I remember going to see Alice Wu’s directorial debut, “Saving Face” — probably at the Angelika in NYC. It was the first movie I saw with queer Asian women. It was a great jolt. It’s been 16 years but now Wu’s sophomore movie, “The Half of It,” has arrived, and it sure was worth waiting for.
Leah Lewis plays Ellie Chu, a nerdy high school senior in small-town America who helps out her widowed dad, who has lost his way since her mom died. Ellie has a racket going: for a fee, she writes papers for the other students at her school. She doesn’t need to worry about getting caught because the English teacher — portrayed by the always awesome Becky Ann Baker — is happy that at least she has interesting essays to read.
Ellie likes a girl, Aster Flores (Alexxis Lemire). Another student, Paul (Daniel Diemer), hires Ellie to write love letters to Aster for him. Ellie and Paul become friends. Aster really enjoys her letters. As you’d guess, things get a bit messy.
The good news is that teen rom-coms are so much better than anything with adults. I think that whoever is writing the adult ones — think, when was the last good adult rom-com you saw? — should take cues from the recent crop of great teen ones. “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before,” “Love, Simon,” “The Duff,” and now we can add “The Half of It.”
Welcome back, Alice Wu. We’ve been waiting for you.
“The Half of It” is now available on Netflix.
Join tonight’s Watch Party at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET. Tweet along with writer-director @thatalicewu and the cast, and use #TheHalfOfIt to participate.
