To All the Boys I Loved Before: Movie Review

If you're familiar with the genre, "To All the Boys I've Loved Before" doesn't really bring anything new or mind-blowing into the mix. It is as straight-forward and pedestrian as you can imagine it to be. Minus the generic take, what works was great characterization and chemistry from its cast.

What if all the crushes you ever had found out how you felt about them and all at once? Lara Jean Song Covey's love life goes from fairy tale to chaotic reality when the love letters for every boy she’s ever loved are mailed out by her sister. One of those boys is her sister's ex Josh. To avoid developing a possible relationship with him, she and another one of the five boys, Peter, decide to have a fake relationship. For Peter, he wants his ex girlfriend Gen to be jealous. It's a mutual relationship that may just turn from fake to real in no time.

Stating that the film feels safe is an understatement. The biggest issue with "To All the Boys I've Loved Before" is that it simply is a film that works on a premise that has been done and repeated countless times. On that regard, don't expect any surprises with the conflicts and eventual resolutions our characters go into. The team behind the film probably knew that its story and narrative was a basically a lost cause so they compensated with great characters and characterization. We definitely felt that the film took its time to develop the main characters' back stories. We ended up  really caring for Lara Jean and Peter and we found ourselves invested in both of them individually and as a couple. Unsurprisingly, a huge factor to this success were the performances of Lana Condor and Noah Centineo. Both had good performances and even greater chemistry between themselves. They had us swooning even if that sounds really corny. Overall, a great cast, well-developed characters, and a workable script made "To All the Boys I've Loved Before" surprisingly enjoyable.

Rating: 3 and a half reels





Why you should watch it:
- great chemistry and character build up

Why you shouldn't watch it:
- the story is an all-too-familiar affair with no surprises at all