Talented artist Paige (Rowan Blanchard) has been in love with Gabriella (Isabella Ferreira), the most popular girl in school, for most of her life. When Paige is added to the track team, she finally has a chance to win over Gabriella. Until Paige realises true love may lie with someone unexpected.
Crush
Sammi Cohen (director), Kirsten King, Casey Rackham (writers)
Rowan Blanchard, Auli’i Cravalho, Megan Mullally (cast)
April 29, 2022
Crush has been all over my timeline, so when I had the opportunity to watch and review it, I took it. What I expected was a light, fluffy, sweet queer story. That is exactly what Crush is. It’s an adorable romantic comedy with understanding, thoughtful characters who are doing their best while hoping to find love. There’s a will-they-won’t-they tension that underlines the story, but for the most part, it’s pretty low stakes. And that was a massive relief for me while watching this film. As the pandemic continues to rage on, I just wanted something light, kind, and cute to watch.
Of course, it helps that Crush is so unapologetically queer. How many of us would have done anything to have queer content like this growing up? I love that there are young audiences who can just sit down and watch a rom-com where there are this many queer characters and nobody questions it. The characters don’t fall in love because they happen to be the only two queer people in school; they fall in love because there’s a plethora of fascinating queer people around them, and they just found the perfect person for them. We need more of this!
The characters in Crush are all the sweetest teenagers you could imagine. Blanchard’s Paige is adorkable (my favourite type of protagonist). She’s not particularly good with social interactions, generally blanks when Gabriella is around, and prefers the company of her own art. I’m pretty sure a lot of teenagers will be able to relate to her sweet awkwardness.
Though Crush is driven by its central romance, there’s more to Paige than just being in love with Gabrielle. She’s desperate to get into her art school of choice, but she can’t find the inspiration to fulfill the entry assignment. Paige’s search for love and her journey to attend her dream school intertwine to give viewers a wholesome protagonist who we have multiple reasons to root for.
Around Paige are a group of truly quirky characters. Even the adults, as unique as they are, are hilarious and relatable. But it’s Paige’s fellow students who give her the community she needs. Paige’s best friend, Dylan (Tyler Alvarez), knows her so well that he can predict moments of distress before they even happen. Dylan’s girlfriend, and his rival to become class president, Stacy (Teala Dunn) is always ready to give Paige a reality check about Gabriella, her ambitions, and when Paige is being too hard on herself.
Then we have the love interests. On one side, there’s the effervescent Gabriella, who walks towards Paige in slow-motion, surrounded by color and music. It’s a fun little visual theme that perfectly captures young love. But as Crush develops, viewers and Paige realise there’s more to Gabriella than meets the eye.
And completing the third side of the triangle is AJ (Auli’i Cravalho), Gabriella’s twin. She starts off as Paige’s reluctant track trainer before transforming into Paige’s friend, as well as her athletic and artistic mentor. And then AJ becomes so much more, complicating Paige’s feelings and her plans for her life. Nobody ever said love would be easy, and Paige finds that out the hard way.
The characters are fun, but Crush itself is hilarious. There are some incredibly witty one-liners that caught me by surprise, and the physical comedy was so unexpected that I laughed out loud. Also, I am a sucker for disaster-lesbians and Paige is the biggest queer disaster! Watching her journey through Crush, both as a more confident teenager and a more vulnerable artist, was a delight.
What did throw me a little was the voiceover that opens the film. YA films with voiceovers are so overdone that I almost groaned. But Crush makes the voiceover work — primarily by ending it before the voiceover can get too annoying. It’s the little things this film does right that made me enjoy it so much.
With every new queer film, we’re getting closer to hitting all the right beats — and more importantly, moving away from tropes and stereotypes. Crush is a brand new entry that pushes the needle for queer films and romances even further. Is that too much to put on what is essentially a light rom-com? No. More varied groups need to see queer relationships onscreen occurring organically — the queerness isn’t the main event in Crush, the coming-of-age story and romance are.
And that’s what is so desperately needed right now. Queer people, particularly trans children and teenagers, are facing discrimination again around the world. Every time the queer community makes some advances, a group of regressive idiots somehow pushes us back. It’s 2022 and it’s still so easy for legislators to other the queer community. Director Sammi Cohen told Pride.com why a story like Crush is necessary: “With the discrimination and active legislation taking place right now it feels more important than ever to tell queer stories and to continue normalizing the queer experience as a human experience.”
That’s why we need films like Crush, where being queer is as normal as breathing. Queerness is a part of the characters’ identities but it’s not the only aspect of their being to define them. Crush has fully-fleshed out characters who are queer, but are also so much more. They’re trying to figure themselves out. They’re trying to find love. They’re trying to realise their dreams. All this is wrapped into one neat, cute, and funny story that will leave you feeling optimistic about the world we live in.
