Oddly enough, I have found myself gravitating to a few of those movies which get released to theaters for a week before nesting in comfort on a streaming service. That Ted Bundy movie was one example. Pleasantly, "Always Be My Maybe" is another.
Now don't judge me but yes, I did see a chick flick or...as they are more commonly known these days...a rom com. And I was actually quite charmed by it all. Especially since I didn't pay seventeen or twenty bucks to see it in a theater. Netflix in my living room worked just fine, thank you very much.
Okay, no new ground is broken here in this comedy produced, written, and starred in by Randall Park and Ali Wong. In fact, some might rename this movie as a lower budget version of "Crazy Rich Asians." In some ways, the quaintness of this Netflix tale worked better for me than the overly opulent and gaudy "CRA." Go figure.
The plot, of course, is one you have seen many times over. From Doris Day and Rock Hudson to decades later with Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan, you can almost predict the ups and downs of romance hours before you turn on your TV. In this one, we meet kids and next door neighbors Sasha and Marcus when they are about ten years old in the mid 90s. Sasha is mostly left by her working parents to fend for herself. As a result, she learns to cook from Marcus' mom. Naturally, Marcus and Sasha become BFFs and that ends badly with a sexual encounter in the back of a Toyota Carolla about eight years later.
Flash forward to 2019 and they are in different worlds. Thanks to what she learned from Marcus' mother, Sasha has become a renowned celebrity chef. Marcus is working for his father's air conditioning company and singing in a crummy bar band. You know they are going to re-connect and come apart and re-connect and come apart over the course of the next 90 minutes. As predictable as it is, I enjoyed it all.
Indeed, the movie works thanks to the very organic relationship essayed by Randall Park and Ali Wong. It all feels right. And, in a very unnerving but oddly clever twist, Sasha begins dating actor Keanu Reeves, who is played in a bombastic and blow-hard way by....wait for it...Keanu Reeves. Boy, it took guts for Keanu to lampoon himself the way he does. In a film of "you know exactly what is coming next" moments, that plot device came out of the blue and really stole the middle of the picture.
Once again, "Always Be My Maybe" is not one to drive to a theater to see. But it's being streamed and it's perfect fodder for a night on the living room couch.
LEN'S RATING: Three stars.
Dinner last night: Leftover London broil and roasted Campari tomatoes.
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