The Half of It: Movie Review

Stating that "The Half of It" is unconventional is an understatement. It's a love triangle of sorts like no other and one that isn't afraid to be unabashed by its total disregard of film tropes of the genre. It's a love story without much love as a conclusion piece but it doesn't need one to be interesting and emotional.

The shy and introvert student Ellie (Leah Lewis) decides to help the sweet but quiet Paul (Daniel Diemer) woo his crush Aster Flores (Alexxis Lemire). But their partnership and friendship gets complicated when Ellie falls for the same girl while exchanging sweet letters with her.

The awkwardness that the main characters go through within "The Half of It" make this cinematic journey work. The film was fun, emotional, and was able to fully flesh out its concepts on love. Best of all, for a film that doesn't have a conventional ending - let's just put it at that - it felt complete and satisfying by the time the credits roll. Unfortunately, the film suffers due to issues on its narrative development. Specifically, the film's first half was immaculately done but it seemed the writers had a hard time getting to its climax. There was a point in the film that everything started to unravel badly but the film was able to salvage itself eventually. Additionally, the film had a character named Trig who was all over the place and the film could have worked without his character being in the way of the story. We also felt that the character of Aster, the third main character, needed some work as her character was relegated to fewer scenes than Ellie and Paul. Overall, "The Half of It" had a hefty and deep sentimental and psychological core that even with its narrative and character limitations, the film was able to feel unique and even memorable.

Rating: 4 reels





Why you should watch it:
- it's not your typical romance film
- this has very deep and flushed out topics on love and friendship

Why you shouldn't watch it:
- some characters felt unnecessary
- the film struggled to get to its climax cleanly