'Heart Eyes' Reviewed While Superman Gets Sued As China Box Office Rebounds
Also - Hopes that Zoe Saldana survives the 'Emilia Perez' controversies amid thoughts on the 'Superman' lawsuit, the 'Sinners' trailer, new 'Scream 7' casting news & Blake Lively's unexpected heroism.
In today’s “Overcompensating for Lost Time” newsletter…
Heart Eyes is a shockingly successful rom-com horror hybrid (free)
Sinners trailer: bootleggers, bloodsuckers and (maybe) spoilers (free)
Quick Takes on other news, including… (paywalled)
Yes, it *does* matter if Superman doesn’t open in the British Commonwealth.
Scream VII threatens another Rise of Skywalker pivot.
Blake Lively may have saved us all from a Pac-Man movie.
Zoe Saldana shouldn’t be collateral damage amid Emilia Perez controversies.
Dan Stevens is returning to the MonsterVerse (rejoice accordingly).
Toxic Avenger will join the long line of horror-skewing Labor Day openers.
Ne Zha 2 & Detective Chinatown 1900 dominate China’s Lunar New Year (paywalled)
Review - Mason Gooding becomes a star before our very (Heart) Eyes
Opening next week courtesy of Sony, Heart Eyes is a near-miracle in modern theatrical filmmaking. First, it’s a Screen Gems film filled with bright and bold colors and copious location and speaking roles that seem a direct rebuttal to the trend of keeping even major theatrical releases as confined as possible. I don’t know the budget, and I’m sure it didn’t cost Quiet Place: Day One or even Smile 2-level money, but there is a refreshing sense that screenwriters Phillip Murphy, Christopher Landon and Michael Kennedy were unconstrained by presumed cost and potential logistical challenges required in making a movie that feels at least as “big” as a post-Scream slasher flick.
Beyond the mere existence of production value, director Josh Reuben is now 3/3 following Scare Me (a terrific single-location horror comedy starring himself and Aya Cash) and the splendid video game adaptation Werewolves Within (featuring Sam Richardson and Milana Vayntrub). Heart Eyes is a stunningly successful tightrope act, carefully balancing old-school slasher scares (and unapologetically grotesque slasher kills) with a fully formed romantic comedy that blends modern-day snark and above-it-all disenchantment with an acknowledgment of storybook romance without sacrificing either genre. And while there’s a conversation to be had about the current need to pretzel any high-concept originals into the horror box, Heart Eyes also qualifies as one of the better major theatrical rom-coms since pre-COVID times.
Olivia Holt does what’s needed as the “straight woman” amid the madness. She plays a marketing guru for a jewelry company whose campaign focusing on tragic romances goes “viral in a bad way” after the “Heart Eyes Killer” comes to town. This masked spree killer attacks romantic couples on Valentine’s Day. Nobody thinks about taking their loved one out for dinner on February 13. He struck in Boston, popped up in Philadelphia (cue Unbreakable theme?), and now he’s sleepless in Seattle. She is paired with a freelancer who happens to be the same charming guy (Mason Gooding) she bumped into earlier, and Jay’s attempts to mix business with pleasure clash with Ally’s “given up on love” philosophy.
Gooding has excelled in various other films (the last two Scream movies) and shows (Hulu’s Love, Victor), standing out amidst the dull second half of Y2K. While being Zoolander-level good-looking, he delivers an absurdly charismatic, aggressively charming, and hilariously precise performance that deserves the ‘real movie stars still exist’ coverage typically reserved for Glen Powell. Many of the biggest stars of yesteryear began their careers as romantic leads, and the scarcity of genuinely romantic or sexy theatricals is just one reason for the lack of younger matinee idols. He’s a charm machine and comic delight, think young Denzel Washington merged with young Jerry Seinfeld, although he’ll also set impossible expectations for any couples checking it out next week.
Heart Eyes never really tips its hand in terms of being a comedy. It’s presented as a straight-up slasher, complete with grisly carnage and deaths both fair and unfair. However, its comic value is entirely predicated on having characters who happen to be funny or react in amusingly mundane ways to cinematically sensationalistic plot turns and genre-specific character reveals who nonetheless never act or behave as if they are in a comedy. And it’s stocked to the grim with quirky supporting players (Jordana Brewster’s sardonic and horny investigating cop is a highlight) and bit players (Michaela Watkins is delicious as the stereotypically bitchy marketing executive boss) who act as red herrings just by being momentarily memorable.
Heart Eyes’s quality and tone—how refreshing it is to see a theatrical movie set in the present day that’s in tune with the current moment—make it feel as fresh and new as those first two Scream films. Gooding delivers the kind of breakout performance that once propelled actors into movie stardom. Although, forgive my pessimism that it will lead to anything beyond more horror flicks. The movie surrounding him is pretty damn terrific as well, filled with talented actors diving into juicy character roles and earning big laughs amid a genuinely romantic melodrama and occasional bloodbaths. Between Heart Eyes, Companion, Den of Thieves 2 and One of Them Days, dare I hope that the “movie” is back?
Sinners trailer 02
Pardon the relatively light prose this week. I was preparing for a brief trip to Ohio to visit my parents, and I spent Tuesday at IMAX checking out two of the major Lunar New Year films. As such, it took me a couple of days to finally sit down and watch the second theatrical trailer for WBD’s Sinners. Honestly, given the time it took, I might have just waited to see it in a theater if I hadn’t been otherwise occupied. C’est la vie.
It’s one of those trailers that feels a bit longer than necessary. It perhaps reveals more than it should while mostly keeping us in the dark about A) confirming the key gimmick(s) and B) determining the extent to which its presumed spoilers are spoilers. As a friend pointed out, if you’re watching for pleasure, you can hit stop at the 95-second mark and maintain most of the mystery. That said, what we get looks pretty damn good.
The long-sell pitches a tale of prohibition-era horror thriller that may loosely play like a mix of Salem’s Lot (possibly a reason why the admittedly mediocre adaptation went straight to Max) and From Dusk Till Dawn. That’s, of course, alongside whatever specificity Ryan Coogler, Michael B. Jordan and friends bring to the table. That’s part of having uber-talent filmmakers and offering comparatively inclusivity. It’s a way to make a potentially oft-told tale feel fresh and new.
With all due respect to Superman, I still argue that this is the “key” release for Warner Bros. Discovery’s auteur-focused, big-swing 2025 theatrical slate. If this succeeds artistically and commercially, it will validate the potential for new franchises and fresh “IP” beyond merely recycling franchises and remixing established brands.
That WBD will have two big trailers for two big releases, Mickey 17 and Sinners, presumably attached to most prints of Companion (which… come what may, is looking at a $10 million weekend debut), is a declaration of strength. They don’t need to parcel out one new trailer per big new release. It would also be nice if not every big newbie or high-concept original had to be pretzeled into a horror flick. However, that’s a conversation for another day.
Besides, most of the films I’m thinking about (Companion, M3GAN, Heart Eyes, etc.) were quite good on their own merits. If Hollywood needs to include a little bump-in-the-night to get audiences to show up, maybe that’s a small price to pay. It also means there’s little value in remaking or revamping decades-old horror titles like The Faculty or Audition merely for perceived brand awareness.