Egghead & Twinkie, the directorial debut of Austinite Sarah Kambe Holland, is a movie that understands just how awkward and challenging adolescence can be. The challenge of standing firm in who you are, even when the world insists it knows you better, is especially tough when you know you’re gay.
Part coming-of-age film, part road trip buddy movie, it’s a warm, creative, sincere, and charming watch that taps into universal fears through one teenage girl’s specific story.
Twinkie Harris (Sabrina Jie-A-Fa) is your average teenager: Chinese American by birth and living in Florida, she wants to be an animator one day and loves slushies, anime, soft pretzels, and girls. So does her best friend, Egghead (Louie Tomeo). The pair has been inseparable since the fourth grade, but their friendship is tested when Egghead reveals romantic feelings for Twinkie and tries to kiss her at the movies.
After this awkward exchange, Twinkie ends up coming out to her conservative, white parents, which doesn’t go well. Tired of living with people who don’t accept or understand her and eager to meet the older girl she’s been talking to online, Twinkie decides to run away to Dallas, Texas. With Egghead in the driver’s seat, the pair breaks away and Twinkie begins to embrace her truth. Their journey is full of shenanigans, of course, but also moments of self-discovery and reflection that will test their friendship.
The strongest moments in Egghead & Twinkie come when Jie-A-Fa is allowed to give Twinkie the full humanity a teenage girl embracing her identity deserves. She’s daring but has her moments of uncertainty too. It’s a classic teenage contradiction: hubris and self-doubt all intertwined. There’s also the genuinely warm, careful way the movie handles Twinkie’s ethnicity and relationship to her identity: Her nickname comes from insults tossed at her at a Chinese summer camp she went to when she was little to learn more about her heritage. “There was one girl there who kept calling me a Twinkie because I was yellow on the outside, but white on the inside,” she explains, but decided to reclaim that when she came back home from camp.
Jie-A-Fa is the heart of the film, and her performance, buoyed by her sarcastic humor and moments of emotional intimacy, communicated through a glance or pause, captures what it feels like to feel out of place everywhere.
Visual creativity is another strength of Holland’s film, incorporating Twinkie’s art and animations into the movie to firmly place the viewer in her perspective and lend a fast-paced, Scott Pilgrim-esque quality to the film. Your mileage may vary, but I found it endearing and sweet.
The only part of the film that floundered for me was Egghead. He’s oblivious and sweet and does right by his best friend eventually, but is a bit insufferable in the first act. His obliviousness and sunny disposition only go so far, especially when, in a later scene, his cluelessness about a lesbian slur is played for laughs.
Regardless, Egghead & Twinkie is a sweet and engaging movie. It’s not afraid to wear its heart on its sleeve and offer a pretty wholesome take on the queer coming-of-age genre. In a world that’s increasingly chaotic, cynical, and cold, it’s worth noting when something warm and genuine breaks through.
Egghead & Twinkie
Texas PremiereWed., Nov. 1, 7pm, Rollins Theatre
Don’t miss our interview with writer/director Sarah Kambe Holland, “A Very Gen Z Road Trip in Egghead & Twinkie.”
Austin Film Festival runs Oct. 26-Nov. 3. Badges available now at austinfilmfestival.com.
Find more news, reviews, and interviews at Austinchronicle.com/AFF.
This article appears in October 27 • 2023.