Hot on the heels of Heartstopper, Hulu’s new movie Crush delivers another heartwarming queer story – this time in the form of a high school rom-com. The story follows artsy high schooler Paige (Rowan Blanchard) who joins her high school track team to avoid suspension after she is accused of being the school’s mysterious graffiti artist “King Pun.” The silver lining is that her much-pined-over crush Gabby is also on the team and this provides an opportunity to get closer to her. But, as time goes on she finds herself forging a stronger relationship with her crush’s twin sister AJ, played by Moana’s Auliʻi Cravalho. Tale as old as time. Well – not quite.
Although, there’s nothing wildly off-book here from the typical rom-com formula, and you can see everything coming a mile away, what was most revelatory was the joyful queer universe that these characters reside in. All the queer characters are fully out and accepted with zero trauma. They’re on to the next phase of finding out who they like and what they want to be. If you would like to see the universe as I hope it soon will be for queer youth, Crush delivers just that. And, if you have time, read this Daily Beast interview with queer actress Auliʻi Cravalho on the importance of this depiction.
Queerness aside, I found myself LOL’ing a lot at Rowan Blanchard’s deadpan delivery, as well as the always-hilarious Megan Mullally who nails the “I’m a cool mom, not a regular mom” vibe. Plus, feast your eyes on an enviable back-drop of Americana’s finest track fields, while enjoying a great soundtrack that includes an unreleased Tegan and Sara song.
I’ll leave you with this great Twitter take on the movie below:
