Yes, he goes to what seems to be a conservative church, and yes, such an attitude would be preached there. Paul also needs to use this time to suddenly reveal that he thinks being gay is a sin, even though that’s not something that has been established as part of his character to that point. (Similarly, this plot point badly tanks the film’s timeline, but we’ll get to that.)
#Sad gay movies on netflix movie#
Netflix / KC Baileyįor starters, remember how I said that this was the first touchdown anyone had scored at the high school in over a decade? This is a thing that is basically not established in the film in any way, which made me realize how many other plot elements the movie had introduced without following up on them, an omen that didn’t bode well. Ellie and Aster have a quick chat about things. But it completely spins the movie off its axis into some other version of itself entirely. It’s a neat subversion of a romantic comedy trope, and it follows naturally from both Paul and Ellie’s arcs so far. And, soon enough, Paul realizes that Ellie has feelings for Aster, not him. Instead, he kisses Ellie, because in a heteronormative romcom, this would be the part where the lead guy realized the nerdy lead girl was the right one for him all along. Once the game’s over, he goes to find Ellie, presumably to talk about what he should do next in re: Aster. In the wake of Paul scoring the touchdown, though, he looks up into the stands to see Aster cheering him on, then looks over to see Ellie doing the same.
Aster thinks she’s falling for Paul she’s actually falling for Ellie - classic Cyrano! The movie gives you just enough hints that Aster might be queer to suggest that this story could really be heading in any direction. Throughout the movie, Paul has been courting Aster, at least somewhat secretly (as she is far more popular than he), but Ellie has been the one doing most of the actual work of courting her, via handwritten letters and instant messaging apps. The moment when The Half of It started to head south was in the wake of Paul scoring the first touchdown the characters’ high school football team had scored in over a decade. But to get there, it has to take some big leaps of logic. The actual ending of The Half of It isn’t bad. So let’s talk about why the ending of The Half of It lets the rest of the movie down, and why it’s ultimately so disappointing that it does.
In particular, the third act undercuts what had, to that point, been one of the movie’s strong points - the small-town world it built for Ellie, Paul, and Aster to live in. The resolutions to essentially every major storyline disappoint, and the movie relies on out of nowhere character turns that feel forced and unnatural. In The Half of It’s last third, all of those problems come back at the same time. Netflix’s The Half of It was the queer teen rom-com of my dreams - until it wasn’t