2 Hearts

Lance Hool’s 2 Hearts tells the story of Chris (Hollywood’s new toy boy Jacob Elordi) and Jorge (Adan Canto), the former an awkward and nerdy teenager who is also the narrator, the latter a Cuban man with a life-threatening lung condition whose family runs a rum empire. The film follows the two men as they fall in love and somehow, despite growing up in different places and times, are connected.

The movie, to summarise, consists of elements from just about every adaptation ever based on a Nicholas Sparks book. Beautiful white people who call each other “the one” before they make eye contact. They frolic on the beach, argue in their massive kitchens and then just when they reach their peak level of happiness, a mysterious illness lands them in a private hospital room the size of a hotel suite.

One of the most painful elements of this feature is Elordi’s voiceover, trying to match the sardonic sarcasm of Holden Caulfield, offering his analysis on mortality that sounds more like an SNL satire. However, the true villains of this production are the writers, as the dialogue lacks any molecule of originality or authenticity. The film includes the classic “I’m Sam, just Sam. Nice to meet you just Sam” line, Chris’s father melodramatically says “English please?” to a doctor and at one point, God is referred to as “the big guy”. Characters fall in love after one conversation, only reiterating the writers’ laziness in trying to replicate real human interactions or emotions.

Jacob Elordi has proven himself to be an impressive young actor as the primary antagonist in the critically-acclaimed Euphoria and is set to star beside Ben Affleck in Deep Water next year. Many have said that his breakout role in The Kissing Booth will be of great embarrassment and regret to him. But, at least The Kissing Booth knows what type of picture it wants to be. Fun, horny and harmless content for hormonal teenagers. 2 Hearts, however attempts to emulate the philosophical commentary of The Truman Show but with dialogue straight off a piece of wall art from TK Maxx.

Although the movie’s subject matter is an interesting one – how organ donors are connected to their recipients and how one person’s death can save several more – the work is ruined by a lacking, uninspired script, causing any good acting to be overlooked. 2 Hearts has about as much heart to it as the tin man.

Emma Kiely

2 Hearts is released digitally on demand on 8^th February 2021.

Watch the trailer for 2 Hearts here: