Morrison has crafted a very impressive first feature in “Sweetheart”. It’s empathetic, sensitive, and nuanced in all the right places.

| Jul 14, 2024

Sweetheart is like summertime. It’s easy to love and fleeting, yet somehow eternal. Even though the film takes place in the present day, it has a timeless quality to it.

| Jul 25, 2023

Sweetheart is an indie gem with an ensemble cast that is flawless.

| Original Score: 3.0/4.0 | Feb 18, 2023

A leisurely but enjoyable English coming-of-age dramedy.

| Original Score: B | Feb 13, 2023

[Barlow and Morrison] bring a freshness and a sweetness to a story that’s been told in basic outline may times before, although perhaps not with a brainy young queer woman at the center of it all.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Feb 10, 2023

If “Sweetheart” shows its share of evergreen teenage turmoil, the writer and director Marley Morrison also cannily observes details that feel specific to young people today.

| Feb 9, 2023

Like the protagonist AJ herself, Sweetheart is a bit awkward, from the intrustive sardonic voice-over to the familiar montages set to shoe-gazing soundtrack tunes, but it succeeds thanks to its generosity and Nell Barton’s winning performance.

| Original Score: B | Feb 9, 2023

Sweetheart is a funny, achingly real slice of familial drama that speaks with the ease and authority of someone who perhaps experienced a summer much like the one presented on screen.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 8, 2023

This modern update of a familiar teen holiday romance movie stands out for its honest portrayal of social awkwardness, sexual anxiety, and living as a young queer person.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 28, 2022

Marley Morrison's debut feature is aptly titled, for it is very sweet. The film, written and directed by Morrison, is a familiar tale, well told -- and with plenty of laughs and bittersweet observations.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 15, 2021

Morrison's enchanting comedy makes something convincingly British of a form that the American indie cadre has exploited to near exhaustion.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 8, 2021

Smartly scripted, drolly directed and played with finesse by Barlow and the excellent ensemble.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 7, 2021

This is a breathtaking feature debut, and one of the most astute movies about adolescence in recent memory.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Sep 30, 2021

This is the best British film you'll see this year.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Sep 30, 2021

The supporting characters are thinly drawn types who could be leftovers from a Mike Leigh comedy, but the protagonist is a rounded creation well played by Nell Barlow.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 27, 2021

Well-rounded characters, with a heavy dose of huffy teenage angst.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 24, 2021

Morrison makes good use of the faintly weird locations of the holiday park and its static caravans.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 23, 2021

Sweetheart has a lot of heart, and writer-director Morrison proves to be a vibrant new indie voice with a confident and established style that manages to make this familiar story feel fresh and new.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Jun 10, 2021

It is such a relief to see a movie set on the English coast where the worst thing that happens is a fancy-dress night in the pub.

| Apr 7, 2021

Sweetheart is a hugely charming and fresh take on the well-trodden narrative, featuring a fantastically witty lead performance from Nell Barlow.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 31, 2021