Always Be My Maybe | Film Review

Hey Guys x

This is a movie that's been on Netflix for a long time, but I only got around to seeing it recently. I love a good rom-com, though, so after reading the great reviews I couldn't wait to see it.

Marcus (Randall Park) and Sasha (Ali Wong) are childhood best friends. But after an argument, they go their separate ways, not seeing each other for years. When they reconnect, they find that there's still a connection between them. But their lives have taken them in two completely different directions - could they ever be anything more than friends?

I didn't like this film as much as I wanted to, which is annoying because, from the way it began, I thought I would love it.

The film begins in a way that makes you feel like you already know and love these characters. You don't need introductions or massive backstories because it begins when they're young and you find out more about their friendship as the film continues, which is so much better than just being told that they've been friends for years.

However, the problem that I found with this was that, the couple had so much more chemistry as their younger selves than they did after the time jump. If the film had started with the time jump I would have been really confused as to why they even liked each other in the first place.

In addition to that, because of their lack of chemistry, if they hadn't been friends first it would make completely no sense that the movie was pushing them together. In a way, their flashbacks provided them with a good deal of friendship chemistry, but for me that didn't translate into anything romantic, even when the film tried to make it clear that they did like each other in a romantic way.

But even it the main couple did have that chemistry, it wouldn't save the film from being a predictable rom-com. Now I personally don't have a problem with this, because I find the typical rom-com formula really enjoyable, but parts of this one got a bit boring. I found that as the film went on, I cared about the two main characters less and less.

Having said this, Ali Wong and Randall Park saved the movie from being too predictable or cliche. Not only do they clearly work well together (they wrote the movie together) but they created really original characters in what was otherwise an unoriginal movie.

Also to their credit of being comedians, there were a lot of funny moments in the film. Some of the comedy passes funny and enters cringey but for the most part it is quite a funny movie.

Overall, a predictable romantic comedy with a heartwarming ending that has a tendency to be a bit boring and cringey at times. I can kind of understand the really great reviews, but it just wasn't for me.

6/10

Lou