This Romance Movie Was Made To Be Watched On Your Phone—And It Might Have The Best Male Actor To Star In A Rom Com In Years
If you’re a social media scoller, you’ve probably fallen victim to plenty of ads pushing low-budget, made-for-your-phone short films and mini-series, usually of the romantic persuasion. I know because I’ve done the same, but I’ve never seen quite the response I’ve seen as Candy Jar’s Loving My Brother’s Best Friend.
Okay, let’s address the elephant in the room: It’s a terrible (and on-the-nose) title for a movie. But quality is not necessarily the name of the game here. These short films are the Gen Z response to Hallmark movies—and just like Hallmark movies, even though they sometimes miss the mark, they also make for some surprisingly fun watches.
What makes Loving My Brother’s Best Friend any different from the others? Well, to start, this one has actually got some traction on social media from viewers who are shocked that it’s not only an addictive watch, but it also boasts some surprisingly good acting, especially from male lead Luca (played by Nick Skonberg).
In a lot of ways, Loving My Brother’s Best Friend is a pretty self-explanatory story—it revolves around Henley (Victoria Andrunik), who just arrived back in town from a summer abroad in Italy looking prettier than ever (or so the characters tell us) and is ready to finally get her first kiss—preferably from her brother’s best friend, Luca, the secretly sweet bad boy who seems to suddenly be paying more attention to her than usual. Henley’s had a crush on Luca forever, but can Luca finally see her for the woman she’s become? And can she make her move without her brother finding out?
Maybe it’s that we all feel like we’re absolutely parched after watching The Summer I Turned Pretty and having nothing to fill the romantic void, but there’s something about this film that has the secret sauce that makes us want more:
Skonberg especially has been praised for his work, proving viewers’ wishes to see fresh faces onscreen—especially when it comes to men as romantic love interests. (After all, even Chris Briney from The Summer I Turned Pretty was a fresh face when the show started, and look at him now.)
Please, if there are any Hollywood execs reading this, cast this man in a movie. Is he a little green? Sure! But we haven’t seen a male lead in a rom com eat like this in a long time. He’s got everything we want already perfected—the vulnerable gaze, the mischievous smile, the low voice, the yearning. In fact, the Internet has already started fancasting him in roles—just check Twitter for proof.
You can watch Loving My Brother’s Best Friend on YouTube and CandyJar TV.
