Egghead & Twinkie Review: Queer Road Trip Movie
Streaming Movie Review - LGBTQ/Teen - VOD
The road trip movie is a time-honored tradition. In her new film, Egghead & Twinkie, director Sarah Kambe Holland uses this genre to explore racial identity as well as coming out. This film, which releases on VOD on April 29, is a lighthearted story about discovering one's true self.
Twinkie (Sabrina Jie-A-Fa) and Egghead (Louis Tomeo) have been best friends forever. They have decided to take ownership of their identities with their insult nicknames - him choosing Egghead to highlight his brains, and her choosing Twinkie because she is an Asian woman raised by white parents. After a disastrous movie date where Egghead tried to kiss Twinkie, she revealed that she was a lesbian and wasn’t interested in him. Even so, their friendship endured, and when Twinkie decided that it was important for her to travel from Florida to Texas to meet her Instagram crush, BD (Ayden Lee), at a big dance she was DJ’ing, Egghead agreed to drive her.
Along the way, they meet the quirky Jess (Asahi Hirano) who encourages Twinkie to find out more about herself, both as a queer person and as an Asian person. But as Egghead begins to feel used by Twinkie while she is not being candid with him, the pair realize that their past isn’t enough to keep the relationship going. Instead, they will need to find new ways to maintain their friendship.
Egghead & Twinkie is a genuinely delightful movie. The friendship angle is explored in a truly heartwarming way and the queer story hits on some of the difficulties associated with coming out while not turning into a traumatic experience. Instead, this focuses on the more general frustrations of unrequited love during your teenage years and the joy of a close friend who will be with you no matter what.
The two leads do an amazing job in this film. Tomeo has a sweet and quirky demeanor that plays brilliantly off of Jie-A-Fa’s more serious character. Both are able to hit the comedic beats as well as the more heartfelt moments. Creating characters that feel like they have been friends for a long time can be difficult, but these two young actors pull it off beautifully.
One of the most interesting things about Egghead & Twinkie is the way that animation is used throughout the film. We learn fairly early on that Twinkie wants to be an animator, and as the movie unfolds, lots of scenes are punctuated by brief animated clips. They help to highlight the action. Sometimes, films incorporate animation into their live-action sequences without fully committing to it, but this movie uses it effectively.
For lots of queer kids, the ability to see themselves in a feature film can be limited. Although roles for Asian actors have increased, they still comprise a small percentage of leading roles. Egghead & Twinkie is a lovely film that highlights these demographics in a way that feels organic and thoughtful. It may make you want to don a rainbow tutu, but that’s just some extra fun.
Rating: 4/5
This review originally appeared in The Dominion Post on April 26, 2025.
Check out my interview with Sarah Kambe Holland about Egghead & Twinkie.