Always Be My Maybe

Always Be My Maybe

Sometimes, the love of your life is right in front of you. Or at least that’s what countless romantic comedies, such as “When Harry Met Sally,” would have us believe two best friends fall into bed with each other and become lovers, first awkwardly and then passionately. Nahnatchka Khan’s “Always Be My Maybe,” a well meaning but unsatisfying genre dish, follows a similar recipe with all the right ingredients on paper: likable leads, quirky sidekicks, eye catching locations and even some bona fide movie star appeal via a hilariously self-involved turn from Keanu Reeves. It’s unfortunate then that this enticing package from Khan (“Fresh off the Boat”), which is more assembly line output than moviegoing experience, is so flavorless.

The blame falls largely on the writing here, split among Michael Golamco, Randall Park (a real-life friend of Wong) and Ali Wong (also a “Fresh Off The Boat” alum). There’s nothing inherently wrong with recycling an old recipe with a contemporary spin haunted houses and time travel are just two genres that continually mine fresh thrills from familiar setups.

But somewhere along the way this screenwriting trio stops building plausible dramatic turns and starts delivering something that dutifully checks off expected boxes. They’re mostly the right boxes, but “Always Be My Maybe” doesn’t ultimately give us sturdy emotional stakes to hang our hopes (or attention spans) on. Neither does its plainly bright sitcomic cinematography help matters much; it lacks a visual identity throughout.

And yet things start promisingly enough when young Sasha Tran and Marcus Kim (Wong and Park as their respective adult selves) are next door neighbors in San Francisco. Often ignored by her parents who work too many hours, Sasha seems used to making herself dinner she can even make a can of spam look fancy and learning about Korean cooking more generally from Marcus’ sweet, self-sacrificing mom. With Sasha spending most of her time at Marcus’ house, the two kids grow up as friends, somehow lose their virginities to each other in the back seat of a car and have an awkward falling out when Marcus’ mother dies in their formative years.

Jump to 15 years later, and Sasha now one of America’s hottest celebrity chefs in Los Angeles is engaged to equally successful restaurateur Brandon Choi (Daniel Dae Kim). But her happily ever after hits a detour when, on a trip back to San Francisco for the opening of another restaurant, he asks her to postpone their wedding so he can go on an indefinite business trip in India.

You know what happens next. Marcus still driving the same car, still working with his dad fixing air conditioners enters the picture again, this time (and here’s where “Always Be My Maybe” veers into full on rom-com silliness) with a zany, scene-stealing girlfriend (played by spirited performance artist Vivian Bang). The two old friends reconnect, open up old wounds, fight, make up and eventually realize that they’ve been in love this whole time. Meanwhile! Marcus has always been too scared to put himself out there as a musician until now. And! Sasha is sick of all these fancy culinary trends (“non-denominational,” “elevated” you get the picture) and wants to go back to cooking from the heart.

Those developments would hit harder if the break-up came at us from more memorable or consequential reasons. And … we should see Sasha at work more than once! Yes she walks around with the earned attitude of someone who’s very good at her job; yes Wong herself is very good at her job; yes we believe she owns that restaurant-office and knows exactly what kind of boss she wants to be. All I’m saying is give us one scene where she gets behind a burner!

This film poignantly engages with the Korean-American experience from familial angles (let’s just say Keanu Reeves’ cameo isn’t even close to being the most cathartic part about parents speaking Korean onscreen), societal angles (the high-school talent show is as good a site as any for unpacking the thorny racial dynamics of hip-hop, yes?) and professional angles (Marcus and Jenny’s barbershop banter about hustling to make it in their respective industries rings so true, you can practically smell the Blue Magic). But its other ambitions like critiquing gentrification, with jokes around “kale” and “rich people in T-shirts” fall flatter.

Wong and Park have lovely chemistry (more as friends than lovers), with Wong especially delivering a feisty performance that pairs well with Leesa Evans’ terrific costumes. But as tentative as its title, “Always Be My Maybe” feels very much like the fancy tasting menu Marcus complains about in one scene. It awakens a craving; it doesn’t quite leave you satisfied.

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