Written by: Sofia Alvarez
Starring: Lana Condor, Noah Centineo, Janel Parrish, Anna Cathcart, Andrew Bachelor
Rating: [3.5/5]
Growing up pretty much everyone develops crushes on individuals, a natural occurrence as we gain an attraction to our preferred gender but we all have different ways of expressing it. Some may directly inform those crushes, while others may internally fantasize, or in the case of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, write about those feelings. Letting those feelings loose allows for quite the situation for our lead character in this whimsical romance.
High school junior Lara Jean (Lana Condor) writes love letters to individuals she has developed a passionate attraction for but keeps it hidden way. One day, one of those crushes, Peter (Noah Centineo) approaches her about the letter he received where Lara Jean now realizes all of those letters were sent out putting her in quite an awkward position.
Having what occurs to Lara Jean in this feature, in her deepest affection for individuals she barely interacts with serves as quite a bit of nightmare fuel. A situation where when she learns about it she faints and with good reason. Not only an invasion of privacy on her part but now she must deal with the consequences of what occurred and speaking with these individuals she’s once had a crush on. One of these guys is a longtime crush, Josh, who happened to date her sister for a significant amount of time, and then a popular guy at school named Peter.
On top of this, Lara Jean begins a fake relationship with Peter in order to make others jealous or disguise their availability. This plot runs the gamut one would expect from a high school romantic comedy as done many times over. The formula of them finding attraction in each other eventually and the fake relationship begins to turn a bit real but it certainly has a cuteness to it through these characters, particularly Lara Jean. Definitely not the high point of the film as a whole but one necessary to move things along as true meaningfulness occurs with the female characters and their bond to each other.
With moments of awkwardness imbued throughout this narrative, it maintains a wonderful charm because of the overall positivity this feature captures. This occurs with Lara Jean and her family. A father who cares deeply for his daughters, he serves as the parent of three girls who each have distinct and fun personalities. We certainly see this through Lara Jean, but also her sister Kitty (Anna Cathcart). The rapport this pair develops has similar vibes to sisters seen in other romantic comedies but their bond here feels a bit more special because of the way they’re written and what their connection to each other ultimately means. Combative in moments but ultimately supportive as a whole, this relationship certainly helps the film work as a whole.
When all of this comes to light, it turns into quite the lovable story and so much of the credit must go to the wonderful performance by Lana Condor. An actor jumping right out through this performance and leaving quite the impression. Condor takes the mantle as the romantic comedy lead of this feature and does exactly what she needs to do in making us care for her journey and even appreciate the mistakes she makes along the way. While the other male characters in the movie struggle to keep up with her when it comes to the charisma needed to buy into the relationships, she carries it all on her shoulders in a wonderful way. Everything in this feature belongs to Condor and her characterization of Lara Jean makes all of the cheesier and weaker elements of this feature not matter as much when she appears on screen.
Effortlessly enjoyable and lovingly good time, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before marks a refreshing little teenage romantic comedy with quite an interesting story. Lara Jean experiences an invasion of her privacy on multiple occasions but must learn how to navigate around them and make the best of her situation. She does this with quite the journey and some lovable side characters to help her along with her journey. We get this wonderful break out for Lana Condor as she proves she can carry a movie like this, which makes me hope she can continue to thrive and shine by being given more opportunities.
Films with Josh 
