In How To Date Billy Walsh, Archie’s plan to confess his feelings for his best friend, Amelia, goes awry when she starts pursuing a transfer student, Billy Walsh. The film is now streaming on Prime Video.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
Archie and Amelia have been best friends since the day they were born. They got exchanged in the hospital, and this mistake led to their parents becoming friends.
They spent their childhood together, sharing experiences and growing up side by side. They like and dislike the same things.
Additionally, they never keep secrets from each other, except for one: Archie has been in love with Amelia for years.
Archie has been with Amelia through thick and thin, even when Amelia’s mother passed away and her father developed an attachment to a mannequin.
Archie never got around to confessing his feelings, but on the first day of their senior year, Archie gathers the courage to confess his feelings.
He takes her out for a film, but before he can tell her that he loves her, Amelia tells him that she is in love with Billy Walsh.
Billy is a new transfer student from the US. He charms everyone with his good looks, talent, and kindness on his very first day, and Amelia believes herself to be in love with him.
Amelia has never had a boyfriend before, and she wants to experience love with Billy, even though she has never even spoken to him. All she can think about is Billy, which bothers Archie.
Amelia eavesdrops on her father’s conversation with Archie’s parents and finds out that they consulted a love doctor to mend their relationship.
Amelia now wishes to consult the love doctor to make Billy fall for her. She asks Archie to get his number from his parents’ phone, only for Archie to give her a reality check.
Archie believes that he and Amelia are at the bottom of the food chain, and people like Billy would not give them the time of day.
This upsets Amelia, who stops speaking to Archie. To get her to forgive him, Archie retrieves the love doctor’s number from his mother’s phone and gives it to her.
Amelia is happy to get the number, but she questions Archie about his feelings for her. Archie chooses not to disclose his feelings.
However, he cannot bear to watch as Amelia makes Billy fall in love with her, so he decides to pretend to be the love doctor to prevent her from winning Billy’s heart.
Archie buys a new phone and switches the number he had given her with his new number. He then uses technology to age his face in order to impersonate the love doctor during a video call.
Archie talks to Amelia as the love doctor and gives her bad advice, which leads to Amelia embarrassing herself at school over and over again.
One day, Amelia changes her outfit, catching everyone’s attention at school, including Billy’s.
Threatened by Amelia’s newfound attention, the school’s most popular girl, Amber, who has been trying to date Billy, bullies Amelia, which leads to Archie defending her.
After Archie stands up for Amelia, the two of them share a moment, which is interrupted by Billy’s arrival. Finally, Billy asks Amelia out on a date.
Amelia feels nervous before the date, so she seeks the love doctor’s advice. Once again, in his role as the love doctor, Archie advises Amelia to be mean to Billy.
Believing that she managed to capture Billy’s attention because of him, Amelia decides to follow his advice.
However, Amelia’s mean attitude and assumptions about Billy’s life lead to him walking out, but not before he reveals that his life is far from perfect.
Like Amelia, Billy has also lost his mother, and his father’s grief consumed him to the extent that he neglected Billy’s grief. This revelation makes Amelia regret being mean to Billy.
The following day, Amelia attempts to win Billy back by making a public announcement at school.
She decides to reveal her most embarrassing and painful moments, showing her scars to Billy just as he had shown her his.
Amelia does not stop sharing her secrets, even when the whole school laughs at her. Even Archie is unable to dissuade her.
Seeing Amelia vulnerable, Archie realizes that he has gone too far as the love doctor. He decides not to stand in the way of Amelia and Billy anymore.
He chases the students away and brings Billy to her, despite the heartache it causes him. Billy and Amelia finally get together.
Ending explained:
The one Amelia loves
When Amelia starts dating Billy, Archie and Amelia drift apart, as she now spends more time with Billy and his friends.
However, Amelia finds that she does not get along with Billy as well as she used to with Archie. She tries to contact the love doctor, but Archie does not answer.
Feeling confused about her feelings, Amelia then talks to her father, who has now started moving on with a woman named Maggie, about her mother.
She asks her father how he knew that her mother was the one for him, and he tells her that her mother was his best friend. He spent all his time with her, and it made perfect sense.
This leads her to the realization that Archie makes her the happiest. On the day of the school ball, Amelia remembers her mother’s advice to follow her heart.
She now knows that she has been looking for love in all the wrong places when her true love has always been Archie, who has been there for her throughout her life.
The secret is out
On the day of the school ball, Amelia avoids Billy and goes to Archie’s house. There, she asks him to come to the ball with her.
Archie, angry that Amelia is demanding him to come when they have not spoken in weeks, does not agree until Amelia admits she made a mistake dating Billy.
She also confesses her feelings for him. As she waits for Archie to get dressed, she messages the love doctor and hears Archie’s secret phone chime.
Amelia finds the phone and discovers that Archie was the love doctor she had been talking to. Angry and upset, Amelia confronts Archie.
She storms out of his house, not waiting for his explanation. She meets Billy at the ball and breaks up with him, intent on staying alone for a while.
Being courageous for love
Archie always takes the hints given by the universe to decide his next course of action, but this time, he decides to do what he knows is the right thing to do.
Amelia is his universe, and he cannot let her go, so he goes after her to apologize. However, when he reaches the ball, the school bullies drag him to a secluded corner, shave a section of his hair, and tie him up.
The bullies then tell Billy that they took care of his problem, leading Billy to go rescue Archie. Billy also encourages Archie to win Amelia back.
Archie then decides to confess his feelings in front of everyone. He takes the stage and starts speaking into the microphone, despite being ridiculed by everyone.
Archie takes responsibility for his actions, promising never to be selfish and stand in the way of what Amelia wants.
Archie’s speech touches everyone’s hearts as he admits to being a coward until now and apologizes to Amelia, who forgives him.
Archie’s love confession earns him a kiss from Amelia. The two of them then dance together, much to everyone’s delight, including Billy’s, who finds a new dance partner.
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