Sweethurt, a second chance rom-com
Are they worth hurting for?
Romantic comedies of initial love is a pretty common story. It’s an adrenaline joy ride of watching how the couple will end up. The outcome may be predictable but it’s cozy and comfortable. A story of love after a second (or third, fourth, fifth, etc) chance however is an uncommon treat for those who have been over that first love bride and knows what’s really up.
SWEETHURT is a fantastic title that summarizes that heart-pounding feeling of possibly falling in love once again. After experiencing first love, it can be difficult to take that next step into being vulnerable and experiencing all the cycles of love again. So sometimes it’s easier to just not move forward and instead to look back at the past. Many of us have looked at our past relationships and easily glossed over the pain and heartache of what dissolved the relationship in the first job. Somehow all of those memories are pushed aside to just focus on that initial sweet feeling of euphoric love.
This never-ending cycle of memories and feelings is where Jacob ( play by Rav Ratnayake) is deeply in. We’ve all been guilty of the constant scrolling of the exes’s social media sites. When you don’t make the effort to place the phone down and re-access your emotions, then decisions like taking a road trip back home and “casually” bumping into your ex in a bar seems like a brilliant plan. Despite the warnings from his best friends Mike (played by Mehdy Salameh) and Drew (played by Logan Webster) and that he was in town to honor his late grandparents passing, Jacob goes through that brilliant plan anyway. What we then witness is his painful but very necessary fall into reality and self-awareness.
There is also just plain dealing with a fresh breakup. You don’t want to do anything at all, just wallow and revisit the memories. So it takes that one friend with a smile to convince you to shower and get some of that fresh tavern air. This is where Skye (played by Tyra Cartledge) unhappily finds herself as she watches the train of admirers flocking to her friend.
With both Jacob and Skye nursing their collective wounded hearts, SWEETHURT takes a sarcastic but meaningful look at what it takes to move forward. Staying in that comfort zone is too easy but one can never really grow, only wallow in their own tepid misery. It’s the supportive friends that are the stars of the movie. When it would have been easier to just text their sympathies, these friends go the extra mile. They have to poke, prod, mock, and support their friend through the troubles and bad decisions.
Even though the movie centers around Jacob and Skye struggling to sort out their own love stories, it still packs in the humor and charm just as powerful as the heartache. The sentiment is delivered in the kind of way that your friends are trying to tell a joke even as your sobbing your eyes out. This is the movie to support you with sex jokes, pop punk music, and a goat. Yes, there is a goat.
It’s this randomness around the love story that shares two ideas: you are not alone and the universe won’t leave you alone. Even when you’re trying to go about your plan to win back your ex, a cheerful man may run up to your front door and ask for your help in saving the goat.
The movie has a recurring theme of odd pairings that seem to work. For characters, there is the energetically upbeat psychopath sister obsessed with the horrified friend of the brother. This theme carries on with the nostalgic sounds of the pop-punk music in the soundtrack. When most rom-com aim for soft or mellow love songs, SWEETHURT turns the knob up on the guitar. Love is no longer sweet, it can hurt and that is a pop-punk thing. The soundtrack includes underground sounds from Mest but also includes Third Eye Blind and the Struts.
It’s a quirky sweet movie that can either bring a smile from all the sweet romance or a smirk to the references and humor. It may also elicit a few “awwws” from the precious friendship moments.
This movie can be enjoyed whether your single, attached, or friends with benefits. Or anyone who is just a general sucker for love stories. It’s all in good fun.
SWEETHURT is available on digital platforms from Gravitas Ventures. For more info check out : https://sweethurtmovie.com/
SWEETHURT was written and produced by Tom Danger and Logan Webster and directed by Tom Danger. t. SWEETHURT screened at Byron Bay Underground Film Festival, New Jersey International Film Festival, and Sydney Underground Film Festival.
