My fake boyfriend – Movie Review

“My fake boyfriend” is a fun movie for both heteros & gays, with a good message that wasn’t forced in, but also shows the dangers of social media and technology. Made by Buzzfeed Studios, featuring Keiynan Lonsdale, Dylan Sprouse and Sarah Hyland. It released in 2022.

The movie follows Andrew, who’s working as a stuntman and is currently in a toxic relationship. Nico, an actor, working on the same movie as Andrew and is a huge celebrity with lots of followers, and therefore also many admirers. He’s a player and only has the boyfriend status with Andrew because it fuels his ego, but that doesn’t keep him from sleeping around.

Jake & Kelly, Andrew’s best friends since middle school, try to help Andrew get away from Nico, but as nothing is working, they come up with the ultimate plan: create a fake boyfriend. With 3d modeling, ai, motion capture, green screen and a bunch of other technology, Cristiano, the new influencer, hits the media like a hurricane and becomes a celebrity pretty much over night. He’s the dream boyfriend everyone would want to have. 
The plan works, Nico gets jealous and Andrew is finally able to move on. And he meets a guy, Rafi, who’s sweet and single and perfect for Andrew. 
However, Jake has gotten quite deep into his made-up-character and doesn’t want to break up, let alone delete him.
How long can Andrew keep up the lie and what will happen to Jake’s fake identity?

The movie focuses mostly on dating and the fun side of technology.

How you can make your partner jealous with an edited picture of you and a fake flirt.

At first, I found the way his best friends were helping a little much.

Borderline stalking like helicopter parents. And while, yes, that part was a bit much, they also helped him a lot. (I mean, get yourself someone, who’d create an entire “V-tube” character, pay for the technology, market that “character” properly, so they become famous over night… only to help you out of a toxic relationship.)
And when it got to the part about Jake not wanting to give up Cristiano… I could relate to Jake a lot. He’s got his heart in the right place.

As for the technology aspect. 

It wasn’t directly stated what dangers it can bring, but I believe everyone can realize it themselves. This movie came out in 2022, so I’m sure they used an actual actor for Cristiano, but ai programs by now have involved a lot, and I wouldn’t be surprised if some Cristianos are already surfing the internet.

The movie only focuses on the dating area. Lying to your partner or pretending to have a fake boyfriend/girlfriend/partner isn’t anything new, but this shows how dangerously real you can make your made-up characters. How simple you can take up a fake identity and how easy you can become an influencer in a short amount of time.
Cristiano was one of the good influences, who used their popularity to be a good role model. Which was cool. 
But imagine what would happen, if a bad person used this technology. And the thing is, as of now, this type of technology is accessible to literally everyone, for free. GenAI might still be in a state where you can see the errors (especially in “paintings”), but give it a year or two… good luck. 

Back to the movie…

As said, it focuses on the fun part of technology and never really talks about the negative side of it. The message is mostly about the lying part, so if you weren’t up to date with GenAI, you probably wouldn’t even see the dangerous part of it.

And I did enjoy it. The writing is well done. A rom-com with the comedy not being too heavy, which is perfect for me. The actors delivered well and have chemistry.

While I may not be a fan of relationships based on lying or any romance tropes that involve lying, it wasn’t bad here because it wasn’t Andrew’s doing. He pretty much had (almost) no choice but to play along. And it did resolve quicker than you’d think.

There’s no homophobia or coming-outs, it’s very chill when it comes to the social part of being queer. It was very normalized here, which is what I prefer watching.

The hetero side-romance was also good; it didn’t feel forced in at all, and I actually rooted for them. They were cute and on the same wavelength – no gender roles present. 

Watched: 5th April 2024
~Arden Skye

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