WARNING: Spoilers Lie Ahead!!
We all know that ‘To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before’ was a hit when it arrived on our TV screens in 2018. The movie became a breakout hit for actors Lana Condor and Noah Centineo, whose charisma and adorable chemistry took the world by storm. The adaptation from Jenny Han’s preexisting young adult trilogy comes to life by way of the film’s aesthetically pleasing cinematography and soundtrack that perfectly illustrates the highs and lows of the story line. ‘To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before’ unapologetically aimed to attract lovers of a good timeless rom-com.
The sequel, ‘To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, P.S I Still Love You’, takes off shortly after where the first one left off. Lara Jean is officially the girlfriend to the high school jock, Peter Kavinsky. He takes her out for her first date, doesn’t push her for sex, and writes her a sweet poem, affirming that he possesses all the qualities of every sought-after dreamboat. Matters soon become complicated when Lara Jean develops insecurities in the relationship that root from Peter’s past relationship with the film’s antagonist and Lara Jean’s ex-bestie, Gen. Her nonexistent romantic history and lack of “base jumping experience” causes her to feel unsure of the relationship, and wonder if maybe Peter isn’t the one? At the point in which Lara Jean feels completely lost in her doubts, Peter seems to redeem himself with a handwritten poem just for her- or so we think. The retirement home’s wisecracking elder, Stormy, played by Holland Taylor, becomes Lara Jeans pal and confidant who breaks the news to her that Peter’s Valentines day poem was stolen from an Edgar Allen Poe original. Lara Jean’s worries grow stronger- maybe every Peter really is an idiot.
Lara Jean’s concerns with the status of her relationship soon become complemented with a past crush who grabs her attention. To her surprise, one of the five letters that her young love-seeking self wrote has resurfaced. She is even more conflicted when the letter’s recipient, John Ambrose, coincidentally is her fellow volunteer at a local, and might I add, very fancy, retirement home. If you remember, the end credits in the first movie featured John Ambrose at Lara Jean’s door step with that very letter in his hand, but there is one slight change in the sequel- this John Ambrose is definitely not white. The recasting of Jordan Burtchett to the multi-ethnic Jordan Fisher most likely resulted as a response to the criticism that the first movie received, that the male love interests were all white. A casual recast is usually a factor that can come across as unprepared and odd to the audience, but in this case I really appreciated the efforts to increase representation. No shade to the original John Ambrose, but who can resist Jordan Fisher??
Lara Jean’s mental love triangle leads her to push away the relationship that the first movie wanted you to root for. She begins to think that maybe John Ambrose is the perfect match for her. It appears that he seamlessly plays the role as her other half; they both are old souls, go by their first and middle names, and have an appreciation for punny halloween costumes. Matters become even more complicated when Peter reveals to Lara Jean the truth preceding the infamous hot tub scene in the first movie.
I won’t lie, hearing that Peter was originally waiting for Gen at the hot tub and that Lara Jean was not his first choice kind of ruined the first movie for me. However this element in my opinion became essential in communicating to the audience that the preconceived notions that finding your soulmate is perfect in every way is most definitely not true. The truth hurts for Lara Jean and they both mutually decide to break up.
The movie has a lot of good qualities and gave one of my favorite TV dad’s the subplot he deserves. Kitty’s fierce, well above her years attitude calls for her to be the matchmaker, but not just for Lara Jean. Lara Jean and Kitty’s dad’s gets bit by the love bug as he falls for the age appropriate neighbor and it was really freaking cute.
The film featured some random cameos, such as Maddie Ziegler and Ross Butler- who seems to be in every Netflix show/movie I’ve watched for the last three years. And Maddie Ziegler is great and all but it’s always weird seeing a 16 year old play the same age as a 22 year old, but what’s new?
The movie ends exactly how you expected or maybe not how you expected depending on what you felt as the movie reached its climax. AGAIN, SPOILER ALERT: Lara Jean kisses John Ambrose in the snow outside the dance they organized at the retirement home. Remember the snow globe that Lara Jean won on her carnival date with Peter with the statue of the kissing couple? There’s some epic foreshadowing right there. The Cinderella parallels show some major symbolism in the film as well, especially with the blue dress she wears to the dance gifted by Stormy who pretty much becomes her fairy godmother at this point.
After her reaction to the kiss, John Ambrose is clear where Lara Jean’s heart lies and that all signs point to Peter.
Of course I predicted that Lara Jean would end up with Peter but I did not predict how they would leave John Ambrose in the dust like that. The last scene we see of him is him looking off into the distance, in the snow, alone. And my consensus is that he definitely deserved better. His character was the best part of this movie for me, he played the role of the conflict in the most respectful and caring way. Nonetheless, Peter shows up for Lara Jean, worried for her because she doesn’t like driving in the snow. On one hand, I had an issue with this, not because I’m team John Ambrose, but because the movie never addressed them working through the problematic qualities Peter showed, leading to their break up. However Peter’s line about her fear of driving in the snow did create a really satisfying full circle moment for me. And even more so when he tells her to “break my heart into a thousand pieces”, which if you remember is precisely what they promised they wouldn’t do to each other in the beginning of the film. But that’s love, getting over the fact that it won’t be happily ever after and accepting that your heart will get broken even by the one you love.
My one last note is that the last scene where they watch the tree house being taken apart made no sense to me since there was absolutely no snow on the ground when we had just watched Lara Jean make snow angels with John Ambrose 12 hours ago. How can I be so sure that this scene was the day right after the dance, you ask? Because… she’s still wearing the same blue dress with her hair and makeup done exactly the same as the day of the dance!! Maybe this is some symbolism that I missed, but it definitely distracted me from appreciating the closing scene.
The truth is, if you liked the first movie and became truly invested in the characters, you’ll like this one. I won’t lie though, this movie does not surpass what the first one did for me as well as many of its other fans. The first one carried a charm and originality to it with the love letters, the fake relationship that progressed into a real one.
In conclusion, was it better than the first one? No. Will I still watch it a hundred times over and over again at every given moment because I am a sucker for every rom-com known to man? Yes.
