FilmSnobReviews

Title: Chemical Hearts
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Richard Tanne
Starring: Lili Reinhart, Austin Abrams, Sarah Jones
Runtime: 1 hr 33 mins

What It Is: It’s senior year and Henry Page (Abrams) has accomplished a goal of his…editor of the school paper. When the new girl in school Grace (Reinhart), a transfer student joins them, Henry is fully interested in getting to know this enigmatic young lady that’s just moved here. What he finds out about her changes his whole perception of her. Will Grace let him in all the way or will the demons of her past stop her happiness?

What We Think: Is this film a bit formulaic? Yes, absolutely! Sure you can pinpoint exactly how that’ll play out but the destination isn’t nearly as important as the journey here. Our two young characters are three-dimensional people. A welcomed sight in a teen romance. More akin to a less overtly tragic The Fault in Our Stars or a better-written Everything, Everything. A well-worn formula that nevertheless is splendidly done here. Reinhart meshes really well with Abrams and their dialogue doesn’t feel forced or inauthentic…which can happen in this sort of film. None of the camerawork is particularly splendid offering little in that department outside of the point at an object and shoot mentality. Tanne does the job behind the lens even if it didn’t take a Herculean effort to drag out this result.

Our Grade: B+, This was a cool place to visit. the third act here is interesting. While simultaneously refusing to fall all the way into the bindings of a venture like this none of it goes all the way. To that, it’s a situation where the half measures worked in the director’s favor. It’s intrigued me to check out the source material to see if the movie has done it justice. Likewise, I can say you should definitely seek this one out. It isn’t too hard to find as it is right there on Amazon Prime Video. A studio that I hope continues putting out great pieces as they have over the last four-ish years. Fans of teen Dramas will find plenty to enjoy here. All wrapped up in a rather mature packaging. One that will question its target audience and ask them things that are, perhaps, uncomfortable.