Heart Eyes Spoiler Free Review

Heart Eyes

Genre: Horror/rom com

Director: Josh Ruben

Released: 2025



     I can't tell you that you shouldn't go out and see Heart Eyes, but I also can't tell you that you should. Heart Eyes is a generic, inoffensive slasher movie firmly set in the lighthearted, horror-comedy mashup tradition of Scream. Whether or not you're up for that will be determined largely by your feelings towards that formula. If you hate it, obviously you should give this film a wide berth. If you love it, then I think this will probably be enough for you. If you're like me, and you've enjoyed the formula in the past but need more than just a standard execution drawing well within the lines of its contours, there's no reason to not just wait until it hits streaming.

     Heart Eyes follows main characters Ally and Jay as they fight and flirt and generally do all the romantic comedy things, the hook being that all this happens within the context of a masked killer's violent rampage targeting and murdering couples with extreme prejudice. There's plenty of bloody murders and will-they-won't-they false starts all blended together, and I admire the attempt at genre-mashup, but the movie struggles to achieve a true blend of styles, often adding too much of one ingredient at the expense of the other, leading to a sense of disjointedness: the romantic moments are diluted by the horror, and vice versa (although if I were to identify which one is the most overpowering, I'd say this feels most like a horror movie with a strong romantic subplot). 

     That's not always the case, to be fair. Sometimes the script uses quiet moments, such as one when our heroes are hiding in a car from the killer, as a staging ground for the facilitation of affections between the two leads, and while the scene itself is somewhat clunky, it's a decent enough example of the film's ability to strike a balance between its two stylistic obligations. 

     More often, unfortunately, the tact taken is akin to the flipping of a switch from horror to rom-com as serves the needs of the script, and it's those moments where you realize that the proceedings are neither particularly scary, nor romantically comedic. The Scream school of horror was always on the lighter side of spooky, and there's never a sense of real tension or fear thanks to that lightheartedness being doubled by the need to include the mushy-gushy stuff. It's still enjoyable, don't get me wrong, thanks mainly to the slick production, fast pace, and reliably bloody kills, but don't go in expecting to hit up Walmart for a night light on your way home. 

     The romance is probably where the movie is at its weakest, thanks to a standard-issue uptight woman and equally recognizable laid back man, but darn it if Mason Gooding and Olivia Holt don't have enough latent charm to juuust pull it through. To be honest, I'm not the biggest fan of rom coms to begin with, so I don't have that much to say here, but I do doubt that fans of the genre will end up counting this among the classics. 

     Who, then, should see this movie? I'd say if you really like Scream and its ilk, or are desperate for a rom com movie date night, you'll probably be served well enough here. All others interested in the film but not necessarily apostles of either of its dual genres should wait for streaming. 



C+

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