Lana Condor

To All the Boys I’ve Loved: Always and Forever (2021)

To All the Boys: Always and Forever (2021)

Netflix Movie

Director:

Michael Fimognari

Writers:

Katie Lovejoy

Starring:

Lana Condor

Noah Centineo

Blurb:

Continuing the romantic life of the teenage girl and facing her good and hard times with her friends and family.

Thoughts:

I’m going to do thoughts instead of a review for Always and Forever. For me, there is a difference. I try to be more objective with a review. Not so much with just my thoughts.

Everyone in this movie is beautiful and perfect, inside and out, which was sweet. It’s the end of the trilogy, but it was more like a giant epilogue for the other movies, which was boring.

There is almost no conflict. Nothing new is really introduced, nothing that makes a huge impact at least. I guess you could argue that Peter’s relationship with his dad is new, but that literally takes place in the last twenty or so minutes of the movie. There’s the college selection, but you always knew that was coming. They’re in high school and wealthy. It was assumed they were going to college. The father gets married in the end, but he’d already started dating someone in the last movie, so you knew he’d moved on from Lara Jean’s mother.

If you’re a super-fan of the characters, then Always and Forever was made for you. Which, of course, you’re watching the third movie in a series, naturally you’re going to love the characters. What I’m saying is, there is nothing new here. So if that’s what you’re looking for, then you’re not getting it.

I didn’t expect it to go past high school, but I don’t get the same closure from finishing high school as I’ve gotten older. High school was never a be all end all for me. It was something I had to get through. So, I’m setting expectations.

What is it with the jocks now getting into Ivy League schools? This happened in Always and Forever and The Kissing Booth. While Peter has never seemed more than average intelligence, the Kissing Booth’s dude always came off as a little below average. Yet, there they are in Harvard and Stanford. I guess we’re no longer pretending you get into those schools on merit alone? The bad guys are no longer the ones that buy their way into the schools, it’s now the good guys too?

It’s possible I was in the wrong mood for Always and Forever. I wasn’t in any kind mood at all, so who knows. I love each of the actors in the movie, and I’m looking forward to more from them. I’m just not sure this movie needed to be made.

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


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

NETFLIX Movie

Director:

Susan Johnson

Starring:

Lana Condor

Noah Centineo

Janel Parish

Israel Broussard

Plot:

A teenage girl’s secret love letters are exposed and wreak havoc on her love life.

Review:

Wow, I was not expecting such a great romance from Netflix after the absolute stinkers they’ve given me recently.

Lara Jean, Lana Condor, doesn’t tell boys when she has a crush on them. She prefers to look on from afar and when the feelings are too much to write them a letter explaining her feelings. She never intends for those letters to be seen, though, she does address them. Naturally, those letters are sent by a somewhat well-meaning sister.

Most of the letters were years old and her feelings have moved on so she doesn’t have much issue explaining to the boys once they show up that she’s moved on. However, one of the letters is to her sister Margot, Janel Parish, recently dumped boyfriend, Israel Broussard. Her feelings for him are complicated. They’re best friends, she had a crush, but he was always in love with her sister. It was never even an option for her to try and pursue a relationship with him once her sister dumped him because her sister still, sort of, has feelings for him.

In an effort to keep him in the dark about her feelings she accosts another one of the recipients of her love letters. Peter, Noah Centineo, has just broken up with his long term girlfriend and was not looking for a relationship. However, he takes the opportunity to make his ex jealous and to help Lara Jean hide, by pretending to be her boyfriend.

They’re adorable, tons of chemistry, very realistic but still fun. It reminded me of watching Sixteen Candles, incidentally, one of the movies they talk about in the film. To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before was so great that I’ve actually looked into the book series it is based on. There are two more books, so my hope is that they make a sequel, but we’ll see. I hate teen angst with a passion but I loved this movie.

5/5