David Drascic

tl;dr: I laughed and cried so much more than I expected! Didn't know what to expect. Was afraid the trailer had already given away all the good jokes. And at first I just squirmed with the uncomfortable humour. And then I started chuckling. And then the uncomfortable laughs morphed into guffaws, esp with the other people in the audience laughing too. And then it got more serious and I found myself really invested in and loving the characters. The romance and their problems all felt mostly real, with just enough dramatic and comedic distortion. I could remember similar experiences. I could relate to the characters. I cried at the sad bits, and the very happy bits. Contrary to my expectations, it did NOT become a "Hallheart" movie, tho it certainly had fun skirting the edges of it. As a romcom, the film focuses on the two leads almost to the exclusion of everyone else. Hardly anyone else has a character arc, but that's not surprising. In a movie with a smaller cast, there is more time for the supporting characters to be developed, but this was a huge cast, with some brilliant character moments. I understand the choice they made. The pacing was a little uneven, but that was because the filmmakers chose to give the characters time to express their issues in nuanced ways, so I am glad for that. The diverse cast of supporting characters were all really good, and were really able to make the most of their brief screen time. I would love to see more of those characters, and those actors!