TV: Love finds Ali Wong and Randall Park in ‘Always Be My Maybe’

Randall Park and Ali Wong star in a Netflix romantic comedy about two young friends who grow up and grow apart, only to find each other again as adults. Also, there’s Keanu Reeves.

“Always Be My Maybe” is an enormously refreshing rom-com in a couple of ways that people who have covered its release have talked about a lot. Specifically, it’s an American rom-com (released on Netflix) that features two Asian American characters from two Asian American families who have sex, fall in love, break up, date other people and then find each other again. It stars Randall Park, who has spent the last several years on ABC’s Fresh Off the Boat but has had a long and varied career in comedy, and Ali Wong, whose career boomed after the release of her comedy specials Baby Cobra and then Hard Knock Wife. Park and Wong have known each other a long time, and they have eager fan excitement to thank (at least in part) for the fact that they decided to actually go ahead with the project.

As romantic comedies have contracted after their post-’90s boom, those featuring leads of color have been, regrettably but predictably, hit especially hard. And while Crazy Rich Asians in 2018 brought welcome representation for Asian American actors in both romance and comedy, it was not really quite a romantic comedy in the traditional sense. More at NPR.com