Netflix’s Half Of It, released in early May 2020, follows the atypical love triangle of a nerd, a jock, and a girl they both are crushing on. In the small town of Squahamish, main character Ellie Chu, portrayed by Leah Lewis, lives with her father in a small house beside a railroad. Ellie completes her classmates’ essays and assignments for some extra cash to help her dad. One day, Ellie is greeted by Paul Munsky (Daniel Diemer), who hopes she’ll help him write a letter to his crush, Aster Flores (Alexxis Lemire). Aster also happens to be the local pastor's daughter. Through the course of Half Of It, viewers dive into the topics of sexuality, friendship, and loyalty.
In my opinion, this movie is well written. It’s based on a true story as well, which I find awesome. The emotions from Half Of It are definitely real. If I were to rate it solely on the plot, I’d give it a 4.5 (out of 5).
Body Positivity: 2.5
Though there aren’t really a wide variety of body shapes displayed in Half Of It, Ellie is seen becoming self-conscious in front of Aster when in a hot spring. Aster respects that and they move on. I don’t really see where else the movie could gain points in this area.
Disability Representation: 1
Much like To All The Boys: P.S. I Still Love You, the last Netflix film I reviewed, Half Of It scores quite well in many categories, but this category is not one of them. Perhaps Ellie’s father is in a sort of depressive state(?), but it’s not established in the movie. Otherwise, no disabilities, physical or mental, were displayed.
Non-Stereotypical Gender Representation: 4.5
Ellie’s father is single and raising a teenage girl. He is a good cook and watches romance movies with her in his free time, and he bonds with Paul though Ellie, too. Paul has many, many siblings and they all have to look out for each other. Ellie’s style is casual and not extremely feminine. The only downfall is the steryotypical “dumb jock” and “popular jerk.” Quite honestly, I’m able to look past those stereotypes in this case.
Racial Diversity: 4
One thing I’ve noticed from many Netflix movies is that they do a great job of getting a main character that has an interesting ethnic background. But looking past that, a lot, if not all of the main character’s friends are white. For instance, Ellie Chu is a first-generation American in her family and speaks fluent Chinese and English. But Paul, Aster, Aster’s boyfriend Trig, and even Ellie’s teacher are all white. It’s hard to give a high rating in this category to a film with a predominantly white cast, but I think that the struggles that Ellie’s dad experiences as an immigrant are important and not always shown, especially in a movie of this genre.
LGBTQ+ Representation: 4
The plot revolves around Ellie discovering herself as she gets to know Aster. While Paul’s name is at the bottom of every letter Astrid receives, it’s really Ellie talking. Ellie develops a crush on Aster while talking through Paul, essentially. When Ellie and Aster finally get to be alone, they both seem looser and more free. Aster even mentions how easy it is to talk to Ellie. Paul is obviously angry when he finds out that Ellie likes Aster as well, but he comes back around and is accepting. It is worth mentioning, though, that no charaters are labeled as gay, lesbian, or bi.
Overall rating: 3.2/5