‘Heart Eyes’ Review: A Breezy Rom-Com Slasher That Slices and Dices With Charm

Though “Heart Eyes” hits a rough patch in its initial minutes, opening on an obnoxiously over-the-top influencer couple performing their Pinterest-perfect proposal, it quickly soars once a killer cupid’s arrows start flying, setting audiences up for exactly what they came to see: murder and macabre merriment. Director Josh Ruben, along with screenwriters Phillip Murphy, Christopher Landon and Michael Kennedy, craftily concocts a sweetly sinister genre mashup, blending romantic comedy tropes with slasher movie fodder. Those core elements function in concert surprisingly well, playing like “They Came Together” meets “Scream” and “Scary Movie.” Thoroughly self-aware (perhaps to a fault), stocked with self-reflexive gags and gorily-orchestrated kills, the picture is endearing with its delightfully zippy charms.

Twenty-something marketing executive Ally (Olivia Holt) still hasn’t gotten over her ex-beau in the months since they broke up. She can’t help but Insta-stalk him in her downtime, which is plentiful since she’s a lonely sadsack. And, despite her fast-talking bestie Monica’s (Gigi Zumbado) efforts to squash any negative thinking, Ally fears she’s about to be fired by her sharp-tongued boss Crystal (Michaela Watkins). Ally’s latest jewelry ad, centered on doomed lovers in movies, comes poorly timed, debuting just as the Heart Eyes Killer resurfaces in Seattle to snuff out couples in love. Facing public backlash, Ally’s given one more chance to save face. She’s to come up with a new campaign with the company’s “consumer cupid,” Jay (Mason Gooding), with whom she incidentally connected earlier in the day as they fumbled over their coffee orders.

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Ally agrees to devise a new strategy over a fancy dinner with Jay that evening, though it doesn’t escape her that it’s Valentine’s Day and the restaurant is packed with lovebirds. She effectively ruins the evening, pushing him away with her rude judgements. But things are about to get even worse. The masked menace, already knee-deep in dead bodies on his killing spree, spots the pair in a revenge-fueled lip-lock while Ally zings her ex. Their undeniable chemistry convinces Heart Eyes to follow them home and attempt to claim the duo as his next victims. Hot on the killer’s trail are two bumbling detectives, Jeanine Shaw (Jordana Brewster) and Zeke Hobbs (Devon Sawa), who are determined to catch him before he can slay again.

In general, there’s a lot of crossover between romantic comedy and slasher scenarios, where gestures and set-ups that read as sweet in romantic features double as sinister in horror films. Ruben and company incisively tap into the overlap, intertwining the two disparate tones to not only tickle our funny bones, but also put us on edge. Jokes and jump scares are delivered in creative and hilarious fashion, from Ally’s discovery of Heart Eyes hiding in her messy apartment’s closet during an embarrassingly inopportune moment, to her heart to heart with Jay as they seek refuge in a strange, kinky couple’s van. As traditional red herrings abound, so to do the beguiling situations bonding Ally and Jay. A makeover montage, “You lied to me” conflict and climactic race to the airport — endemic to all rom-coms — take on a renewed glow when chased with suspenseful tension.

Pursuits through romantic locations like a picturesque winery, lush botanical garden, gorgeous merry-go-round and a drive-in showing “His Girl Friday” are captured through a creepy lens, borrowing “I Know What You Did Last Summer” style aesthetic flourishes of light, fog and wardrobe to connote the shadowy figure’s ominous, unrelenting presence. Cinematographer Stephen Murphy adeptly jockeys between the color palettes of these characters’ evolving and shifting worlds, from warm and saturated to brutal and bruising.

Ruben makes each demise memorable with surprising touches. CGI blood splatters on the lens as Heart Eyes machetes through a bevy of victims. A hole punched through a head acts as a bloody iris focused on Ally’s terror. He plays with perspective shifts, showing Heart Eyes’ infrared vision briefly in a scene that feels akin to both a first-person shooter video game and “The Terminator.” Even the romanticism works effectively, cross-pollinating Jay’s heroic slo-mo walk towards Ally with the chaos unfolding all around him.

Holt, who proved a major highlight in last year’s time-travel slasher “Totally Killer,” is perfect leading lady material. She’s the total package, instilling her adorkable, badass and vulnerable heroine with a rich internality. She nimbly negotiates both the comedic and suspenseful overtones with vibrant zest. There are no false notes struck when another character, in somewhat of a meta fashion, calls out her and Gooding’s “insane chemistry.”

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The pair provide the spark that ignites the screen, making us root for their survival. Gooding, who hasn’t been given the opportunity to show much range in the two recent “Scream” films, is dynamically charismatic, shading his character with tenderness and toughness. Zumbado is a revelation, stealing focus in her all-too-brief screen time. She earns the biggest laughs with her impeccable timing, specifically when she delivers a rousing pep talk to Ally using all titles of other rom-coms.

Praise aside, this gem has a few flaws. The narrative stalls during portions of the police station interrogation. It seems dubious that cops would ever consider Jay to be the killer; it’s more of a contrivance to give screen time to the detectives, introduce a few more characters and have Heart Eyes lurk in the building’s dark recesses. The “Fast & Furious” quip about the detectives’ names — Hobbs and Shaw — and the joke that they haven’t seen the movie is very obvious and easily anticipated. Plus, Shaw’s own dating app dilemmas add up to nothing but padding.

Overall, however, “Heart Eyes” makes us swoon and squirm in equal measure. It’s a smart, satiating feature that undoubtedly puts cartoon hearts in our own eyes by the finale, or at the very least during the mid-credits coda.

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