The Half of It Parent Guide

Ellie Chu (Leah Lewis) lives above the train station managed by her father in Squahamish, Washington. Their financial situation is tenuous, so Ellie writes term papers for her classmates to help pay the bills. “It’s an A or you don’t pay,” she tells them. When school jock Paul Munsky (Daniel Diemer) asks her to write a love letter to the girl of his dreams, Aster Flores (Alexxis Lemire), Ellie refuses. But with the utility bills fast approaching, she capitulates and agrees to write one love letter for $50. There’s just one problem – Ellie has a crush on Aster, too.

The Half of It sounds like a remake of the classic tale of Cyrano de Bergerac, told with an LGBTQ twist. That is the basic plot element – a besotted swain seeks help finding the words to woo his crush. However, the heart of the story isn’t the complicated love triangle between Ellie, Paul and Aster: it’s the friendship between Paul and Ellie.

It’s rare to see a real friendship unfold on the big screen but The Half of It pulls it off because it creates teenagers who are real and complex. When Paul appears in the movie, we feel like we already know who he is – the stereotypical dumb jock. There’s more to Paul, though, and as the story unfolds, we get to know him as the kind-hearted, overlooked son in a large family with dreams of tweaking the family sausage recipe and unexpected talents for picking out girls’ clothes. As for Ellie, her portrayal moves beyond the “smart Asian kid” trope to show a girl who’s haunted by her mother’s death, who has assumed too much responsibility for her father, who composes plaintive songs on her guitar, and who’s willing to step aside to help her friend. Aster, as the love interest for both parties, is less well developed, but there’s still some depth. Everyone sees the pretty, popular pastor’s daughter and trophy girlfriend, but she is revealed as an artist who revels in reading books and asking big questions. There’s a lot more here than we normally get in a teen rom-com.

From a content perspective, there’s also a lot less than we normally expect to see in a movie aimed at adolescents. There is one scene of underage drinking and ten profanities but the area which will likely concern parents the most is sexual content. Fortunately, this is one of the cleanest rom-coms I’ve ever seen, with just a few kisses and no other sexual activity. Parents seeking movies that provide a matter-of-fact look at LGBTQ teens will be happy to find this production. (If you have traditional views of sexuality, your opinion may differ.) But overall, this is a sweet, funny, genuine little film about the challenges teens face as they come to know themselves and struggle to find their place in the world.

The Half of It juggles both positive and negative messages which revolve around honesty. Oddly enough, Ellie’s term paper writing business isn’t treated negatively – in fact her teacher knows she’s doing it and prefers reading Ellie’s work to whatever her classmates would turn in. Although this academic dishonesty is winked at, the movie makes clear that the deception perpetrated on Aster has consequences. Ellie asserts that “love is messy” but maybe it’s more accurate to say that it’s lying about love that’s messy.