Julien Neaves, Editor
If you read my News of the World review you would recall that Westerns are not one of my favourite genres. Well that also applies to romance films, especially teen romance. I just find them so generic. But my wife loves them, and I try to keep an open mind. And I was pleasantly surprised back in 2018 when I watched Netflix’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. The film, the first of the trilogy based on the novels by Jenny Han, wasn’t revolutionary, but it was very solid and was boosted by an extremely charming performance by Lana Condor as Lara Jean Covey. I also enjoyed the sequel, To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You, in 2020.
And I am happy to report that To All the Boys: Always and Forever delivers a fitting conclusion.
The film finds Lara Jean and boyfriend Peter (Noah Centineo) in their final year of high school and preparing for college. Peter has been accepted into Stanford on a lacrosse scholarship and the plan is for Lara Jean to join him there. But you know what they say about the best made plans of mice and men. There is also the subplot of Lara Jean’s widower father getting married to his girlfriend.
Condor and Centineo continue their great chemistry and they are believable as a couple. Condor shines in every scene and she is sweet, thoughtful and witty. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the Peter character, but he gets some welcome character development and background and I appreciated him more here.
The other characters don’t have much to do but they are all relatively likeable. My favourite supporting character continues to be Lara Jean’s sister Kitty, and she remains the source of the majority of the laughs.
This entry also adds visits to South Korea and New York which benefits the film from both a visual and story standpoint. And of course you have the prom, because you gotta have the prom.
In terms of plot the couple have to deal with more mature issues, though it follows the standard romcom beats. To All the Boys: Always and Forever doesn’t do much outside the formula, but what it does it does pretty well. And it provides the trilogy with a satisfying ending.
Editor Jules’s Score: 7 out of 10
For Senior Writer Sommer’s review of The Kissing Booth 2 you can click here.
Julien “Jules” Neaves is a TARDIS-flying, Force-using Trekkie whose bedroom stories were by Freddy Krueger, learned to be a superhero from Marvel, but dreams of being Batman. I love promoting Caribbean film (Cariwood), creating board games and I am an aspiring author. I say things like “12 flavours of awesome sauce”. I can also be found posting about TV and movie memes, news and trailers on Facebook at Movieville. And to stay on top of all Redmangoreviews articles you can like and follow us on Facebook here.