Written by Kiara Co
Once again, Netflix released another romantic comedy film and it was refreshing to see two Asian-Americans as the leads. Not only that, this film was written by Asian-Americans as well since both Ali Wong (Baby Cobra) and Randall Park (Fresh Off The Boat) creatively wrote this film together as well as starred in it, along with Nahnatchka Khan, a woman of colour, directing the film. This film had organic representation that clearly didn’t portrayed Asians in a stereotypical way. It seems to be another one on the list for proper representation for Asian-Americans alongside the likes of successful films such as Crazy Rich Asians and To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before.
The film follows two childhood friends who stopped lost touched for 15 years. They reconnect as adults with Sasha (Ali Wong) is a successful celebrity chef and Marcus is a hometown musician. After all these years, the spark is still present. But what about the polar opposite lives they live? Naturally this makes the film hilarious! From the dialogue and the actor’s performances, each character was funny without being awkward in context or uncomfortable to watch.
The movie kicks off with a young Sasha (Miya Cech) and Marcus (Emerson Min), followed by slightly older versions of them, which are played by Ashley Liao and Jackson Geach. We see the pair grow up to establish their relationship, and from the beginning of the film, you could easily root for them and want them to be together. It was adorable to see both characters spending time together and even before these two characters knew they had feelings for each other, the chemistry was so pure. Both Marcus and Sasha were easy to watch as friends and even as sweethearts! Showing them as kids, teenagers, and adults really captured their development as individuals and showed their relationship’s development as well.
One of the best parts of this film was the appearance of Keanu Reeves who played himself in this film and he was such a scene stealer! It was fun to watch a star play an over exaggerated and narcissistic version of himself and also as one of Sasha’s love interest. As Marcus is about to profess his love to Sasha, Sasha is seeing another man. This creates a hilarious tension between Marcus and Keanu Reeves at one point in the movie.
As mentioned before about the film’s Asian leads and story, there were specific aspects that were well appreciated. This film had a sense of familiarity and it felt heart warming and like home, especially when food played an important part of this film since food is a significant part of Asian culture. It was nice seeing how Asian food should be appreciated authentically and not butchered to satisfy others as food in Asian culture is what connects people, such as family. Another thing was the commonality between the character and actor. Often times when Asian actors play a character, they play a character that doesn’t match their ethnic background, which suggests that casting Asians are interchangeable or that all Asians look alike. Marcus Kim is a Korean character just like Randall Park, while Sasha Tran is a Vietnamese character, which Ali Wong is too!
The setting for the most part of this film was in San Francisco and it was pleasant to see the scenic views of the city. This also captures what America is like of today and that America is actually diverse, which aren’t often shown in film for most of the time.
Another love interest of Sasha’s is Brandon Choi (Daniel Dae Kim). Brandon is her soon to be husband of Sasha, until Brandon flies to India and Sasha goes back to San Francisco while also deciding to postpone the wedding. Then, as time progresses, Sasha realises Brandon isn’t the right man for her. She finally realises that Brandon only liked her because of her status as a celebrity chef and that the only reason they are a couple is to elevate their business.
Overall, both love interests before being with Marcus felt mediocre, so it really helped Marcus shine. Brandon doesn’t have much purpose in the film and as for Keanu, he was just funny. However, having multiple love interests for Sasha felt realistic since it takes time to find the “one” as you must experience, learn and grow.
What felt annoying in this film was Sasha and Marcus finding their way to one another. Since 15 years have passed, both have different lifestyles with Marcus essentially stuck in the past. Thankfully the pair both made an equal amount of effort near the end with the realisation they weren’t being true to each other or living the life they should.
The ending was sweet and had both Marcus and Sasha finally together for real. Sasha having multiple successful branches of her owned restaurants across different cities in the USA and saw all the main characters present at the end at Sasha’s restaurant in New York. This specific branch was set up differently compared to other branches and had a sense of familiarity, which was touching. This branch included having a dish and menu full of meals Marcus’s mother cooked when they were younger and was to honour her memory.
Netflix has released multiple rom-coms recently and Always Be My Maybe was definitely worth watching. It was refreshing, funny, and heartwarming. Seeing two Asian-American comedians in Hollywood coming together on a film was delightful to see!
