Movie Review: 'Heart Eyes' is Nearly as Good as Its Premise

Heart Eyes

Directed by Josh Ruben

Written by Phillip Murphy, Christopher Landon, Michael Kennedy

Starring Olivia Holt, Mason Gooding, Jordana Brewster, Devon Sawa, Gigi Zumbado

Release Date February 7th, 2025

Published February 7th, 2025

Horror comedy is tricky business. You don’t want to make the movie so funny that people don’t take the horror elements seriously. On the other hand, you don’t want to make the horror so graphic and terrifying that laughing feels awkward or inappropriate. The recent film Companion starring Sophie Thatcher threaded the horror comedy needle by having the comedy arise from the absurdity of the premise and several clever needle drops.

Another great example of the horror comedy balancing act at its best is Happy Death Day where the dynamic duo of star Jessica Rothe and writer-director Christopher Landon managed to bring horror and comedy together via a clever reimagining of the premise of the comedy classic Groundhog Day crossed with a slasher movie. But the main reason Happy Death Day worked so well was star Jessica Rothe and her boundless charisma and comic timing. Not to take anything away from Christopher Landon whose script was very smart and his direction was crisp.

Not coincidentally, Landon is one of three credited screenwriters on the new horror comedy, Heart Eyes. Heart Eyes is an attempt to marry the tropes of a conventional romantic comedy with those of a slasher movie. It’s right up Christopher Landon’s alley when you consider what he did with Happy Death Day. But, Landon did not direct Heart Eyes. Instead, Werewolves Within director Josh Ruben is behind the camera and while he’s a capable director, Werewolves Within is a pretty good horror comedy, he doesn’t quite pull off the trick in Heart Eyes.

Heart Eyes stars Julia Holt as the luckless in love protagonist, Ally. Ally has recently broken up with her boyfriend and now spends too much time stalking his new relationship on Instagram. Ally, being a romantic comedy protagonist, has a sassy best friend, Monica (Gigi Zumbado), who tries to cheer her up and fails to keep her off of social media. Ally’s story kicks into gear when she has a meet cute with a hunky guy named Jay Simmons (Mason Gooding). The two ordered the same unique cup of coffee at a coffee shop , they clumsily kept banging their heads into each other, and they banter effortlessly.

Sadly, this flirtation is cut short because Ally has a big presentation at work and she’s sure it’s going to go badly. Indeed it does, Ally gets roasted by her comically callous boss, played by Michaela Watkins. The boss then announces that she’s hired a consultant to take over the campaign and, surprise, surprise, it’s Jay, creating quite the awkward roadblock for romance. Will they be able to overcome their newfound professional rivalry to find love? Well, they will first have to survive a savage serial killer.

You see, it’s Valentine’s Day and each year for the past three years, the so-called Heart Eyes Killer or H.E.K has struck a major city on Valentine’s Day. The Heart Eyes Killer’s M.O is to target a specific couple, or couples, and then kill anyone who gets between the killer and the couple they are trying to kill. This would seem to leave Ally and Jay safe as they are not a couple, they are work rivals who happen to have a strong, flirtatious chemistry that could become a long term love affair. However, when the Heart Eyes Killer spots Ally kissing Jay in public, something she’d done because she’d seen her ex-boyfriend arriving at the same location, the killer gets the wrong idea and Ally Jay become targets.

There is a lot to like about Heart Eyes. Star Omar Gooding is most prominent among the good things about the movie. Gooding is handsome, charismatic and capable of being quite funny when the movie gives him a chance. I genuinely wanted more of his sense of humor as he really understood the combination of horror and comedy in Heart Eyes. Julia Holt is also quite good, hampered only by having to provide the more conventional elements of the movie. She’s the straight-man to the horror and the comedy of Heart Eyes and thus she doesn’t get to show out as the other cast members do.

I don’t dislike Heart Eyes but I didn’t quite buy in on it. The film is just a little too loose at times. The opening sequence of the film, set to a dreary, 90s country ballad, fails to set the table for the rest of the movie. The opening kill sequence falls into the trap of making the victims comically unlikable, inviting you to root for them to be brutalized by the killer. The set piece is far too broad and far more broadly over the top than anything else in the rest of the film. I’m not sure the opening sequence is even necessary. I think the movie could have done without it and been more effective.

There are also a few cheats and instances where the attention to detail is lacking. It’s not enough for me to say don’t see Heart Eyes, rather I would only recommend that you lower your expectations. The film has received some buzz for its clever premise and that premise does promise a great deal. Sadly, Heart Eyes, doesn’t quite realize its full potential. I do recommend the movie for fans of slasher movies with a unique twist, but it’s a qualified recommendation, don’t expect too much from Heart Eyes.

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