I love Ali Wong slightly more than I dislike rom-coms. So when I learned that Always Be My Maybe was co-written by Ali Wong I decided it to watch it, knowing that I might hate myself for it later. I started it last night after everyone else in my house went to bed. I intended to watch half and finish it today if I felt like it. Instead, I couldn’t stop watching and stayed up too late.
Ali Wong stars as Sasha, celebrity chef and restaurateur, and Randall Park is Marcus, her childhood crush whose lack of ambition has him firmly planted in his childhood home in San Francisco with his aging yet spry father. After sixteen years in Los Angeles building her empire, Sasha returns to San Francisco to open a restaurant. She’s also fresh off a broken engagement from her manager Brandon (Daniel Day Kim).
Sasha and Marcus didn’t stay in touch after high school. But after an awkward start, their friendship seems to pick up where it left off. Then comes the predictable “will they or won’t they” business even though we know they will because it’s a rom-com.
But first she rebounds from Brandon with Keanu Reeves! Keanu Reeves plays a satirical version of himself, a philosophical douchebag who is no less attractive for his douchebaggery. I’ve noticed in recent weeks that Keanu Reeves fervor had reached a fever pitch similar to what it was in 1989, and now I understand why. Even if the movie wasn’t good, it would be worth watching just to see him break a glass vase over his head in a show of masculine one-upmanship during a bizarre showdown with Marcus.
Always Be My Maybe is guilty of the thing that bugs me most about this genre: the constant arguing that makes me think the mismatched primary couple should give up because it’s obviously not worth the effort. However, in this case, neither Sasha or Marcus is necessarily in need of redemption. They’re both flawed but not to the point of being awful people. They both have their own set of values and ideas. While I can do without the “you’re wrong”, “no, you’re wrong” tropes, they did it in a way that’s less annoying than when one character needs to realize that the other is indeed worthy of their love.
Above all, it’s really funny. Ali Wong has consistently perfect comic-timing and she and Randall Park play off of each other like a long-term comic duo. And come on y’all- Keanu Reeves!