Banana Split review: Is this genre-bending comedy worth streaming?

Is Banana Split starring Dylan Sprouse worth a watch on Netflix?

Banana Split was one of the 55 new movies and shows added to Netflix at the end of July/beginning of August. It was among the five good Netflix movies to watch the last weekend of July, too.

When I noticed it as one the trending movies, I decided to give it a watch, which I’m happy about, but I’m still trying to figure out what Banana Split is, though. Is it a rom-com?  A coming-of-age story? An unconventional love story?

It’s a little bit of all of those things, but one thing it isn’t is to be confused with The Banana Splits Movie, which is also a comedy but a horror-comedy.

You won’t find any killer oversized animal animatronics in Banana Split. You will find teens navigating first loves, friendships and that exciting yet also agonizing summer between senior year and college. They’re anxious to start their new lives, but also sad to leave familiarity, friends and family behind.

What is Banana Split about?

The new movie starts out as a pretty typical teen romance. Well, it starts out as a typical romance period, in so far as it’s boy gets girl, boy loses girl. In this case, boy doesn’t exactly get girl back because girl becomes BFF with his new girl.

April (played by Hannah Marks) and her classmate, Nick (played by Dylan Sprouse), figure out during sophomore year while innocently hanging out together that their attraction to each other isn’t so innocent. They spend the next two years devoted to each other.

There’s trouble in paradise at the end of senior year, however, because both have chosen to go to different colleges. Nick will stay in California, but April is headed to Boston. They break up, which April is heartsick about.

Making matters worse, Nick hooks up with a new girlfriend pretty fast, Clara (played by Liana Liberato). Her cousin, Ben (played by Luke Spencer Roberts), is Nick’s best friend but is also friends with April.

Clara is beautiful, vivacious and free-spirited. In many ways, she’s the opposite of April. Naturally, April wants to hate her. But when their paths cross at a party, something else happens entirely: they figure out they like each other. Not in a romantic way. Purely in a platonic, kindred spirit kind of way. They have similar senses of humor, enjoy the same music and in general just click.

That’s rare to find. Someone who gets you, accepts you and you feel comfortable with. However,  there is the matter of Nick. April isn’t honest with Clara that she’s not over him, and Clara isn’t honest with April that she’s more into him than she’s letting on.

Can the two remain friends, keep Nick in the dark about it and enjoy a happily ever after friendship?

For a while, yes!

What happens in Banana Split

**Warning! Spoilers ahead!**

Elle put it best when they said “Banana Split is Twitter’s favorite new Netflix teen rom-com,” and it’s all because of the unconventional twist.

You think it’s going to be either where Nick and April get back together or that April realizes he has a better thing with Clara and graciously lets him go.

You’d think wrong.

Banana Split is all about a “boy gets girl, loses girl, gets girl back” premise, except with a friendship. April gets Clara (and vice versa), April loses Clara (and vice versa), April makes amends with Clara (and vice versa).

Girls can be so mean to each other, and so jealous too. Banana Split sets a refreshing stage for not just hating a person for the sake of hating them and being a mean girl because someone has something you don’t. Instead, it shows the power and importance of female friendships, too.

That’s what makes this one fun to watch. I was hoping for a gal-pal comedy along the lines of Booksmart, but got something else entirely, which was absolutely a-okay.

My only complaints were it was a little slow at times, and I must’ve missed the significance of the title, but overall none of that dulled my enjoyment of Banana Split. (It did make me crave some ice cream, though.)