Warning: Contains spoilers
I will preface this review of Alessandra De Rossi’s “My Amanda” by admitting that I have a guy best friend. We’ve survived college together, been on many trips to the beach, got drunk in far too many parties, cried together, laughed together, and never once judged each other’s decisions.
It’s this solid kind of friendship that not many understand is possible between opposite sexes. Most will argue that a girl being this close to a guy can only be expected to lead to romance. “After all, how can one act like a couple and not catch feelings?” But I’m here to say that it isn’t true at all and “My Amanda” proves how two people having this healthy platonic relationship is more likely than you think.
Image courtesy of Netflix
“My Amanda” follows two best friends, Fuffy/TJ (Piolo Pascual) and Fream/Amanda (Alessandra De Rossi), who are so close-knit that they know everything about each other, can be touchy-feely towards each other without malice, and always rely on each other for help and support when they need it. Unlike most romantic comedy movies that begin in a similar vein, these two never end up together nor does one of them openly admit to harboring romantic feelings for the other. Fuffy and Fream don’t get jealous of each other’s partners (Fream even befriends Fuffy’s girlfriends and treats them like sisters) and, even though they constantly flirt and tease, neither actually takes advantage of their closeness.
Naturally, they clash and disagree from time to time as well. Fuffy often needs to reel Fream in when she starts acting too out of line, while Fream reminds Fuffy that she doesn’t need his patronizing “I told you so’s” but, rather, his unconditional support despite her choices in life. But not even these are enough to get in the way of their pure love for one another.
True enough, in these two I see myself and my best friend. Just like Fuffy and Fream, the depth of our relationship has reached a point wherein it’s more than a typical friendship with anyone else but it will never breach the boundary of being lovers. When you hold that much respect, trust, and tenderness for someone as if they’re your own flesh and blood, it will never cross your mind to want anything more, especially not of a sexual or romantic nature. It’s the kind of thing that you just have to experience yourself to truly understand. And that perhaps is why it’s so difficult for most to accept it—it’s so rare to find people who share the same bond that Fuffy and Fream have, that my best friend and I have too, that this “unconventionality” is something to be frowned upon.
Image courtesy of Netflix
It may take a long time before friendship between opposite sexes can be normalized in our society but, ‘til then, I am appreciative of films like “My Amanda” that show that you don’t have to be in love to love each other unconditionally.
“My Amanda” is a celebration of real and true friendship—your ride-or-dies, your partners-in-crime, your found family. It’s a perfect and timely reminder that you don’t need a lover to feel whole; all you need is your best friend, the one who will never leave you, not ‘til the end of time.
Watch “My Amanda” on Netflix here.
(ALSO READ: I Thank College For Giving Me the Best Friends I Could Ever Ask For)
Image courtesy of Netflix
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