Ali Wong and Randall Park starred at new Netflix movie, Always Be My Maybe. (Image via Japan Today)

Asian-American Rom-Com 'Always Be My Maybe,' Ethnicity is Secondary

Netflix recently released a movie called “Always Be My Maybe”. The main characters of the movie are Asians, however, ethnicity isn’t central to the plot. The movie tells about Sasha Tran (Ali Wong) and Marcus Kim (Randall Park), two neighbors who have lived next to each other since they were children. They basically do everything together every day, until one day, the friendship broke off. They meet again years later, Sasha is now a celebrity chef while Marcus works with his dad while playing in a band.

Wong, Park, and Michael Golamco are friends after their meeting in theater club at the University of California, Los Angeles, in the late 90s. For this movie, the three co-wrote the screenplay. Park stated that they did not write the screenplay to represent a certain ethnicity, but it’s to write a heartfelt and really funny romantic comedy. Leave ethnicity aside, Always Be My Maybe is a pure romantic comedy movie.

Park also said that he was excited about his character, Marcus Kim. It’s because he plays as a sweet-natured father of three on “Fresh Off the Boat”, while Marcus is a romantic lead. Park stated that he would like to try various characters.

Although the movie doesn’t focus on ethnicity, they use Asia’s culture in the background. For instance, food names, the activities they do, as well as the background which takes place in an Asia community in San Francisco.

Source: https://japantoday.com/category/entertainment/in-asian-led-'always-be-my-maybe-'-ethnicity-is-secondary