2 Hearts

October 13th, 2020

MOVIE: 2 HEARTS

STARRING: JACOB ELORDI, RADHA MITCHELL, ADAN CANTO, TIERA SKOVBYE

DIRECTED BY: LANCE HOOL

AMovieGuy.com’s RATING: 2 STARS (Out of 4)

When I see a movie such as 2 Hearts what I discover is that I might not be half the man I used to be. Not to steal the line from Paul McCartney, but when a story is set on trying as hard as it can to make me cry, it comes off as genuine and less pathetic. 2 Hearts may not be for a cynical man such as myself, but it might be a new advertisement for the DMV to play on a loop, considering it has a central part to the story. The narrative is about two lives, completely separate from one another, but joined together by a tragedy and a second chance. 2 Hearts has good intentions at the center of it, but little value from a cinematic angle. It’s an emotional story that leaves you wondering why it was made into a movie at all. An article in the paper? Sure. A segment of 60-minutes? Okay. A full-length feature is missing all the beats.

The narrative structure is two separate stories, one about Chris (Jacob Elordi), a college kid, starting his new path in life, going with the flow, and excited for his young life ahead. When he meets Sam (Tiera Skovbye), he just might have found the love of his life. The second story is about Jorge (Adan Canto), a young boy growing up in Cuba, set to follow in his father’s footsteps of their business, but stricken with an issue with one of his lungs. When he is older he travels and during one flight he meets the lovely Leslie (Radha Mitchell), a flight attendant that catches his eye. The two become lovers, decide to get married, but know that this breathing issue will be a constant struggle each day.

Some 30-years later, these two stories will cross paths. Their love will be challenged and the true meaning of living every day like it’s your last comes into mind. Director Lance Hool obviously has a cast that believes in the story they are telling, while Robin U. Russin and Veronica Hool deliver a crafted script that reads more like a lame Hallmark channel jaunt than a movie to watch in a theater. The majority of the drama and romance is mixed through montages of kissing and dialogue that reads like a motivational poster. Of the two narratives, the best option is following Chris and Sam’s journey, a young romance that involves two people with promise, both discovering the important things of family, helping in their communities, and discovering each other. It’s Skovbye’s Sam that brings the film to life, the charming spirit that helps Chris get his driver’s license, set his grades in school right, and focus all his attention on her. Skovbye and Elordi have a nice chemistry together, but they are also a pair that looks older than the roles they play.

The high points of 2 Hearts is that everything is well intentioned. The rest is all sadly a glossy and cheesy drama with one goal of pulling at the audiences heartstrings. Time will pass and we eventually see Chris and Sam progress down the path of life, with marriage, kids, and a home. The other half of Jorge and Leslie is less joyful, with a family divide due to their love, the medical issues continue persisting, a struggle to conceive children, and plenty of tests to their marriage. It is when these two stories connect that the tragedies will arise, but to tell much more would destroy the point of 2 Hearts existence.

What’s left is a movie that I struggle to know who it was made for. Someone who wants a good cry? Maybe. Someone who wants to look at attractive people? You can get that on Instagram. There’s a bit of a subtle message of faith which is tastefully done and not enough faith based movies know how to do that. Even the direction is a plastic production, with nothing to differentiate it from other daytime soap operas. Ultimately, my cynicism was much too powerful for this one. 2 Hearts is quite contrived and that’s what makes it quite heartless.

2 HEARTS IS PLAYING IN SELECT THEATERS FRIDAY OCTOBER 16TH

2 STARS

WRITTEN BY: Leo Brady
leo@amovieguy.com