'My Fake Boyfriend' (Starring Cole Sprouse) Is The Wonderfully Trashy, Lighthearted Comedy The World Needs!
[SPOILERS for the movie My Fake Boyfriend included in this article]
My Fake Boyfriend is a campy rom-com, and I mean that as the HIGHEST compliment.
There are exceptions to every rule. There are obviously the classic rom-coms that give a window into humanity's soul, that have the cultural staying power that only cinematic excellence can archive. This esteemed regard is reserved for works such as You've Got Mail or When Harry Met Sally.
My Fake Boyfriend is not one of these movies. It is a pure and perfect and simply wonderful rom-com that lets you have lighthearted fun.
This new movie from Prime Video is the kind of movie that you love to hate and hate to love. The tropified character, the formulaic unfolding of the plot, and the extroverted friendship that makes you want to start casting your friends in the film are all INCREDIBLY necessary to the trashy rom-com, and all those elements are here.
Again, I mean this as a MAJOR compliment.
What is even more wonderful about this newly released film, though, is that it gives a trashy rom-com to the LGBT+ community.
I live off of the trashy rom-com. I love the trashy rom-com. But I know that with most trashy rom-coms, it is the same story time and time again. It is a straight couple that has a meet-cute, moves through a tropified storyline, and ultimately finds love and a happy ending on the other end.
Films that star same-sex relationships, conversely, tend to be more thoughtful and nuanced. There is a secondary point, a thinker, something that forces the audience to go deeper - because that kind of deep thinking was required to gain acceptance.
My Fake Boyfriend does not ask its audience to do anything.
We had the pep-talk with friends early in the movie where they give all of the background exposition on Andrew, the leading character played by Keiynan Lonsdale. We have the nerdy but overbearing friend Jake, who is played by Cole Sprouse, and his fun but workaholic, hyper-organized girlfriend Kelly, played by Sarah Hyland.
We've heard the logic for a fake relationship we have seen time and time again. Is it any different this time? No. It goes the exact way that we know it will.
This becomes especially complicated when Andrew meets Rafi, played by Samer Salem, someone he could really see himself having a relationship with.
The movie features moments of hilarious and innocent (and by innocent I mean non-complex) awkward moments on dates. We see one character constantly victimizing himself and gaslighting Andrew in a way that nobody tolerates. We see the awkward moments that come from the potential of a new relationship and new love.
When I say the movie is not complex, I do not mean that the movie is not beautifully honest; It taps into real and relatable elements of the human experience. We see the ex that is impossible to shake, the recurrent insecurity of not being good enough, the desperation to cling on to something fake just because it is seemingly more secure than anything real.
We get to see this, though, through the lens of lighthearted comedy, and in a timeline that has been as consistently twisted as it has been for the world as a whole recently.
We need that. We need to hear we are not alone. We need to know it is okay to laugh. We need to know it is okay not to take life too seriously.
This movie is perfect for being exactly what it is. Everyone needs a sweet love story: one you can watch when you just want to turn off your brain, feel good, laugh along, and silently recognize you like the movie more than you would want to admit to any of your cinephile friends.
If you want to watch a fun movie with talented actors who are clearly having so much fun working together, this is it.
My Fake Boyfriend is streaming on Prime Video now.
