The Half of It

Ellie Chu is a quiet, high-achieving student in a small town who earns money writing essays for her classmates. When Paul Munsky, a well-meaning but tongue-tied athlete, asks for help composing love letters to win over Aster Flores, the most popular girl at school, Ellie agrees. The arrangement grows into an unexpected friendship, and it becomes complicated once Ellie realises she is drawn to the same girl Paul is trying to court.

The film is a comedy-drama written and directed by Alice Wu, her second feature following Saving Face in 2004. It stars Leah Lewis as Ellie, Daniel Diemer as Paul, Alexxis Lemire as Aster and Enrique Murciano as Deacon Flores, with Wolfgang Novogratz and Catherine Curtin also credited among a cast of 29 and a crew of 85. Anthony Bregman, M. Blair Breard and Wu produced it for Likely Story.

Released in May 2020, The Half of It runs 104 minutes. On IMDb it holds a 6.9 rating from roughly 47,000 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 7.1 from about 1,600 votes. A critics' rating of 7.8 from 103 reviews places it slightly above both audience scores, suggesting reviewers responded more warmly than general viewers did.