Editor’s Note: This review contains spoilers for the movie “Crush.”
Hulu released its original film “Crush,” a queer romantic comedy, on April 29. The movie is centered around Paige (Rowan Blanchard) and her two potential love interests, AJ (Auli’i Cravalho) and Gabby (Isabella Ferreira). Its focus on queer relationships makes for good representation, but the overall plot devices and “comedic relief” moments are hit or miss. Additionally, there was concern over the movie’s cast and their on-screen chemistry.
Besides the film’s main love triangle, one of Paige’s main issues is the CalArts application, whose prompt asks the applicants to depict their happiest moment through art. The question of her “happiest moment” is primarily used as background while the film focuses on Paige’s feelings for her long-time crush Gabby and, eventually, the rise of new feelings for Gabby’s twin sister AJ. The prompt serves as a plot device for the final love confession scene, where Paige reveals her artwork for the application, which depicts many of her special moments with AJ. The scene was memorable and definitely part of one of the better plot devices in the movie.
Along with the CalArts application is the issue of “King Pun,” a school “vandal” who everyone assumes is Paige. On the brink of suspension, Paige is left with no other choice but to join the track team and take on the mission of finding out who the actual “King Pun” is. Unsurprisingly, “King Pun” turns out to be AJ. The buildup to the reveal was anticlimactic — AJ admits to being “King Pun” after a conflict between her, Gabby and Paige arises — and was a mediocre plot twist.
The sibling “competition” was an arguably overused trope that was unfortunately used in “Crush.” Its relatability comes mostly from being compared to one’s siblings and not feeling like enough; it is relatable to an extent, but also poses the question of “Is it that difficult to believe that supportive sibling relationships exist?” Luckily, this isn’t a big plot device in the movie and Gabby shows her support by helping Paige in her big “love confession” scene toward the end of the film.
Though “Crush” is supposed to be a romantic comedy, the scenes meant to be comedic were mostly a miss. Comedic relief characters include the school principal and the track coach. The attempt and intent to be funny were present, but the delivery was not executed well. Compared to scenes that depict teens being their awkward selves, the scenes with comedic relief characters seemed too forced and unnatural.
Aside from the cringe-worthy comedic relief characters, other letdowns include the lack of chemistry between the main characters and casting. Throughout the movie, it is difficult to really see any chemistry between Paige and AJ, and the only thing alluding to Paige’s feelings for AJ was the added colorful background Paige sees when she develops feelings. Their lack of chemistry could be a result of the two not getting along in real life, which has a lot to do with Blanchard’s biphobic remarks that were even called out by fellow co-star Cravalho. Many people from the queer community voiced their distaste for the casting of Blanchard for this reason specifically and, though some think “Crush” is cute, viewers can’t get past her biphobia.
Despite the average plot devices, comedy scenes and lack of chemistry, there was plenty that “Crush” did right, including the sex positivity and portrayal of queerness as ordinary. The two go hand in hand throughout most of the movie and are the best aspects of the movie. For instance, there’s no big coming-out scene and Paige is aware of her sexuality from a young age. Her mother is extremely supportive — though almost too supportive with the amount of protection and sex toys she gives Paige. At school, there are plenty of queer teenagers, and even the coach acknowledges it in a scene where he says, “I know that 60% of you are queer.” It is very refreshing in the sense that it normalizes queerness, unlike in television shows and movies that make coming out the focal point of the plot or have one token queer character.
Rather than make sex in queer relationships seem taboo, the movie embraces sex-positivity in queer relationships. Paige’s mom gives her glow-in-the-dark dental dams and encourages her to have sex so long as she’s safe. In the scene where the track team has a hotel party, the team plays “seven minutes in the hotel bathroom” and Stacey (Teala Dunn) says, “Since this is 2022, we will not make someone make out if they don’t want to.” Though none of the couples — except Stacey and her boyfriend Dillon (Tyler Alvarez) — were depicted as very sexually active, the sex positivity was essential to the movie. It showed audiences that queer sexual relationships are like any other heterosexual relationship and should be embraced.
“Crush” had a few overused tropes — sibling rivalry, love triangles and a mystery identity — and the casting could have been better, but its message regarding sexual relationships between both teens and adults as well as its normalization of queerness is worth praising. It wasn’t the best high school rom-com, but it deserves some of the spotlight for its queer representation and sex positivity.
Brisa Ramirez is an Entertainment Intern for the spring 2022 quarter. They can be reached at bbramire@uci.edu
