The moment in which Paige reveals the artwork in front of her school and gets the girl is so often lacking in queer narratives. That’s what makes this instance so special. Paige’s artwork - and what it portrays - is cheesy and predictable, but in a way that is inherent to heterosexual love and not always queer romance. This is perhaps best seen in the final scenes of the movie, in which Paige completes her application prompt for CalArt to “show us your happiest moment.” In creating this convention of queer love, “Crush” then delivers in unbridled queer joy. The queerness never inhibits the romance. The queer characters, like any straight character in the classic rom-com, are allowed to explore various love interests, fall into stereotypical romantic tropes (sharing one bed, playing seven minutes in heaven, etc.) and not worry about their sexuality. It’s a refreshing approach to queer romance, one that makes “Crush” feel equivalent to its heteronormative counterparts.
Paige goes to a school where there are multiple queer students - including a variety of other lesbians, from those who are non-binary and effortlessly cool to a practicing Wiccan.ĭrawing from stereotypes, “Crush” embraces the variety of queerness that real life teems with, gently poking fun at some of the more exaggerated tropes, as any good high school movie does. Paige’s mom is the typical embarrassing and overbearing, but loving, type - providing her daughter with plenty of sex-ed tips, this time with dental dams rather than condoms. Rather, the film establishes itself as queer from the get-go, without any qualms or fuss. Unlike other movies, such as “Love, Simon,” “Crush” doesn’t center itself around the process of coming out. Please consider giving today.īut regardless of its pitfalls, the true beauty of “Crush” comes in the form of its queer storytelling. The Spectrum has been covering the University at Buffalo since 1950, your donation today could help #SaveStudentNewsrooms. In particular, the relationship between Paige’s mother and coach can be groan-inducing with its silly sexual jokes that are too corny for a teenage audience and too childish for adults. The film’s humor also often falls short of what would be considered funny and encroaches on cringey.
Rather, Blanchard’s Paige often comes across as a tad annoying and immature, especially in comparison to the film’s consistently enjoyable secondary characters. Blanchard all too often fails to deliver this likeability. Yet, in the goofiness of the genre, there should reside some kind of charm and endearing quality. The typical rom-com sports a protagonist who is often on the fringes of popularity - a nerdy and awkward outcast type. The weakest part of the movie comes in the form of Blanchard’s performance. Bolstered by the lively chemistry between the cast, the unapologetic gayness of the protagonist and a hunt for an anonymous grafitti artist known as KingPun, “Crush” follows all the classic teenage rom-com tropes, even if its execution can be mediocre at times.