“To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” (2018) Review

“To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before”: a believable and lovable teenage romantic comedy.

 Directed by: Susan Johnson

Rated: TV-14

Runtime: 1:39

Review by: Livi Edmonson

  

Based on the 2014 novel of the same name by author Jenny Han, “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” is your new Netflix Original romance flick to become obsessed with. If you haven’t heard of this film before, it’s time to jump on the bandwagon. Not only is everyone, including hot-shot film critics (hence its 95% score on Rotten Tomatoes), talking about this movie, but also people are completely infatuated with it, watching it over and over again, if not more than once in the same day, as I have previously learned from many of my peers. Ask anyone who has seen this movie and I can promise you that they are as utterly in love with this story and its wonderful characters as the rest of us. 

The film follows shy, yet super cool teenager Lara Jean Covey (Lana Condor), as she starts her 11^thgrade year of high school. Like most teenage girls, she struggles a little bit with having self-confidence and putting herself out there into the world, seeing that she has more fun hanging out with her sisters watching “Golden Girls” marathons and reading cheesy romance novels. 

Because Lara Jean is too anti-social and nervous to tell people how she really feels about them, she writes love letters to all of the boys she has ever “loved” in order to pour out all of her feelings and get over her major crushes. Of course, she never actually intends on sending the letters out to the boys, until the plot suddenly thickens, and her letters mysteriously escape their container. Now, all five boys know about her feelings towards them. Did I mention that one of boys is her older sister’s newly ex-boyfriend? Talk about an extremely sticky family situation.

Lara Jean agrees to fake-date one of the recipients of her five letters, Peter (Noah Centineo): the dreamboat, extremely popular lacrosse player. She goes along with this plan in order to make her sister’s ex, Josh (Israel Broussard) think she isn’t actually in love with him and Peter on the other hand just wants to make his ex-girlfriend jealous and win her back. Together, Lara Jean and Peter make a list of rules of what their fake relationship must consist of, but as the pair spends many months convincing people of their relationship, they both start to realize that their ulterior motives are not as clear as they once were and that they actually have more real feelings for each other than fake ones. 

“To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” obviously follows the traditional Rom-Com film formula. Though it may play by the genre’s rules, it is still a refreshing addition in the sense that Lara Jean is about as normal as a teenage girl gets. She isn’t super popular, nor is she super unpopular. The movie showcases just a simple, normal teenage girl, which audiences never get to see. Lara Jean Covey is just one example of a fictional, female-leading character that we should be seeing more often because she is someone who represents the real authenticity of what it is like to be a normal teenager in this generation, trying to get through high school. I found her character completely irresistible because in the end, she is a character that is simply relatable.

At this day and age, many people love to stay at home and watch movies instead of driving to the theater and paying for an overpriced movie ticket. The fact that Netflix has been reviving the Rom-Com with out of this world films like July’s “Set It Up” and now this flick, only gives people another reason to want to stay home and enjoy the entertainment from the comfort of their own couch. However, I really do think that if given the chance, this film would have killed it in the theaters because many people, like myself, have read the best-selling novel and would’ve ran to the box office to go check it out. 

Also, this movie is in a genre that not just teenagers, but everyonehas been craving lately and this one stands out because it is actually a great one, unlike some Netflix teen romance flops like “The Kissing Booth”. Fellow Netflix binge watchers, hear me out right now: please don’t waste your time watching “The Kissing Booth” and discover this “TATBILB” film is a billiontimes better. Seriously, there is honestly no comparison.

All in all, “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” is an example of a teen romance that will be an instant classic for many years to come because of its ultimately lovable storyline. The acting is great, the writing is brilliant, and the vibe that the film leaves with you is an extremely happy one that makes you feel good inside, which is probably the answer as to why people are constantly watching this film over and over again. If you don’t believe the hype, turn on Netflix right now and watch it for yourself.