Intro: Egghead & Twinkie Review
Where to watch it? Currently playing at film festivals. Get more info here.
Directed by: Sarah Kambe Holland
Written by: Sarah Kambe Holland
Starring: Sabrina Jie-A-Fa, Louis Tomeo, Asahi Hirano, Ayden Lee, J. Scott Browning, Kelly Mauro, Steven Lane, Roger Greco
Editor’s note: Ayden Lee, who plays B.D., now uses he/him pronouns. The lesbian character he played is referred to with female pronouns.
There’s a certain dynamic that we’ve seen far too often in films with queer characters. That is one where the queer person is the supportive friend in a cisgender straight person’s story. What Egghead & Twinkie does is take that dynamic and flip it.
This coming-of-age film focuses on two best friends: a lesbian girl (Jie-A-Fa) who has just come out of the closet and her bright-eyed male sidekick (Tomeo) who is still getting over his misplaced crush on her. With strong LGBTQ+ representation and a Scott Pilgrim vs the World aesthetic, Egghead & Twinkie is a quirky road trip comedy for the TikTok generation.
Let’s not forget that TikTok is, fittingly, where the film was crowdfunded amongst its 260,000+ followers. But despite its grassroots support and the talent of its promising young director Sarah Kambe Holland, the movie lacks a certain punch that helps separate it from a sea of similarly offbeat indie films.
Hitting the Road
When we first meet our main characters, things aren’t going well. They’re eating at a diner and are in the middle of an apparent conflict. We learn that Matthew and Vivian, who go by the nicknames of “Egghead” and “Twinkie,” have managed to get on each other’s nerves while traveling together.
The story then rewinds to its origins. Twinkie is a mixed-race Asian girl who was adopted by two conservative white parents. Egghead is the smart but awkward boy who lives across the street from her. They’ve formed a bond since childhood, kindred spirits in a world that seems intent on stifling their individuality.
Twinkie’s parents scoff at her preferred nickname, and are especially taken aback when she comes out to them as a lesbian. This realization came to her after she briefly kissed Egghead while at the movie theater.
Egghead is still reeling from this rejection when Twinkie asks him to drive her on a car trip to Texas, where she tells him they will be visiting an animation studio. What he doesn’t know is that this is all a ploy so she can see a social media influencer (Lee) she’s been messaging.
This influencer, who goes by B.D. or Big (reclaimed lesbian slur), is the girl of Twinkie’s dreams who she hopes can become her first girlfriend after they meet up at the party she's DJing.
Some Bumps Along the Way
And this gets us back to where we started: the diner where Egghead is frustrated that Twinkie has lied about the true nature of this trip, among other things.
The film has some funny antics along the way. Early scenes of Egghead and Twinkie working as costumed street promoters for a tanning salon stand out for their humor, as does the scene where they leave the diner.
Taking a cue from Twinkie’s aspirations to become an animator, the film incorporates anime-inspired on-screen graphics that blend together with the live-action shots. While these sort of visuals have been done before, multiple times over, it is well-executed under Kambe Holland’s direction and never feels over done.
But while the lead actors give completely charming performances with excellent chemistry, its hard to stay invested in their stories for a couple of key reasons. The first is that you can see Twinkie’s character arc coming from several miles away. There’s few surprises in this film, and you can easily guess where everything is going about a third of the way into the movie.
The second is that the conflicts in Egghead and Twinkie’s friendship don’t feel like they’re resolved in a way that’s realistic or satisfying. While Egghead has his moments where he says hurtful comments directed at Twinkie, he remains the bumbling, lovable, and supportive friend to Twinkie even as she tells him half truths and abandons him at a motel in a strange town without a vehicle for a big portion of the movie.
In the end, Egghead carries with him all of the same problems that the “gay best friend” archetype has, just carried over to a straight character. He's there to serve the needs of his best friend's larger story with little insight into his own motivation or development.
Final Thoughts: Egghead & Twinkie Review
With a few tweaks to the plot this could have been a queer coming-of-age classic. While this doesn’t quite stick that landing, its enough of a cheerful, sunny tale to satisfy those looking for a little escapism. The Gen Zers who chipped in a few bucks to its production fund on TikTok will find themselves with a pleasant enough story to justify the cost of entry.
Director Sarah Kambe Holland proves that she can create gay movie magic, even if she's still realizing her powers. The connection she's built with her audience on social media should inspire any budding queer filmmaker that there is an audience for stories that represent people like us.
