A high school transfer student finds a new passion when she begins to work on the school’s newspaper.
At first glance, “Chemical Hearts” carries a regurgitated premise as any other coming of age narrative. Boy meets girl. The girl is mysterious. A tragedy is revealed and the two must cope to overcome and accomplish Love. The film is littered with the same trope of the awkward text message exchanges, the depressive expression of being a teenager, and the line of poetry that will become the thematic color of the film. However, its redeeming grace is Lili Reinhart as Grace Town and its satisfying conclusion to what started with a basic foundation.
Austin Abrams stars as Henry Page, an ordinary boy with ordinary interests in his senior year of high school. However, Abrams proves to be just as ordinary with his acting, underselling each moment of emotional climax with too much effort and not enough feeling. “Chemical Hearts” tries to be clever by bringing up the chemicals that a human brain releases during stages of romantic love in its dialogue, but there is a severe lack of chemistry between Abrams and Reinhart that the title becomes more of a punchline than a respect for the story.
On the other hand, Reinhart is the passion that drives the story forward. She carries an emotional depth to each scene that leaves much desire for her story rather than their story. There is one scene where Page watches Grace attempt to run a lap around the track and field area of the high school when Grace breaks down in a violent outburst – a cry for help against the frustration of having a disabled knee. The moment bursts and captures the desperation that cannot be conveyed with words, highlighting the value of directorial vision and film in contrast with reading lines from a book.
While the script remains cringy and leaves little room for a serious engagement with the audience, the final conclusion to the typical plot formula is a step in the right direction to avoid creating a shallow film. Grace Town’s grief is not simply overlooked in order to create a happy ending for a feel-good response. Instead, it is Grace Town’s grief that allows her to choose herself instead of a shallow love story with the ordinary boy who cannot truly be the understanding partner that she needs.
“Chemical Hearts” is a truer coming-of-age story than most simply due to its decision to allow the main characters to drift apart. The film allows Grace Town and Henry Page to understand that not everyone is meant to stay. People will come and go, but their genuine growth came from understanding how to let go, no matter how much they wanted to stay, for the sake of healing and self-growth.
Available to stream on Amazon Prime Video Friday, August 21st
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