Reactions: Loved it, everyone was adorable
Where to watch: Netflix

I really thought I was pressing “play” on a background teeny-bopper rom-com when I sat down one night to watch The Half of It. I was so pleasantly surprised and happy to be wrong.

Let’s be clear. This is a modern, teenage take on Cyrano de Bergerac (which some of you may know from a different version’s name, Roxanne, starring Steve Martin in the late 1980s).

Essentially, shy boy loves popular girl but boy is shy to tell her. Shy boy enlists help of smart, eloquent, but awkward (or ugly in the case of Cyrano) girl to write notes to popular girl. Awkward girl secretly falls in love with the popular girl so it’s easy for her to write letters from the heart. Of course, it all falls apart when popular girls realizes shy boy can’t actually speak in the same words he writes with and suspects eloquent awkward girl, who has now become her close friend. And of course, boy has now secretly fallen in love with the awkward girl (that part doesn’t follow Cryano). How ever will they unravel this tangled love affair?

The Half of It is absolutely adorable. I loved every single actor’s performance. Leah Lewis is an especially phenomenal lead. She plays the role of brilliant high schooler far older than her years to a tee. And Daniel Diemer is perfection as the shy but sincere boy smitten with the popular girl well beyond his reach. Even the old, hermit dad is a lovely character.

Go watch The Half of It. It’s a cute rom-com and a clever adaptation of the original. An extremely enjoyable movie that has you rooting for all the characters at the same time.