The Half Of It (2020) Movie Review

A Successful Display Of Love

                                                                      image by Amazon.com, lnc.

Wow, it has been ages since the last time I saw a teen rom-com that doesn't include a princess image. Therefore, even before starting the review, I must say, I was impressed about a lot of things in this movie. Sit back and relax people, after a long thread of disappointment, this will be a positive review!

"The Half Of It" follows a smart, caring, but in need of money teen Ellie Chu. Ellie is a girl, but a grown up mind. She's no princess, and she is not intending to be, or acting to be. Which makes her role much more realistic and close to heart than most of the teen romance characters in other movies. Ellie writes essays for her schoolmates, for dirt cheap if you ask me, things were more expensive on our days. Anyways, she is trying to pay the bills with her earnings, even though she is 17. It's nothing unusual for her though, as her father indicates later on in the movie, Ellie is a kid who did the same since she was 13. One day, Paul, a cute guy with totally zero social skills, asks for her help. He wants her to write a letter to his crush, Aster Flores. In need of money at the time, Ellie accepts that offer as a one time deal. But when she gets an answer challenging her, things get out of hand, the two becomes writing each other back and forth. And finally, someone realizes no one use letters anymore in 2020, so they start texting. Well, actually Paul and Aster starts texting, but Paul is actually Ellie. In these sophisticated yet equally depressed and lost texts, they realize they are actually soul mates. Story goes on, Ellie starts to feel in love with Aster, while Aster is in love with Paul, well the image of Paul,which is actually Ellie and Paul starting to wonder what if Ellie is the one, not Aster.

The story gives you a remarkable new image for teen movies, while keeping the long and quiet looks still. Seriously, no one thinks looking at someone you don't know for an hour is kinda weird? The character development in this production is just amazing. Not only lets the viewer in our teens' minds, the movie also doesn't push viewers to assumptions, which is real hard to achieve in teen movies in my opinion. Even our bully type of guy,Trig is actually a nice guy if you ask me. It's a good concept with a mature view for love, which made me feel more than satisfied. It's nice to see a teen movie breaking through the wall and becoming meaningful. 

The movie is more than enough with all the brightness. The scenery is really good. I really liked the animation part in the beginning as well by the way, nice touch. Soundtracks were perfect, picture quality was amazing even though I didn't see it on 4k or anything.

So what's not to like? Well to start, for quite a long time, it felt like a drag,but I think that's mostly because the story was actually not that easy to go easy with. Also, I felt like it could be at least a 20 minutes shorter movie, there were scenes that made me feel like the movie was a bit repetitive. For instance, the church was over-used if you ask me. Lastly, I wish we could know more about Trig, boyfriend of Aster. It felt like they were building it, trying to make him look like an emotional person (he nearly cries during a talent show performance) but they just didn't use it afterwards. Other than these, I just loved it.

"Half Of It" shows there's more than one way to make a teen romance, while displaying different roles with different personalities without any error. It's a unique teen movie, and it manages to keep you in story all movie long, therefore deserves a credit for a romance that long. Even though there's stuff I didn't like about it, in general, it's a successful display from Wu. Way to go Ellie!

Cinemortals Rating : 8/10

Reviewed By : Batuhan