old sister Dayna (Tabitha Byron), pregnant older sister Lucy (Sophia Di Martino), and Lucy’s amiable boyfriend Steve (Samuel Anderson).

A.J. is deeply disaffected. She’s environmentally conscious, feels like she doesn’t fit in anywhere, and is deeply unhappy that her parents have split up. A.J. also has a head for science, but she doesn’t want to go back to school.

Tina doesn’t mind that A.J. is a lesbian (albeit inexperienced), but wishes that she wouldn’t wear overalls and got a better haircut. Of such stuff are parent/child clashes made.

Despite its proximity to the ocean, the holiday also has a swimming pool. Here A.J. meets eighteen-year-old lifeguard Isla (Ella-Rae Smith). A.J. is instantly smitten, doesn’t know what to do with her feelings, and is so wound up that she misinterprets much of what Isla says and does.

Filmmaker Morrison has constructed SWEETHEART so that most people who felt isolated at seventeen will be able to relate to A.J.’s existential angst. She can be appalling when she lashes out, but she’s self-aware enough to at least eventually understand when she’s being hurtful and unfair. Dialogue where A.J., stereotyping Isla as she feels she is stereotyped herself, lashes out with “girls like you” is especially on point.

Barlow plays A.J. with a convincing mixture of stubbornness, innocence, confusion, and vulnerability. Hartley is also excellent, showing us the soul behind Tina’s façade of doing what she thinks she should.

We don’t get to know Isla as well as we should, which might be less of an issue if the entirety of SWEETHEART were from A.J.’s point of view. But we sometimes have time away from the central character, so it seems like there ought to be a bit more on some of the supporting folks. Still, Smith is certainly winning.

This lack of attention is even more pronounced when it comes to Lucy. While Di Martino plays all aspects of her with sincerity, Lucy goes from being downright mean to sisterly with no transitional moments. Anderson is appealing as the family peacemaker, and Byron is properly adorable.

SWEETHEART is a dramedy where the humor is present more in the general lightness of approach than in overtly going for laughs. Because SWEETHEART takes its time with A.J. registering what’s happening, then mulling it over before she decides what to do, the pace is measured. If the viewer is in a mildly patient mood, the idiosyncrasies here are enjoyable, and the observations are relatable.

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