Review: The Half Of It

-
Love is messy.

Ellie Chu (Leah Lewis) writes papers for her classmates for money. When her father doesn't pay their electric bill, Ellie accepts an offer from her classmate, Paul. (Daniel Diemer) He's in love with Aster (Alexxis Lemere) and wants help writing a love letter. Ellie is also secretly in love with Aster, and that love begins to flow through letters that are supposed to be coming from Paul.

As I get older, it's getting more and more rare that a film centered and marketed around teenagers looks interesting to me. Every now and then something like Euphoria, or Kings of Summer, or The Spectacular Now comes along and surprises me, but it's just not something I seek out. When the trailer auto played on Netflix, I thought it sounded different enough to give it a shot.

I really liked this. It's not free of a few cringey moments and plot devices but Ellie is a truly intriguing person to follow. Circumstances have made her highly cynical, but she thinks deeply about everything which I adored. Plus her pairing with Paul and their friendship was really sweet to watch blossom. I feel like a lesser film would've turned this into a regular "girl falls for best friend" type story, but by having Ellie like Aster instead made it feel fresh.

Lewis is an excellent anchor to this film and Diemer was very sweet. Paul isn't the brightest character but Diemer plays him so earnestly that it's not a nuisance seeing him on screen. Lemere doesn't get the most to do, but you can see why Ellie and Paul are both drawn to her. 

This is easily one of the better Netflix films I've watched lately. (Another one is Been So Long, which I reviewed recently) It's definitely worth your time, just bring tissues. If you're a wuss like me, you'll probably cry.

Recommended: Yes

Grade: B+

Memorable Quote: "You can't out run a train, this guy's a moron." - Ellie (Leah Lewis)

Comments

  1. GetterMay 23, 2020 at 9:49 AM

    I started this and didn't finish. I don't think I even got really far. It's not that it's not good but I just... don't know what happened with this one. :D I will finish it for sure!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamMay 24, 2020 at 10:17 AM

      I hope you like it. I haven't watched many of Netflix's teen movies, just this and To All The Boys I've Loved Before and I liked this one far better.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Thanks for stopping by, let's talk movies!
(comments are moderated to reduce spam)

Popular posts from this blog

Random Ramblings: The Radio Flyer Conundrum

-
Image
Recently, I was talking to someone about who I thought were the best child actors when I was also a child.  Two that really stood out to me were Elijah Wood and Joseph Mazello, and one film those two were in together was called Radio Flyer.  Then I was reminded about the uniqueness of this film. Instead of reviewing the film, I wanted to have an open discussion about the ending. It deals with a tough issue; child abuse. What I’ve noticed is the way that the film ends is interpreted many different ways, and the filmmakers never came forward to say what was right and wrong. I’m interested in hearing everyone’s opinions on it. How did you interpret the ending? Obviously spoiler alerts will follow.. For those of you who haven’t seen the film, the basic premise is this: Two young boys, Mikey (Wood) and Bobby (Mazello) move in with their single mother and her boyfriend, who refers to himself as ‘The King’. It doesn’t take long for The King to start physically abusing ...
Read more

Indie Gems: Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

-
Image
Passionate about your profession? I had never heard of this film until it ended up on one of Jason's favorite horror movie lists around Halloween. It immediately sounded interesting to me, so of course I threw it in my Netflix queue. (and if I'm just now watching it after adding it around Halloween, you know how ridiculous my queue is) Taylor (Angela Goethals) is a journalist who, along with a film crew decides to follow around a serial killer named Leslie Vernon. (Nathan Baesel) He plans on doing the typical slasher thing - getting a bunch of drunk teens in an abandoned house and knocking them off one by one. He gets advice from a retired serial killer, Eugene (Scott Wilson) and is threatened by a man who's on to him, Doc Holloran (Robert Englund) Taylor and crew are there capturing it all. Leslie Vernon is fucking hilarious to start with, and clearly very passionate about what he does. He tells Taylor all of his secrets and can barely contain his excitemen...
Read more

My Favorite Movie Youtube Channels

-
Image
Starting around 2018, I started watching Youtube for more than just movie trailers or music videos whenever a new one dropped. Now I'm in full blown subscription mode and don't bat an eyelash at watching a Youtube video that's over an hour long. I watch Youtube for a few different categories of content, but one of them that I love most is movie/TV essays and commentary, and that's what I'm going to talk about today. Below is a list of my favorite movie related Youtube channels. Let me know if you're familiar with them too, or if you have any you'd like to recommend to me.  Double Toasted - I'm honestly surprised this channel isn't bigger. I first came across Korey and Martin when they reviewed War for the Planet of the Apes a few months before it hit theaters and I thought they were hysterical. While their full length videos stream on Twitch, they often upload their movie reviews and commentary on youtube and they're always hilarious. They've...
Read more