Another win for Netflix this weekend came in the form of romantic comedy, Always Be My Maybe, starring Ali Wong and Randall Park as former best friends who years later fumble into an endearing relationship.
We open with the kid version of Sasha, who is left alone constantly because her parents are always working. We then get introduced to her best friend/neighbor, Marcus whose family is like a surrogate for Sasha. She also really enjoys Marcus’ mother’s home-cooking. After the early death of Marcus’ mother in high school, the two hook up, but inevitably part ways. Some ten plus odd years later, Sasha is a celebrity chef in Los Angeles, while Marcus lives at home with his father, helps with his heating and cooling business, and is in a local but popular band.
Sasha is engaged to a successful business man who postpones their wedding, so Sasha heads to San Francisco to open up a new restaurant. While there, she runs into Marcus and his father. The encounter is initially awkward, but after hanging out several times, their friendship is rekindled. Sasha ends her engagement, and ends up with Keanu Reeves. Hilarity ensues. If there’s ever been a perfect cameo, this is it. He’s a perfect douche, but is also maybe being himself? Either way, Marcus punches Keanu and you’ll never get because it gets memorialized in a song that plays during the credits.
It’s revealed that Sasha has always had a crush on Marcus, so they start a relationship. When her time in San Francisco is up she asks Marcus to come to New York with her where she’ll be s tarting up another restaurant. Marcus declines, so Sasha leaves alone. But in true romantic comedy fashion, with some help Marcus has realized he’s made a mistake and goes to find Sasha at a red carpet for an awards show. They rekindle their romance, and Sasha’s new restaurant is shown to be honoring Marcus’ mother.
I loved every second of this film. The laughs were peppered in consistently throughout the film, and Sasha and Marcus’ friendship was so pure. Quote of the movie for me goes to Marcus’ father, who when seeing Sasha for the first time in a while says to her, “Invest in lettuce. Kale can’t hold on forever.” And like I said earlier, Keanu Reeves was everything in his cameo; it was so well done. I was also a huge fan of the original songs in this, and I wish they’d release a soundtrack! If a rap about tennis balls doesn’t smell like a hit to you, then you obviously haven’t watched the movie yet. But seriously, watch it!