In his latest rom-com, “How to Date Billy Walsh,” Alex Sanjiv Pillai tries too hard to put forth a lot of social insights. Unfortunately, the essence is somehow lost in transition. Still, I would like to take a moment, being a fan of Neil deGrasse Tyson’s “Cosmos” series, to appreciate the way Archie shares the monologue with Amelia to express his love for her by combining star stories altogether. It made me happy for some reason. Nevertheless, I strongly believe many of you have found a better way to propose to your first girlfriend. Instead of putting on too much drama and complexity, the film could have been much simpler, which perhaps would have made it a better watch. Anyway, if you’re into rom-coms, it is better than a lot of them out there.
Spoilers Ahead
How to Date Billy Walsh (2024) Plot Summary and Movie Synopsis:
The film starts with our protagonist, Archibald Arnold, grabbing the microphone from a performer on stage to express something important. He is covered with mud, and his hair is cut. Basically, he is tortured to his bone, but he comes there to tell his story. He breaks the fourth wall and tells the audience how he and Amelia Brown became best friends almost more than 17 years ago. After they are born, their parents become best friends, too, because, in the hospital, they were exchanged for a short period of time.
Anyway, as time progresses, Archie’s feeling for Amelia increases and whenever he wishes to propose to her, something comes in between. Amelia’s mother dies of cancer (perhaps), and her father, Rupert, played by one of our all-time favorite actors from “The Big Bang Theory,” Kunal Nayyar, starts dancing with a mannequin to fill the void left by his late wife. Anyway, amidst all of this, Archie and Amelia are the victims of bullies in school as well. When proposing to Amelia is already hard enough, enters Billy Walsh, Archie’s worst possible nightmare ever.
What happens after Billy Walsh enters the School Premise?
In school, there are certain boys who are rich, and sometimes you don’t like them much. But, once in a while, there comes a boy with the most perfect bone structure that makes the boys go wild, let alone the girls. Well, Billy Walsh, here in this story, is kind of that boy who is a champion in sports and an A-star student as well. With his first appearance in the school, he has mesmerized Amelia though he doesn’t even notice her in the crowd of students.
Archie realizes that it is going to be very hard for him to compete with Billy. But he believes that he is not Milly’s, aka Amelia’s type. Moments later, Amelia says that Billy is definitely her type. So, later that night, Archie books a whole cinema hall to propose to Amelia when their favorite film is over. However, before he can say anything, Amelia says that she is in love with Billy, spoiling everything Archie has planned for the evening. From that time onward, Archie sees a huge change in Amelia as she becomes obsessed with Billy Walsh.
Why does Billy agree to date Amelia?
After numerous failed attempts to secure a date with Billy Walsh, Amelia seeks help from Archie to get the number of the Love Doctor. She had overheard from Archie’s parents about this doctor who helped them with their relationship, and now they are very cozy lovers. Amelia wants to be like that with Billy. But Archie refuses to help her. Even so, he says to her face that Billy is way out of her league, which she needs to understand firsthand. This breaks Amelia’s heart, and she stops talking to Archie for a while.
Later, Archie sneaks into his parents’ room and collects the doctor’s number to give it to Amelia. However, later, his sinister mind shows a different way out of the situation, and he changes the number to his own phone number. He uses software that helps him show an 80-year-old version of himself. So, when Amelia calls that number to seek help from the Love Doctor, she thinks she is seeing an old man. But in reality, it is just an augmented version of Archie.
Archie tries to give her advice, which will eventually create distance between her and Billy Walsh. But, one day, when Amelia dresses like Amber, the most beautiful girl in the college, everyone is in awe looking at her. But Amber, knowing that Amelia can finally become a problem since she is trying to make Billy her boyfriend as well, threatens her. Archie interferes, and there is a huge ruckus between them, which results in complete humiliation for Amber. Amelia thanks Archie for standing up for her, and in the middle of this, Billy comes and asks Amelia for a date. He says that he loves the one who is getting bullied (Amelia) more than the bully (Amber).
What makes Archie let Amelia and Billy Stay Together?
Before going on a date, Amelia calls the Love Doctor again for help, but Archie, in a heartbroken state, plays a sinister game. He is just so desperate to be with Amelia that he does not care if she gets humiliated or not in front of everyone. It happened before, and it is going to happen again, but Archie does not stop. He asks Amelia to ignore Billy, and this will make him fall in love with her. But, obviously, the date does not go well as Amelia, without knowing much about Billy’s life, blabbers a lot, which eventually makes him very sad.
The following day, Amelia goes into the principal’s office and uses the microphone to share all of her embarrassing little secrets throughout her life as a gesture to apologize to Billy. Seeing everyone making fun of Amelia, Archie gets protective and finally realizes that he has gone too far with his sinister game. He removes everyone from the scene and pushes Billy close to Amelia so that they can be together. Finally, Archie realizes to truly love someone, one must set them free, and no matter how hard this sounds, Archie agrees to do just that.
How to Date Billy Walsh (2024) Movie Ending Explained:
Is Archie Finally Able to Be Amelia’s Boyfriend?
After the first few dates, Amelia understands that Archie was right all along. i.e., she and Billy are totally different people. So, one day, she asks her father about his love story, and when he tells her that he and her mother started off being best friends, she realizes that she is destined to be with Archie, not Billy. So, one day, she runs away from Billy and goes to Archie to confess how much she loves him. Archie is so happy hearing this, but Amelia soon learns that Archie is the one who imposes himself as the Love Doctor to destroy her relationship with Billy.
Amelia angrily goes to the college party, leaving Archie behind, and breaks up with Billy, saying that she will not be with Archie, too, as she wants some time of her own to sort things out. Later, Billy learns that his friends have dealt with a ‘situation’ so that he and Amelia can be together. Billy does not know anything about this, so he goes outside and finds Archie in a devastating condition. He sets him free so that he can express his feelings to Amelia.
Archie is given the opportunity to speak his mind, and he finally is able to propose to Amelia. They kiss while everyone else celebrates their togetherness. Amelia is finally able to forgive Archie as he admits all the mistakes he has made so far. But it all came from one place: his insecurity that he may lose the chance to be with Amelia. When people are desperate, they tend to take some drastic steps, which eventually end up in regrets, and this exact thing happens to Archie. Anyway, they are now together, and Billy is happy for them as he starts dancing with a nerd-looking young lady whom no one would have asked to dance.
