© Katie Yu - NetflixTo All the Boys 3 is now on Netflix. Read our review of To All the Boys: Always and Forever starring Lana Condor, Noah Centineo and more.
To All the Boys: Always and Forever has finally come to Netflix and with it the end of an era. The Netflix movie ushered in a new respect for the teenage rom-com.
Based on Jenny Han's best-selling novel trilogy, To All the Boys was already beloved, but with Netflix's production quality and Instagram aesthetics, the story of Lara Jean (Lana Condor) exploded into the hearts of viewers all over the world. The third movie sees Lara Jean preparing for the end of high school and the start of adulthood - waiting for an acceptance letter from her dream college, Stanford.
However, she's rejected from Stanford, where her boyfriend Peter (Noah Centineo) is already set to attend. But a life-changing trip to New York City leads her to reimagine what life with her family, friends and Peter will look like after graduation.
© NetflixTo All the Boys: Always and Forever - Lana Condor as Lara Jean and Anna Cathcart as Kitty
The movie begins with Lara Jean and family in Seoul, Korea, where the Song-Covey girls are connecting with their roots and the memory of their mother. In fact, parenting - or the lack thereof - looms large over the third film, both for Lara Jean and Peter.
But To All the Boys: Always and Forever isn't a serious meditation on leaving one's childhood behind. It's a rom-com, and a teenage one at that. The themes of belonging, change, and love are seen through a teenager lens , which is exactly appropriate for the movie, even if other coming-of-age films tackle these themes with more depth and nuance (such as one of Netflix's other teenage rom-coms, The Half of It).
That's not what To All the Boys is about - it's as sickly sweet as Lara Jean's desserts, and we mean that as a compliment. Unfortunately, like a too-rich cake, a runtime of nearly two hours is just too much.
© NetflixTo All the Boys: Always and Forever
Each act of the film feels like a complete story that somehow is missing its climax, making the viewing a disjointed affair as you wait for, firstly, a rejection you know is coming and then, secondly, a change of heart you know is coming. While it's not fair to lay the blame at the trailer's feet, given the novels are already out, there is little by the way of real suspense until the final third.
The film is missing the will-they-won't-they tension of the second, and the excitement of the unknown of the first. All of its eggs are firmly in the LJ+PK basket, and even though Peter's behaviour is a breath of fresh air (when so many rom-coms lean too heavily into bad relationship tropes) it isn't surprising enough to leave us wanting more.
Luckily, the last third saves the movie, returning to a simpler and more focussed story, that of Lara Jean. (With charming asides from Chris, Gen and her sisters of course). The film puts her back in the centre of a simpler story and allows her to really live through the swirling emotions that characterise this time in one's life.
© Netflixto all the boys always and forever noah centineo as peter kavinsky
Not only is she graduating, but she's facing separation, not just from those external things in her life but from her own teenage self, and reckoning with what it means to become her own woman, her own formed and individual self. This is made doubly hard with the inclusion of social media, an existential FOMO impacting Lara Jean's decision-making abilities and devastating her self-worth.
Die-hard fans of the first two movies won't be disappointed. All the classic TATB nods are in there, and the tone and style are as charming and natural as they were before, not tired or over-done.
However, it's hard not to wish that the movie could have done more - more exploration of Lara Jean's relationship to Trina, to her mother's roots and her Korean identity, to sex, and to the unknown: these each are boxes ticked off with one-liners (there is a great brisket metaphor that we kvelled over), footnotes to the love story rather than feeling like real aspects of who Lara Jean is (which they are).
© NetflixTo All the Boys: Always and Forever
It's equally hard not to envy Lara Jean. For all her insecurities (of the regular kid variety), she's the kind of teenager who doesn't shy away from her own feelings, from owning them. In that way, she's a great role model for young girls unsure of whether to trust their gut.
To All the Boys: Always and Forever may not live up to the bar that the first movie set. But that's okay - it was a sweet cherry on top of the cake, and that's all it ever needed to be.
To All The Boys: Always and Forever is now available on Netflix
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