I have a confession to make…I live for bad, low budget movies on Netflix.
The current trilogy of the movie After is so terrible, it almost hurts to watch. But I can’t resist! So, I’m going to break down each movie.
After
Out of the three that have been produced, this one is the only one with an actual storyline. It captures one of the main characters, Tessa, as an innocent woman that’s coming into her first year of college. She has a helicopter mom and a clingy high school boyfriend, but then craves the attention of Hardin Scott, who she’s introduced to by her roommate, Steph.
Hardin Scott is the movie’s “bad boy” that shows Tessa his side of adventure! Hardin sees Tessa as a boring and innocent young woman who hasn’t experienced life. So, he explores her mind and body in ways Tessa has never experienced before.
Throughout the movie, as Hardin and Tessa fall in love, they go through an emotional rollercoaster. Tessa’s mom doesn’t approve of her dating Hardin and ditching her high school boyfriend. Also, a girl in Hardin’s friend group named Molly wants to get back with Hardin, so she’ll do anything to sabotage Tessa and Hardin’s relationship.
As the movie goes on, Hardin and Tessa get very serious, very quickly. She moves into an apartment with him, is slowly exposed to Hardin’s family life and learns some of the reasons he’s damaged.
Spoilers begin now, so if you haven’t watched the movie, stop reading!
Molly shows Tessa a video of Hardin being dared to make Tessa fall in love with him, and he claims he’ll ditch her after! I hate Hardin’s character. After the video is shown, Tessa feels betrayed and like Hardin’s feelings were never genuine.
Fast forward to the end of the movie, Tessa’s professor gives her an essay that Hardin turned into a class. He confesses his love for her, and of course, Tessa forgives him and meets him at the lake in the end.
I thought Tessa deserved better, but she apparently did not, because they made more movies.
After We Collided
I wish I had more words to describe this movie, but it’s just SEX. Think Fifty Shades of Grey but no plot and very low budget. I don’t know what the aim was for this movie, but I did not get it when watching this one.
So, it begins one month later, Tessa and Hardin have broken up…no shocker there! Tessa begins working at her internship at Vance Publishing that she got through her connection with Hardin. At the firm, she meets Trevor Matthews, with whom she begins to feel a spark. However, she’s still not over Hardin.
We also get into a little bit of Hardin’s mom’s past and why he doesn’t like his dad.
Then, when they get back together, they attend a college party together and Tessa assumes Hardin is cheating on her with a girl there. In reality, Hardin was asking the girl for forgiveness for what happened between them in the past.
Moving forward, Hardin learns about Tessa’s job offer that’s located in Seattle, and of course, he only thinks about himself again! He assumes Tessa will leave him to be with Trevor, and they get into a huge fight. Tessa storms off, and then she gets into a car accident!
Then, at Tessa’s boss’s farewell/engagement party, Hardin comes back asking for forgiveness. Once again they are back together! Am I the only one who sees a toxic cycle?
Towards the end, Hardin and Tessa come across a homeless man who claims he is Tessa’s father.
This was such a strange ending, and the plot line is all over the place.
After We Fell
I have no words for this one…
By far the worst movie they have produced. The second one was bad, but this one gets all rotten tomatoes.
It opens with a scene that tries to explain Tessa’s father getting kicked out of the house because he’s an alcoholic. Then, it shifts back to the present with Tessa and Hardin inviting her dad to live with them for a while to get back on his feet.
To summarize: Hardin is mad once again about Tessa potentially moving to Seattle, he tries to make her jealous again with another girl, finds out a scandalous secret about his mom, finds out who his real father is, and it ends with the couple hugging passionately in the street.
The worst part of this movie is that it said “To be continued,” when it needs to be stopped. I can’t watch another movie about Hardin and Tessa’s relationship. He doesn’t want to see her happy, they are both immature, and then they have sex, like a lot.
However, I will watch the fourth part, but probably more for comic relief!