How the Diane Twist Nearly Sabotaged Maintenance Required’s Ending

Two gearheads fall in love online, hate each other in real life, and do not realize they are the same people. Yes, that premise sounds familiar. Prime Video's 2025 rom-com 'Maintenance Required' leans hard into the 'You have new messages... from your nemesis' setup, with a couple of classic-car heartbreakers in the mix to keep things messy.

The setup: love, lies, and a couple of very opinionated cars

Madelaine Petsch plays Charlie, a talented mechanic who runs her own shop and posts as 'GreaseMnky' on a Reddit car forum. Jacob Scipio is Beau, posting as 'Bullnose,' a fellow obsessive with a long-suffering Ford Bronco named Diane he's been trying to revive forever. They meet online, trade tips, and gradually fall for each other sight unseen.

Then life intrudes. Charlie and Beau already know each other offline, and not in a cute way. They're real-world rivals, which gives their anonymous bond a sharp edge they do not see coming. When Beau figures out that Charlie is his forum crush, he panics. Instead of coming clean, he sits on the truth, worried she'll shut him out.

Diane and Marge are not just sheet metal

The movie treats two cars like supporting players, and it works better than it sounds. Beau's Bronco, Diane, is basically his white whale. Charlie has Marge, a car she and her dad were supposed to restore together. Those projects are the emotional pressure points that pull Charlie and Beau together online and sometimes shove them apart in person.

They swap progress updates on the forum, troubleshoot each other's headaches, and promise to finally meet up when Charlie gets Marge running. That celebration goes sideways the moment Beau connects the dots about her identity. He keeps quiet, doubles down on earning her trust, and inevitably pays for it.

The reveal that blows it up

Just when Charlie starts to let Beau in, she spots Diane. One look at the Bronco and she knows: Beau is Bullnose. To her, the half-truths feel like a full-on con. With her trust already running on fumes, she walks, convinced their connection was just a game to him.

It is not a long goodbye, though. By the end, Diane and Marge do what the internet and their owners could not: they steer Charlie and Beau back to each other. The cars are the throughline — not just props, but the reason these two weirdos ever collide.

So... it is basically 'You have got mail,' but with torque specs

If you are getting heavy 'You have Got Mail' deja vu, you are not wrong. Nora Ephron's 1998 classic pairs Meg Ryan's indie bookstore owner with Tom Hanks' big-chain shark, two people falling in love anonymously while clashing professionally. 'Maintenance Required' follows the same track: online confidants, offline competitors, mistaken identities, and a reveal that complicates everything.

The twist here is the car-culture backdrop, which is fun. The problem is the movie sticks so close to the older blueprint that it never hits the same charm, texture, or emotional burn. A little overt nod to the inspiration could have gone a long way; instead it just feels like a familiar trope swapped into the modern mechanic world without the same spark.

• Maintenance Required (2025, Prime Video) — Romantic comedy from director Lacey Uhlemeyer. Stars Madelaine Petsch (Charlie/GreaseMnky), Jacob Scipio (Beau/Bullnose), and Madison Bailey. Setup: a female mechanic shop owner unknowingly falls for her online confidant, who happens to be her real-life business rival. Setting: modern-day mechanic scene. Core themes: professional rivalry, anonymous online romance, mistaken identity.
• You have Got Mail (1998) — Romantic comedy directed by Nora Ephron. Stars Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, and Parker Posey. Setup: rival bookstore owners fall in love via anonymous emails in late-90s New York. Core themes: business competition, online romance, hidden identities.

Where to watch

'Maintenance Required' is streaming on Prime Video. 'You have Got Mail' is available to rent there too.