To All The Boys I've Loved Before : Movie Review

 TO ALL THE BOYS I'VE LOVED BEFORE

Director :  Michael Fimognari, Susan Johnson

Genre : Romance/Drama

Cast : Lana Condor (Lara Jean), Noah Centineo (Peter Kavinsky) and others

Release Date : August 17, 2018

Rating : 7/10 (IMDb)

Duration : 1 hr 39 mins

Language : English 

Reviewed By : Shravni Datta Borade

Jenny Han is the author of the best-selling YA novel "To All the Boys I've Loved Before," which was based on her experiences as a youngster when she used to write letters to the boys she was crushing on but never actually sent them. Lara Jean (Lana Condor) explains that she writes letters when she has a crush that is so strong that she is unsure of what to do.

She is writing more letters to herself than to the boys. She preserves them in a sentimental box left to her by her late mother and reads them frequently. The letters are a constant reminder of how strong and all-consuming my emotions may be. She reads them in the same manner in which she reads florid bodice-ripper books with titles like The Forbidden Kiss. Although she claims to be reading them "for the camp," in reality she is reading them to immerse herself in a passionate world that she is not yet ready to attempt. In reality, she prefers to spend her Saturday nights binge-watching "Golden Girls" with her sister, who is 11 years old.

The sweet concept of this tale is that Lara Jean secretly mails her five letters. With only approximately 10 minutes spent on the agonising humiliation and no time at all spent on the mystery of how it occurred, Han and screenwriter Sofia Alvarez smartly choose to move swiftly past that set-up. (The guilty, despite a feeble attempt at a red herring, is immediately apparent.) The plot swiftly turns into a predictable but endearing high school romance comedy.

Josh (Israel Broussard), the boyfriend of Lara Jean's older sister, is the object of her current crush. When Lara Jean's sister Margot (Janel Parrish) breaks up with Josh just before she departs for college in Scotland, Josh finds himself all alone and alone.

The essentials of a high school romance line up as though the names of the participants in the homeroom attendance are being called out. Lara Jean is adorably relatable, educated but reserved, missing her deceased mother yet incredibly attached to her two sisters and her father, a doctor. She has an outgoing best friend and a once-best friend-turned-nemesis, the all-around Mean Girl

Lara Jean collapses in embarrassment when Peter, the popular high school lacrosse player (the handsome yet nonetheless approachable and soulful Noah Centineo), reads her letter. She impulsively kisses Peter before making an offer to Josh as he approaches holding another of her letters. Gen recently ditched Peter in favour of a college boy. To interest Josh and Gen's attention, Lara Jean and Peter might appear to be dating. Then perhaps she could show him how to do the African Anteater Dance! Sorry, Patrick Dempsey from the movie "Can't Buy Me, Love," but you get the point. We all understand.

And that's all right. Some movies are meant to shock us, while others are meant to take us on a relaxing journey along a well-travelled path.

This one dragged on for approximately 15 minutes. It could have been possible to avoid the teen party in a huge home and settle for a shorter miscommunication. That is otherwise a delightfully adorable time.

Condor is an absolute charmer, exuding a subtle warmth and dry wit. Although shy, Lara Jean is not insecure. She is intelligent and, unusually for a teenage girl character on television, she is at ease with her intelligence. It is enjoyable to watch her develop as she starts to mask, then own, her own emotions. Her ethnicity as a Korean-American gives the portrayal some depth, yet it never interferes with her relationships. The three motherless girls have a natural ease with their widowed father (John Corbett) that causes them to grasp onto each other just a little bit tighter.

Peter and Lara Jean have a smooth cadence, whether they are discussing the specifics of their fictitious romance, listing their favourite films, or giving some painfully intimate information.

For Peter to learn more about Lara Jean's romantic ideals, she has him watch the 34-year-old film "Sixteen Candles" (and she frankly acknowledges it is completely racist). In the future, I can picture a teenage girl gifting this movie to a male she likes instead.