“The Half Of It” Review: I Wholeheartedly Loved the Whole Of It
The Half Of It’s protagonist, Ellie Chu is correct when she tells the audience at the beginning of the movie that “this is not a love story…or not one where anyone gets what they want.” The fact is, The Half Of It is not a love story, but rather, it is two love stories.
Between Roxanne (1987) and Whatever It Takes (2000), this story has been told before, but The Half Of It (2020) is by far my favorite adaptation of the 1897 play, Cyrano de Bergerac; it gives the story a new modern twist on gender roles and sexuality. For those who are not familiar with the story, it’s pretty straightforward: two men are in love with the same woman — one is handsome but poor with words, while the other is an eloquent speaker but is ashamed of his looks; the man who is the good speaker agrees to write love letters to the woman on behalf of the handsome man. The Half Of It sticks very closely to this original story, but changes the character of the ashamed man to nerdy female loner, Ellie Chu.
Ellie is a smart and eloquent writer who runs a business writing her classmates’ papers for a fee. In a desperate attempt for money, Ellie agrees to write a letter to Paul’s dream girl Aster.
Paul is a sweet guy, but he’s absolutely terrible with words. Through letters and text messages, Ellie and Aster develop a deep connection, leading to Ellie having feelings for Aster and Aster having feelings for Paul…or at least who she thinks Paul is; this is the first love story.
The second love story is the friendship between Ellie and Paul. Although Paul, together with Ellie, wooing Aster may be the main plotline of the story, it’s the friendship Paul and Ellie develop along the way which is the larger focus of this film.
The Half Of It plays a lot with archetypes you often find in high school movies: nerds, jocks, and popular girls. Ellie is seen as a nerd to her classmates, but she doesn’t fit the stereotypical characteristics of one. Instead, she’s a loner with a complex personality who has been taking care of her father ever since her mother died. Paul on the other hand, is a jock, but also not in a stereotypical way; he is incredibly goofy and sweet and he loves cooking. Even Aster, the popular pretty girl, isn’t the stereotype you’d expect to find in a teen movie. Instead she’s an old soul who feels out of place in her role as the it girl. The ironic thing is that besides these three main characters everyone else in the film is a stereotype — a ditzy blonde or a cocky, blockheaded jock in a small, middle of nowhere, overtly Christian town.
As far as diversity goes, The Half Of It is chock full of it! Its main character is a ‘cluvie in every category: she’s an Asian, gay, female. Although some might argue that Ellie, being both smart and Asian, is a stereotype; writer/director Alice Wu might have done this intentionally. At the start of the film, Ellie has no friends and her classmates only view her as “the smart Asian” since no one bothers to take the time to get to know her and look beyond this stereotypical view. However, over the course of the movie, Paul and Aster get to know Ellie and learn that she is a selfless and deep person, who just happens to be smart and happens to be Asian. I think Wu, an Asian lesbian herself, had simple intentions when creating this film: to portray a relatable love story — the romantic love between Ellie and Aster, and the platonic love between Ellie and Paul.
