WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!
As a rom-com enthusiast who keeps better track of the Netflix release schedule than my homework due dates, you better believe I watched To All the Boys: Always and Forever the day it came out. Although Lara Jean’s adorable outfits and the amazing soundtrack didn’t fail to disappoint, I was surprised by just how much I connected with the movie. After one of the craziest years of everyone’s lives, To All the Boys: Always and Forever was the perfect movie I didn’t know I needed.
Watching Lara Jean’s senior year spring was oddly therapeutic. As a 2020 high school grad, I went from dragging myself to 7:15 AM class to a socially-distanced parking lot graduation in the blink of an eye. Instead of making me jealous, watching Lara Jean’s senior year made me thankful for the parts of my senior year I did get to enjoy — a school trip to Atlanta, opening college decisions with my friends and excitedly planning for the future.
The pandemic, of course, turned all that planning on its head. Instead of living on campus, I ended up staying at home and taking classes virtually for a year. While this was frustrating at times, it brought unexpected benefits. Just like Lara Jean’s Stanford rejection led to her finding something even better at NYU, staying at home gave me an extra year to bond with my family that I never would have gotten otherwise.
Finally, watching the movie reminded me of the importance of leaving your comfort zone. One of my favorite aspects of the movie is that we get to see Lara Jean discover herself and chart her own course in life, even as that pulls her and Peter in different directions. There’s a great line when Lara Jean’s dad (an icon) tells her she “can’t save this relationship by not growing.” Although there’s a lot of uncertainty about what it will look like when I head out to my summer internship or return to campus this fall, To All the Boys: Always and Forever made me realize that growth is a part of life, and you never know what you can accomplish until you push yourself to try new things.
To All the Boys: Always and Forever is an adorable feel-good movie that I think everyone should watch. Whether you come for Lara Jean’s cute hair accessories or the dreamy Peter Kavinsky scenes, you just might leave with a new appreciation for the craziness and beauty of life.