‘Egghead and Twinkie’: A queer coming-of-age road trip for a new era

What is it like to be a teenager in 2025? If I had to wager a guess, I’d say it would be very different from what it was back in the 2010s. Social media is not a suggestion, but a given. DMing strangers and forming connections on the Internet, although not unheard of back in my day (chatrooms, anyone?), is now a lot easier. Queer culture and representation has progressed in leaps and bounds. But not everything is different. When Twinkie (Sabrina Jie-A-Fa) declares to her best friend Egghead (Louis Tomeo) that she wants to drop everything and drive from Florida to Texas to meet a stranger who she met online, I felt a pang of recognition. Turns out, some things do stay the same!

Written and directed by Sarah Kambe Holland, Egghead and Twinkie is a queer coming-of-age road trip film for the modern, social media era. Twinkie, an Asian American adoptee, comes to the realization that she is gay. Almost simultaneously, her best friend Egghead, realizes that he’s in love with her. When Egghead finally tries to kiss her, Twinkie comes out to him – much to his dismay – and she also reluctantly comes out to her conservative white parents. They don’t take it too well. Feeling trapped in her small Florida town, Twinkie decides to steal her family car with Egghead to get to Texas under the guise of a fun road trip. Unbeknownst to Egghead, Twinkie’s true motive for the trip is to meet her long distance girlfriend, a social media personality who she’s been secretly DMing. What follows is an exciting journey for both characters as they run into trials and tribulations on the road, testing the full extent of their friendship.

Hilarious, fast-paced, and colorful, Egghead and Twinkie is a sugar-addled Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World that doesn’t hit the brakes during its entire runtime. There’s almost a manic energy here that feels very similar to the anime that both characters profess their love for. At times, the film feels like a proper live-action adaptation of a comic book with its sprinkling of animated, handrawn cutscenes, heightening the larger-than-life emotions of both characters and the semi-fictional South of the Egghead and Twinkie universe. Holland, who initially crowdfunded the film through TikTok, couldn’t have picked a better platform to do it through. Kids who grew up consuming short-form content won’t find the speed of the film or abrupt animated asides as head-spinning as others might, but it’s definitely an acquired taste. 

While Edgar Wright’s cult-classic is the film’s most obvious predecessor, Egghead and Twinkie reminds me of other coming-of-age films like the underrated Marvelous and the Black Hole in its protagonist and subject matter. It’s true that Egghead and Twinkie has plenty of belly laugh moments (Holland gets proper mileage out of the demented mascot costume that appears within the film, and the physical comedy that the film showcases is praise-worthy), but Holland treats the serious subject matters in the film with the gravity it deserves. If you’re Asian, you may know where the nickname Twinkie comes from: yellow on the outside and white on the inside. Just as much as Twinkie is trying to learn about how to be gay, she’s also trying to figure out for herself what it means to be Asian. Even in the sun-streaked, rainbow world of Egghead and Twinkie, there are still real-world issues that can’t be solved through a snappy montage. Holland doesn’t sugarcoat the problems Twinkie has to face with her new and reclaimed identities, and she purposefully leaves some of those problems open-ended with no real solution by the time the credits roll. Sometimes that’s just how life works out.

But the two titular characters are truly the real stars of the show. Jie-A-Fa and Tomeo have a natural best friend energy that reminds me a lot of my own friendships – chaotic at times, and catalysts for engaging in crazy hijinks together. Twinkie’s emotional heft is often broken by the vivacious and silly Egghead, who’s really only there to bounce Twinkie’s ideas off of. What really sells the friendship to me is just how much the two really act like children being thrust upon the world that they’re trying to tame. They’re messy with each other, squabble, and butt heads. But at the end of the day, they’re still friends despite the chaos. As much as Twinkie grows throughout the film to figure out her identity, Egghead does so as well about the nature of their friendship. Yes, there are some points that are kind of hard to watch (particularly some of the cringey actions Egghead pulls early on), but who hasn’t made those mistakes as a teen?

In an ideal world, Egghead and Twinkie would be one of those films that everyone would have watched on Nickelodeon (if that channel still exists anymore) growing up – there’s a special heart to it that feels rewatchable with its impressive setup of comedic antics and the speed of which the film flies by. You feel close to each of the characters, which makes it feel that much more real when they inevitably crash out and make bad decisions — the same could be said about the film’s highest highs. It’s also a story told from a viewpoint of a queer Asian American adoptee in the still-conservative South, which provides a counter-narrative to some of the queer media that gets made on both coasts. Most importantly, it’s a wonderful glimpse of how friendship, a dream, and a stolen car can lead to memories of a lifetime. Trust me, I know… I’m speaking from experience.

Rating: 3.5/5

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Egghead and Twinkie is now streaming online.

Press photos courtesy of CanBeDone Films.

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