Movie Review: Heart Eyes (2025)

Synopsis: After a botched advertising campaign puts her marketing job in jeopardy, Ally McCabe is assigned to work with freelancer Jay Simmonds, who invites her to dinner on Valentine's Day so they can discuss next steps. When she spots her ex-boyfriend outside the restaurant, she kisses Jay and pretends he is her new love. Unfortunately for Ally, the notorious Heart Eyes Killer, wanted in multiple states for killing couples on Valentine's Day, is watching.

Who's in it? The movie stars Olivia Holt, Mason Gooding, Michaela Watkins, Lauren O'Hara and Jordana Brewster.


Review: My wife and I thought about seeing Heart Eyes when it was at our local cinema in February but since it was in the much older upstairs theater, with very uncomfortable chairs, we ended up watching The Monkey instead. Since this film is now available via Netflix, we finally watched it last night.  I thought it was pretty decent.

There were a couple things I found I really liked about this film. One of the main ones was the nice mix of horror and comedy. A lot of movies struggle with finding just the right amount balance of the two and often wind up too goofy to be taken seriously. In this case, it was a decent horror film with plenty of suspense and jump scares but just enough comedy to keep it from becoming too dark. I especially loved how Ally (Holt) and Jay (Gooding) kept insisting they weren't a couple but still managed to appear that way.

The other thing I liked about this movie is it wasn't as predictable as I was expecting. Every time I started to suspect one person as being the Heart Eyes Killer, the film would make another person seem just as likely to be the bad guy. Jay himself was a great suspect because he happened to be in the same cities at the same time as HEK. As a result, even as it looked as though he had been cleared, I still didn't fully trust him.

The final battle with HEK was also entertaining, with a few twists and a moment when it felt as though neither of the two protagonists would get out of things alive. It definitely kept me on the edge of my seat.

My only real complaint about the movie is it did seem to leave a few loose ends. For example, I'm still confused how HEK both figured out who Ally was/where she lived and got to her apartment before she did, especially after the movie revealed she hadn't been HEK's original target. In fact, it kind of felt a bit like the filmmakers intended on having someone else, with close ties to Ally, be the killer but changed their minds later.

Final Opinion: It wasn't perfect but still managed to be an entertaining horror/comedy. I'm glad I didn't pay to see it at the theater, but thought it was still worth taking the time to watch.

My Grade: B+


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