Love should be easy, and in Gavin Michael Booth’s romantic feature, Sydney vs Sean, it is… until life gets in the way.
Sean (Ryan Powers) is a nurse who makes house calls, and today’s appointment is an IV rehydration for entertainment host Sydney (Janel Parrish). The night before, she was working the red carpet at the Emmys, then got blasted at the after-party. Now she’s paying for it, allowing Sean to poke her with a needle and some curt but playful banter.
From the look of her place, Sydney is upper-middle class, and Sean can’t help but bust her chops about her life’s luxuries. Sean, on the other hand, lives out of motels. Sparks fly instantly, and they end up in each other’s arms, then in Sydney’s bed.
Fast forward several years. Sydney and Sean got married, and now they’re getting divorced. After a year apart, Sydney returns from her job in New York to sign the papers and tell Sean she is selling the home he’s been living in. Now, they only have to wait for Bob (T.R. Knight), the notary.
“After a year apart, Sydney returns from her job in New York to sign the papers and tell Sean she is selling the home he’s been living in.”
Sydney vs Sean is the story of a relationship that seemed perfect, and its demise. Two random strangers meet. Sure, they’re different and like to bust balls on occasion, but they love each other and are physically…100% compatible. What starts as a happily ever after soon turns into a fairy-tale nightmare. Sean struggles to get his work life off the ground, and Sydney chases one entertainment job after another. Quite frankly, this is how all relationships start.
Then life. Sydney is offered a job across the country to host a popular wrestling show, and Sean’s life takes a tragic turn when his adoptive mother, Krystal (Arden Myrin), is killed in a car accident. When a bomb lands like this on a relationship, our lovers are left to pick up the pieces, and their relationship is put to its toughest test. Will they come out stronger or apart? Though it takes a bit of time to get to the heart of the conflict, Ryan Powers’ script opens up real wounds we can relate to, whether it’s loss or making unpopular, life-changing choices.
Janel Parrish and Ryan Powers are great as Sydney and Sean. They are a pretty typical Los Angeles couple. They come from two very different paths in life…very L.A., and make these two odd-shaped puzzle pieces fit perfectly. In the end, I’m rooting for these two…even though I knew how it all ends.
Hollywood loves salacious, dark, and complicated romance…if they’ll even make a romance at all. Indie films like Sydney vs. Sean do so well because they tell stories about people just like us normal folk, struggling with the same choices everyday people face in their relationships. As the title suggests, it’s a fight.
"…What starts as a happily-ever-after soon turns into a fairy-tale nightmare."
