View Reviews: Always Be My Maybe

Premise

Asian American childhood friends, Sasha and Marcus are inseparable in the San Francisco bay area well into high school. After a tragic loss of a family member, a vulnerable and intimate moment between the two goes awry creating a wedge between the two until 15 years later.

Sasha, now a celebrity chef in Los Angeles always on the move, returns to San Francisco to open a new restaurant. At her temporary deluxe home, she bumps into Marcus, now an underachieving musician who works with his father installing AC systems. Elements at play remind them of the comfort and connection they once had and they explore what could be.

This movie is helmed by the creator of Fresh Off the Boat, Nahnatchka Khan and stars Ali Wong (writer for the show, also stand-up comedian and actress) with Randall Park (the dad, Louis Huang, in the show, and actor in other movies like The Interview and Antman and the Wasp).

Target Audience

This is for the people who enjoy a classic, easygoing romcom. If you want to take a break and watch something that doesn’t require much of your involvement, then you can relax to this movie with some chuckles and laughs.

It’s what you expect of a PG-13 romcom, but it is one of the few movies nowadays that is predominantly an Asian cast that is not typecasted. Worth a watch.

Rating

Casually Enjoyable; Easy to Pick up, easy to put down

Review

While the humor and the energy of Ali Wong and Randall Park individually were spectacular, the core of the story felt too formulaic. More “com” than “rom” but not necessarily to their benefit as the “funny” stood well in isolated scenes like little skits, but strung together, it left something to be desired in the big picture. It had all the right elements, but its lack in charm makes it a cliche romcom instead of living up to its uniqueness.

Let’s compare this to another movie.  The premise of the movie is largely similar to When Harry Met Sally – a figure from the past makes their way back into one’s life, potentially sparking romance. It also is largely similar because… it was the inspiration for this movie. At its core, it explores the idea of what could make a relationship great, but it has no distinct conclusion.

The difference is that When Harry Met Sally navigated through a tight premise that “people of the opposite sex cannot be friends” (because of all of the passionate sexing that would happen) and arrived at the conclusion that the foundation to a happy relationship is friendship (in addition to all of the uncontrollable sexing).

Always Be My Maybe only dances around having a core element and to its detriment, never hops into the dance circle. It lacks a central theme, has extraneous characters that are poorly used), and it becomes a run-of-the-mill romcom.

The characters appear to struggle with entirely separate conflicts instead of nuances of the same one. Marcus struggles with the petrifying fear of venturing out of his comfort bubble. This much is clear, but Sasha’s character development is not so explicit. One could argue it was her need for “an arm for support in the limelight” but eh. After the 15 year gap, she emerges as a different person. No ghost or past wound to tie her in. If I were to make some changes…

Where Marcus’ fear stunts his life progression, Sasha’s “ghost” could inhibit her level of intimacy. The absence of her parents, the loss of a proxy parent, and the wedge between her and Marcus after a deeply vulnerable moment would conceivably cause her to shield herself. This aspect could be reflected in her “elevated Asian cuisine” restaurant style, it could reflect in her superficial relationship with Brandon, it was reflected in the scene with her “telephone voice.”

In the end, they could arrive at the idea that, “Shit happens and you gotta take the good with the bad. Relationships are not impeccable, but you’ll never know what’s good if you maintain the fantasy of maybe.” 

The side characters could also be used to facilitate this theme. It was already alluded to with the cold brew reference. Hello Peril’s stormy relationship with each other is juxtaposed with their sweet, sweet, music that should be performed at more venues. Marcus’ dad wanting to put his microphone into Diana Ross’ look alike to live his life. Sasha’s parents making up for lost time.

Maybe I’m arguing for something cliche while simultaneously criticizing the movie for committing the same issue. As a Keanu man once said, “The man who embraces his mediocre nothingness… shines greater than any.”

Thus, going back to When Harry Met Sally. The movie subverted expectations and cliches yet ended up being just that. They ended up together, after all. The movie embraced what it was in romantic cliche goodness and managed to make it work so well. So what gives?

The key is in the how. You don’t have to hit us over the head with a frying pan that these are the personal issues they struggle with, that these are the elements in their history, that this is how people move along. They can be peppered into visual elements and allow us to connect the dots. The expositional montage was pretty good at doing this, even though, the rest of the movie doesn’t employ this enough. It would have been nicer to see more specific throwbacks throughout the movie.

