Note: This review contains spoilers!
I don’t know about you, but I love watching romance movies–to live vicariously through the characters, of course. To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is a young adult romance series by Jenny Han that has been adapted into a movie series on Netflix. Lara Jean Covey is a very relatable protagonist–she is someone who longs for the fantastical love story that we constantly see in fiction, and she ends up finding it herself after plenty of ups and downs. The last movie in the three-part series, To All the Boys: Always and Forever, was released on February 12, and it honestly surpassed my expectations.
I have heard a lot of negative comments about this last movie in particular, and maybe you have seen the TikToks going around about how cringey Noah Centineo is as he tries to impress Lara Jean. I have to admit, the bowling scene gave me the ick too–his “funny” faces were just awkward, but Lara Jean is a good sport for laughing along with him. Other than some of those Peter Kavinsky scenes, this movie is so dreamy. We follow Lara Jean as she embarks on the college decision process, and we can “travel” with her to Seoul, Korea with her family and then to New York City for a school trip. On top of these exciting events, we continue to see how her relationship with Peter develops and how both of them begin to grow up–even if they have to do so apart from each other. One of my favorite parts about this series is how Lara Jean does not seem like the typical girl who has so many guys chasing after her (or at least, she doesn’t see herself that way). She’s quiet, prefers to hang out with her family over anyone else, and she focuses on school and reading–because of this, she has expectations for relationships that she doesn’t think she will achieve in high school. I feel like she “speaks” for many of us in that way, and it is so fun to see the “unpopular” girl fall in love with the totally opposite lacrosse jock. Another thing that I find unique about Lara Jean’s character is how close she is with her family, which makes the story even better. Instead of only focusing on one aspect of life, like romance, she can find love everywhere. We can especially see this when she visits Korea with her father and sisters: the scene when they find their mother’s lock on the bridge is sad and heartwarming at the same time.
As someone who usually prefers books to movies, I can confidently say that this movie was not too far off from the plot of the book. There were some noticeable differences, like how Peter broke up with Lara Jean instead of the other way around, and they attend different colleges than in the book. For once, I feel like the minor changes didn’t ruin the movie at all. The breakup seemed a little bit rushed, because it happened so close to the end of the movie, but overall I think the plot progressed very well. Along with this, I absolutely love all the little references in Always and Forever to past events in the series–it’s such a nice wrap up-technique. I love how Peter and Lara Jean make a new “contract” for when they go away to college, just like they made a list of rules for fake dating each other in the first movie. When the song “I Like Me Better” plays when Lara Jean and her classmates are making their way to New York, it echoes the drive up to the ski lodge in the first movie.
The soundtrack for this movie is also so fun and upbeat. I have always liked the music choices in each of the To All the Boys movies, but this one has a diverse mix of indie pop and more mellow folks songs. Many of the featured artists had songs in the previous movies, like Anna of the North and Ashe. (Anna’s song “Lovers” plays during the infamous hot tub scene, and Ashe’s song “Moral of the Story” was in that one montage in P.S. I Still Love You when Lara Jean was mourning her breakup). The “main” track is “Beginning Middle End” by The Greeting Committee. It is such a sweet song for Lara Jean and Peter, and closes out their story perfectly as they enter the next phase of their lives. Let’s be real: I just want what they have.
Overall, I think Always and Forever is almost just as good as the first movie, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. I haven’t figured out which one I like better yet, but all of the references to the beginning of their story are so satisfying, like a perfect circle. I definitely think it’s better than P.S. I Still Love You–it was just average in my opinion. While the younger Lara Jean started out making 80s rom-com references and hoping to live out a literary romance, now she has her own love story to look back on and laugh about. I’m sad to see the end of this series, but for once it feels “right” because the plot was developed so well. The very last scene had the vibe of a classic coming of age movie as Lara Jean and her friends graduate (I kept thinking of the graduation scene in The Perks of Being a Wallflower). She reflects and says “Life is beautiful and messy and never goes according to plan. And the truth is, I have no idea what it has in store for me. But I do know that love, real love, is choosing each other through all of it. Every single day. Beginning middle and end.” Lara Jean has grown up so much, and gotten through all of the ups and down of her relationship, and now she truly sees the beauty and excitement of life. To All the Boys: Always and Forever somehow made me even more of a hopeless romantic, and I can’t wait to watch it again. If you haven’t watched it yet, I totally recommend it!
