Checked out the new Netflix teen romance film The Half of It. Wasn’t particular interested in the gimmicky description of the movie but I saw some positive reviews so I figured, hey, Netflix. What can it hurt?
The Half of It is about a girl who is hired to write eloquent love notes to a girl on behalf of a less-than-eloquent guy. The angle on this Cyrano idea is that she loves the girl as much as the guy does. Insert the typical, standard-issue melodramatic reveal of the lies in the final act. This typical “you betrayed me” shtick is what I wasn’t interested in. But this movie works on a much higher, much smarter, much more sensitive level than that.
What made this movie lovely was its silence… it’s sometimes elegiac dreamlike tone that it takes. It’s quiet and thoughtful whether its a seen between the girl and her dad or between her and her crush. Yes it’s a gimmicky teen romantic comedy but it tends to forget its genre and take two steps to the left to offer smart, sensitive, thoughtful scenes of people falling in love and falling in friendship.
Probably the only problem I had was the dimwit boy is being overplayed by an otherwise competent seeming actor. His character has dimension and angles and he forms cool friendships where not expected… but the actor plays it too slack-jawed dopey. It’s unfortunate because a different take on the acting (or a different actor) could have really pulled off a character that avoids all the cliches.
But otherwise… yeah, I really enjoyed this movie for the smart, sensitive portrayal of friendship and unrequited love. I enjoyed most of the actors in their parts and how well they were written. I think its worth taking a look at (though the first twenty minutes or so could have been better… fair warning).
Score: 86