Chemical Hearts arrives on Amazon Prime Video this Friday with little fanfare and with good reason. This adaptation of Krystal Sutherland’s ‘Our Chemical Hearts’ fails to offer anything remarkable to a genre of film that is bursting with titles. If you’ve seen one movie based on a YA novel, then you’ve seen Chemical Hearts. That’s not to say that Austin Abrams and Lili Reinhart aren’t doing great work in the film. If anything, the film is a classic example of how source material can bring down a film. Even if someone was to claim Chemical Hearts was a great date night movie, I’d challenge that notion by asking if they had seen a film like Never Been Kissed. There are only so many ways a film can address the very trope-filled notion of boy meets girls and proceeds to fix her.
Just because society is in the middle of a pandemic doesn’t mean we get to lower our standards. Yes, theaters are still shuttered for the most part, but that doesn’t immediately mean we should accept everything we have a chance to see. Not every YA novel deserves to be adapted into a film. Somethings are best left on the page and not on the screen. Now the one positive we can take from this film is that no one will lose anything watching the film. If you have Amazon Prime, then you have access to this already. But be forewarned, never has an adaptation of a YA novel came across this boring.
Dewey Singleton has been reviewing new releases in television and film for many years. Dewey's reviews have been heard in multiple markets (Houston Atlanta, Tampa). Dewey's past work has been with awardswatch.com, awardsradar.com, and bleeding cool. Dewey is a proud member of the CCA.