The Half of It is a Netflix original movie written and directed by Alice Wu that sent twitter into a tizzy when it was first released. It tells the tale of Ellie Chu, a high school student trying her best to help her dad with monetary issues by writing school essays in exchange for money. The story begins when Paul Munsky, a goofy kindhearted jock, pesters Ellie into writing a love letter on his behalf for Aster Flores, the girl he has a crush on. Ellie agrees reluctantly but then slowly falls in love with Aster through the letters and texts they exchange throughout the school year. (SPOILER ALERT FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN’T WATCHED IT YET!) 

The story starts with Ellie narrating an essay she’s writing on philosophers’ views of love. Then, she ends that narration by saying she believes love is irrational and meaningless. While it is shown that she is in fact writing an essay, one of many on the exact same topic, the fact that they chose this narration to start the film seems to reflect the way Ellie sees the topic. Ellie is cynical and straightforward, doing what she does with purpose. Sure, she has a crush, but she doesn’t act on it at all because she has no reason to. 

Paul, who pesters Ellie to write a love letter for him, creates a conflict of interest for the story. Yet instead of becoming the villain, Paul was the first person to be curious about Ellie, to defend her when she’s harassed, and to help her when she’s defeated. The Half of It is a love story. But the focus isn’t the love story between Aster and Ellie or Paul and Aster. It is the love story between Paul and Ellie that is the most important. 

But what she knows about love is entirely from books and movies. In fact, the first letter she writes for Paul is ripped from a movie. This is reflected in the quotes shown throughout. These quotes signify a new chapter in the story. At the beginning, they are quotes from famous figures such as Plato and Oscar Wilde (and isn’t it such a gay move to quote Oscar Wilde, I love it). But as the story goes along, they turn into quotes from Ellie and even from Paul. It signifies how Ellie is gaining her own experiences when it comes to life and the world. 

As she continues writing on Paul’s behalf, Ellie gets to reexamine her beliefs about love for the first time instead of just quoting famous authors from old texts. Through the letters they share together, Ellie and Aster face their fears about love as well as connecting to people. Ellie and Aster are both lonely people. Ellie is constantly busy and too shy to reach out in her free time. Aster while constantly surrounded by people, cannot speak her mind to anyone until she starts conversing with ‘Paul’. They would have both been stuck in their own lonely distinct worlds if Paul hadn’t come along. 

Throughout the movie, Ellie and Paul also explore what love means to them personally while they are trying to get Aster to date Paul. They grow to love themselves together. They find out what true friendship means in the close-minded community they live in. The last scene we see in the film isn’t between Aster and Ellie, it’s between Ellie and Paul. It’s so important as this is the scene where we truly see how far both characters have come. 

Another great thing is Ellie is never shown to hate herself over being gay. She might beat herself up for falling for the wrong girl but from the very start she is like any typical high school girl faced with their crush, tripping over her tongue and starstruck. In this film, it just so happens that her crush is also a girl. This is amazing in so many ways because it’s so rare to see a lesbian character portrayed in media who knows who she is from the start, to not see the struggle that usually comes with the realization. Not that films and shows of that nature cannot be good, but to not focus on that aspect of Ellie Chu’s story is a relief from the usual angst that writers will milk from such a plotline. 

All in all, Alice Wu did an amazing job writing Ellie Chu’s story. The Half of It is a sweet charming movie that resonated with me as a queer Asian so strongly it brought me to tears. It’s such a shock to see that same pining that I went through be reflected at me through a girl that has so many of the same experiences as me. The movie starts and ends with love but reexamines how all the types of love in your life can impact you. The movie grows as Ellie grows and it adds in a dash of humor to offset the awkwardness that is so prevalent in our teenage years. Personally, if you love a good teen comedy drama with amazing lesbian representation, you’ll definitely love this movie.