The Half of It
THE HALF OF IT - NETFLIXIn the small town of Squahamish, Chinese-American teen, Ellie Chu (Leah Lewis) constantly feels like an outcast who always sits on the sidelines of adulthood; she never experiences a sense of belonging anywhere. She lives with her dad and spends most of her time ghostwriting papers for her high school peers for a fee. It is later revealed that Ellie does this to help her widowed father pay the bills, which is the main reason why she accepts the gawky jock, Paul’s (Daniel Diemer) proposition to write him love letters to a girl named Aster (Alexxis Lemire), who he secretly has a crush on.
There are a few reasons to see Alice Wu’s sophomore feature, especially since her last film Saving Face was released in 2004, a film which received much critical success and was beloved by many for its positive portrayal of lesbian relationships. Lewis is impressive. The strait-laced, awkward Ellie has a delightful relationship with both Paul and her father. It is within these relationships that some of the film’s brightest moments are produced. There is no denying that Alice Wu’s latest has all the good intentions and sensibilities. Even so, they sometimes come at a great cost of being overly sentimental and cheesy, with many side themes, such as language barriers or immigrant issues, being flirted with but totally left unexplored. The twist on the traditional Cyrano triangle works to a certain extent but the uneven pacing in the second act seems to bog the whole thing down, making the film struggle to hold itself together. It’s also hard to overlook the questionable decisions made by some of these characters as they say things and act completely out of place merely for the sake of driving the story to the saccharine third act. Having said that, the most problematic aspect comes from Aster Flores, who is established as Ellie and Paul’s object of desire. Although established as one of the main characters in the film, it is quite apparent that Alexxis Flores wasn’t provided with enough material to work with for her character. The screenplay never gives her real agency or a personality outside of what the protagonists perceive her to be.
In retrospect, the problem with Cyrano de Bergerac is that it is one of those contrived stories where every character would be better off had they been honest with themselves and communicated with each other in a real way. Furthermore, making it queer doesn’t mean that it is bringing anything new to the table. That said, it is difficult to dismiss the dramatically irresistible quality found in Edmund Rostand’s eponymous play. Since there are so many movies nowadays that employ this so-called ‘Cyrano trope’ in their stories, the formula becomes increasingly frustrating rather than compelling. Even Netflix has toyed with this idea before in 2018’s catfish comedy, Sierra Burgess is a Loser. However, it is also cynical to judge and critique these stories based on the merit of originality and then overlook everything else beyond the surface of the yarn. Aside from the contrivances, The Half of It manages to fulfil certain expectations the audience would come to expect from a NETFLIX Original.
It’s too bad. Indeed, there’s a great movie somewhere inside The Half of It. At the very least, as imperfect as they are, audiences should be gratified that these stories are being backed and told. Let’s hope that Alice Wu would not have to wait for another sixteen years to make another film.
THE HALF OF IT is streaming exclusively on NETFLIX