The best friends-who-fall-in-love rom-com theme goes back even farther than 1989’s When Harry Met Sally (for example, 1982’s Best Friends). But the premise is about to get a welcome upgrade in the cleverly titled Netflix production Always Be My Maybe, starring Randall Park (who is also credited as co-writer) and Ali Wong. Nahnatchka Khan, an executive producer on Park’s Fresh Off The Boat series, makes her feature film directing debut with this release.
Wong plays Sasha, the “Asian Oprah” who moves back to her hometown of San Francisco; Park is Marcus, her childhood friend who now installs air conditioning systems with his dad. Once her fiancée (Lost’s Daniel Dae Kim) calls off their engagement, Sasha and Marcus start spending a lot of time together, and Marcus’ old crush lights up again.
But a wrench is thrown into their budding romance, and what a glorious wrench it is: Keanu Reeves shows up at the end of the trailer as Sasha’s overly passionate new fling (sample sexual banter: “I miss your thumbs.”) Just judging from this trailer, it looks like Netflix is off to a fine start to another season of fun “Summer Of Love” offerings; Always Be My Maybe debuts May 31.