'The Half of It': Release date, plot, cast, trailer and all you need to know about young adult film with queer lead

The film centers around Ellie Chu who helps a jock write a love letter to a popular girl at their high school, the one she herself is crushing on
(Netflix)
(Netflix)

'The Half of It' is another name in Netflix's roster of young adult romance flicks like 'To All The Boys I've Loved Before', 'The Space Between Us' and 'The Perfect Date'. 'TATB' featured a female lead and after the success of the film and its sequel, Netflix is ready to drop 'THOI' with a queer female lead. 100 points for inclusivity and representation. Read on to know more about the film.

Release Date 

'The Half of It' will be available to stream starting Friday, May 1, 2020. 

Plot

The official synopsis of the film reads, "Bookish introvert Ellie Chu is perfectly content with her life: watching old movies with her widowed father and ghostwriting papers for her high school classmates to help pay the bills. But her side gig turns personal when lovelorn jock Paul Munsky hires her to craft love notes to Aster Flores — a smart, popular girl out of both their leagues… and Ellie’s own secret crush. Just as the duo’s plan begins to work, a new wrinkle emerges: Ellie and Paul have fallen into a deep friendship neither could have anticipated, giving rise to a surprising love triangle."

Cast 

Leah Lewis

Leah Lewis (Netflix)

Leah Lewis will be seen essaying the lead role of Ellie Chu in the film. Lewis is famous for her work in 'Nancy Drew', 'Station 19' and 'The Good Doctor'. She leads a very private life and is yet to succumb to the glitzy life of Hollywood. Lewis is also a philanthropist at heart and has been instrumental in raising charities. It's also a lesser-known fact that she is a talented musician and appeared on Season 4 of 'The Voice' in one of the audition rounds. Lewis has a YouTube channel with the name 'Le Lewis' wherein she's put her take on a lot of popular songs.

Daniel Diemer

Daniel Diemer (Netflix)

Diemer is a Canadian actor and will be playing the role of jock Paul Munsky in the film. He has also appeared in Amazon Prime's series 'The Man in the High Castle' and 'Sacred Lies'. Did you know his first choice of career was sports? He had a promising career in international soccer ahead of him but that blew away since he grew too quickly in height and that slowed him down.

“Then I grew like crazy. I was six-foot-four by 16,  I grew so fast I lost all my speed. It was brutal.” said Diemer in an interview. He had to take all of that talent and grit and channel it into other pursuits. Diemer started to book acting jobs right after he graduated from the Victoria Academy for Dramatic Arts and the rest is history. 

Alexxis Lemire

Alexxis Lemire (Netflix)

Lemiere will be essaying the role of Aster Flores — the love interest of both Paul Munsky (Demier) and Ellie Chu (Lewis) in the film. She is known for her work in 'Cerebrum' and 'The Art of Murder'. 

Trailer



 

The trailer lays out Ellie Chu's life in the town of 'Squahamish' where she lives with her single dad and runs a business of writing essays for her peers in exchange for money. She seems perfectly happy in her lonely life until a jock comes along asking her to improvise a love letter he wrote for his romantic interest — Aster Flores. Ellie helps him write letters and texts as well but things take a turn when he realizes that the former is falling for Aster.

Where to Watch

'The Half of It' will be available to stream starting Friday, May 1, 2020, only on Netflix.

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