Maggie is an Englishwoman living in LA with her boyfriend Jacob. She befriends Jamie, the lesbian living right above them, after her noisy breakup with her girlfriend. The two become close, but increasingly their affection for each other becomes more than platonic, and they must face the repercussions of this being revealed...
Girls Like Magic provides examples of:
- Ambiguously Brown: Nick clearly isn't white, but what her (or his) race is never gets said. She's black-haired and olive-skinned, while a comment to Jamie might imply a shared South Asian ancestry, but it isn't clear.
- Ambiguous Gender Identity: Nick, the owner of an LGBT+ bar which Maggie and Brit go to, wearing a suit with a mohawk. It's not explicit whether Nick is a Butch Lesbian, trans man or what (Nick's name might indicate the latter, though not necessarily). Though not called by any pronouns, Nick's appearance and voice tone indicates that they were probably assigned female at birth.
- Affectionate Nickname: Jamie calls Maggie "Magic" due to coming into her life magically when she had just had an unhappy breakup.
- The Beard: Jamie pretends Don, though he's Camp Gay, is her boyfriend when her homophobic parents come over. The pair are naïve enough to buy his weak "butch" act.
- Bedroom Adultery Scene: Jamie and Maggie get caught by the latter's fiancé after they impulsively start to have sex in their room. They break up after this.
- Bisexual Love Triangle: Maggie is engaged to Jacob at the beginning. Then after meeting lesbian Jamie she's attracted to her before too long. She ultimately chooses Jamie. This isn't surprising as from what Maggie says she's really not attracted to men anyway..
- Buxom Beauty Standard: Maggie admiringly says Jamie has "such big boobs" when they first move toward having sex and asks for her to go topless.
- Camp Gay: Don, Jamie's sassy, effeminate gay friend.
- Chick Magnet: When Maggie goes to the LGBT+ bar with Jamie, many women hit on her.
- Closet Gay: Jamie is out as a lesbian with everyone else, but not her parents as her dad's quite anti-gay.
- Closet Key: Maggie thought of herself as straight before meeting Jamie, whom she slowly falls for.
- Double-Meaning Title: "Magic" is the nickname Jamie gives Maggie and she does like her very much. A number of other lesbians also like her. Jamie called her this because she brought her new happiness.
- Drowning My Sorrows: After hearing Jamie getting into a fight with her ex, Maggie comes over bearing alcohol and ice cream for this purpose. Jamie quickly takes up her offer.
- Establishing Character Moment:
- Jamie is disappointed by her ex having slept with her but then rebuffed getting back together, clearly wanting to have a relationship.
- Maggie adopts a dog whom she finds while out walking despite her boyfriend objecting, showing she's compassionate and caring.
- Forced Out of the Closet: Maggie (who is engaged to Jacob while having thought of herself as straight before) and Jamie (who's closeted with her parents) impulsively act on their mutual desire. They're caught red-handed while in Maggie's room half-naked by Maggie's fiancé and Jamie's dad.
- Gaydar: Jamie and Nick both peg Maggie as being into women before she realizes this herself.
- Gilligan Cut: Maggie states she won't let Jamie look at her vagina to see if it's ugly. The scene then cuts onto Jamie doing just that.
- Heteronormative Crusader: Jamie's dad said gays should be hanged or whipped publicly (he's from Iran, where this is really done). It's why she's still in the closet toward him and her mom at the start.
- Interrupted Intimacy: Jamie and Maggie get caught by Maggie's fiancé and Jamie's dad after they finally start to have sex.
- Lipstick Lesbian: Maggie is a very feminine Girly Girl with long hair who falls for Jamie, a lesbian tomboy who she became friends with.
- Love Confession: At the end, Maggie and Jamie tearfully confess that they love each other before both kiss passionately, having thought they'd never see each other again, before pledging to stay together.
- Masculine–Feminine Gay Couple: Jamie and Maggie become lovers during the film.
- Modesty Bedsheet: Jamie has the sheet around her chest after she had slept with her ex-girlfriend Casey. It stays put throughout their subsequent fight, despite Casey clearly having already seen her naked.
- Ms. Fanservice: Jamie and Maggie are both good-looking women. They're shown passionately kissing and topless too near the end of the film when they start having sex.
- Nice Girl: Maggie is very kind, adopting a dog then coming over to befriend Jamie when she's just broken up with Casey out of compassion. She tells her boyfriend she's happiest while caring for something else.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Jamie's given name is Jamina, but only her parents call her that.
- Queer Establishing Moment: Maggie, aka Magic, at her own engagement party with her boyfriend of 15 years Jacob, realizes that the whole thing is just to celebrate him, so she decides to hide out in the attic and get drunk with Jamie. The two start joking around, and just as Jacob announces his engagement to Maggie, she casually admits to Jamie that what is between men's legs is not her thing.Jamie: Aren't you the one supposed to like dick?
Maggie/Magic: Well, I don't! - Queer Romance: The film centers around Maggie, a seemingly straight woman, befriending her lesbian neighbor Jamie and then the pair falling in love.
- Pseudo-Romantic Friendship: Jamie (an open lesbian) and Maggie (who initially thinks she's straight) become close friends. Maggie's still dating Jacob, while Jamie's unhappily broken up with Casey at the start. They kiss early on while Jamie is pretending she's her girlfriend to fend off other lesbians, buy some sex toys together, and it gets very suggestive when she looks at Maggie's vagina (who asked to see if it's "ugly"). Both women confide in each other and do many things together. Unsurprisingly, they become a couple toward the end.
- Sex with the Ex: Jamie is introduced after having had sex with her ex Casey, thinking this means they're getting back together. However, it means nothing to Casey, which infuriates her.
- Shout-Out: Jacob, while overhearing Jamie's angry argument with Casey, says it's like his own personal "L Word".
- Sympathetic Adulterer: Maggie cheats with Jamie eventually after lots of sexual tension. She remains sympathetic as she's apologetic about it to Jacob for this and gently tells him they had been drifting apart for some time, while their engagement was a huge mistake, along with being very sweet overall.
- Their First Time: Jamie and Maggie impulsively start to have sex toward the end of the film after much obvious sexual tension.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Jamie is the Tomboy, a hard-edged woman who's a lesbian with a slightly androgynous look, usually wearing cut off shirts or tank tops. Maggie is the Girly Girl, a dainty, demure woman with a very girlish tone of voice and charming naivete. They befriend each other, and then become lovers.
- Tomboyish Name: Jamie, a tomboy lesbian, uses this nickname for her full name of Jamina.
- Twofer Token Minority: Jamie is Indian/Iranian-American and a lesbian. She has two friends who are POC too: Don, a gay man of East Asian ancestry, and Nick who's Ambiguously Brown while having an Ambiguous Gender Identity. Except for Jamie's parents, who appear briefly, the rest of the cast with lines are all white.
- Where Everybody Knows Your Flame: Jamie takes Maggie to the LGBT+ bar where she works. It's owned by her friend Nick, frequented mostly by queer people. Maggie gets hit on there by a string of women before Jamie says they're involved to shoo the admirers away.