Point is, the lack of visual storytelling is what robs it of its charm. The cinematography was uninspired, lacking a cinematic signature. There were your standard two shots, establishing shots, and shots with varied depths of focus, but not much else to deepen tensions or characters. (Though, when Sasha excused herself to do inventory was well done.) It wasn’t bad, but I suppose “safe” is a better turn-out than “disastrously amateurish.”

This lacking could’ve also been contributed by the fact that it was developed by (stand-up) comedy writers (Ali Wong is a writer for Fresh Off The Boat, after all). Think Judd Apatow. Not to say that they cannot employ visual elements well, but I reckon their focus was on their niche like in the dialogue, the interaction, the improvisation.

I understand the movie doesn’t have to be some deeply, thoughtful movie with visual tells throughout, but I would argue to give the audience a little more credit to still casually enjoy the movie but also find a deeper connection to the conflicts and tensions that we see.

All that aside, Ali Wong kills it when she’s on screen. I really enjoyed seeing her in scenes from awkward high-schooler to vitriolic ex-fiance as she curses out Daniel Dae Kim’s character. She has a charisma that makes the scenes so entertaining and her wit has a nice sting to it. I’ve seen her stand up and that quality definitely carries over. 

Randall Park is always an awkward delight, as well. He definitely brings a certain charm, especially with his own personal touch on the band, Hello Peril. I was thoroughly impressed and pleasantly surprised to hear him pump out some old-school hip hop beats. I had no idea he was previously in a hip-hop group called “Ill Again.” Definitely garnered more praise for the movie.

As an Asian American, it was nostalgic to see the subtleties of Asian families and their idiosyncrasies. These things were presented without pandering and without some cheap sense of uniqueness. It was displayed as relatable and signature Asian American culture. The cooking of large amounts of food, the school lunch problem (Oof, that hit home), the unrelenting frugality of things, the differing “Asian factions” like in the Dim Sum restaurant scene, the love of Diana Ross (Donna Summers?).

Overall, there were a lot of funny moments, especially at the expense of hipsters. Always happy to see Ali Wong and Randall Park, and happy to see another movie with a predominantly Asian cast that’s not typecasted, but it fell short of its potential. A lot of scenes were ostensibly used to meet a criteria in story structure, but at the cost of the heart of the story. It was a nice viewing of Nahnatchka Khan’s directorial debut, but it evoked a mediocre response.

Other Personal Points

• There were wasted elements and “and then” scenes such as when Marcus and Tony are chilling in Marcus’ bedroom. That interaction progressed nothing.

Then there’s the scene where Sasha talks about returning to the dating scene slash having a baby on her own. This scene could have been something as it touched upon what could have been her “ghost”. Also the awkward hug that Marcus gives after she essentially chewed him out doesn’t translate well. Is he doing it to comfort her or is he himself not sure why he did it?

• The scene where Sasha tells Marcus about how she met someone and compared him to her ex-fiance’s personality among other things. This scene could have taken place anywhere else, but they were at a farmers market. In the midst of her passionate recounting, She could have used the produce to draw comparisons in terms of quality… freshness… girth, I unno!

• Wish they would have made Keanu less sanctimonious and more saintly. To the point where all of the rumors surrounding him are true and he could do no wrong. In his shining greatness, he would show the error of their ways and reveal the truth. It’d be utterly ridiculous and funny all the while fueling the Keanu lovefest for sure. (Seriously, what a great guy.) Marcus could still hate Keanu and that would be add even more tension. 

• Why must romcoms always try to create a giant speech scene that silences the surrounding people as they watch on in awe? They’re doing a red carpet entrance… and pretty sure no one is going to give some rando two seconds of air time because he “had a question” as he emerges out of some guy’s ass behind the red rope stanchion. Even the photographers stopped snapping photos! Isn’t that your reason of living!?   

I understand it’s supposed to be momentous and touching, but fuck off. My eyes rolled so far back, I could see the synapses at play in my brainy brain.

In When Harry Met Sally, the only people listening are the only two people that matter in that dialogue exchange. While NOBODY ELSE IS LISTENING, the diegetic music changes to Auld Lang Syne and it ties into the scene as they poignantly allude to the core aspect of the theme. 

• The title is a total misnomer. The title gives the idea of someone keeping someone as back up. A Side bitch, if you will. Yet, for 15 years they had never spoken with each other and appear to have moved on from each other completely.

If you couldn’t tell, I’m real fun at parties. What did you think of the movie? Am I the only one to feel this way? What praises and gripes do you have with the movie?

Leave a comment below with your thoughts!