Review: To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before

Understanding love, friendship and everything else

Lara Jean has liked five boys and written them love letters, but never posted any. She is an invisible high-schooler, who has never had a boyfriend, and spends her Saturdays watching old romcoms with her younger sister. The letters get delivered to all the five boys somehow, and she ends up fake dating Peter Kavinsky, the hottest guy in school. Only to realise she might actually like him.

I finally watched the hugely popular Netflix film, To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. The 1 hour 40 minute movie, is a nice train ride back to one’s teenage years, reminiscent of all the crushes. There is nothing unexpected about the film. It is American urban teenage romance.

LJ is a nerd who wears queer boots to school, loves Sixteen Candles, has one friend, and is scared of driving. But the one thing that makes her exceptional, is her quest to understand her feelings. Lara Jean values family, friendships, love, heartbreak, even remorse. She doesn’t succumb to rather acknowledges those emotions, even if that requires reliving painful memories.

And that is the USP of this film. The young characters display grief, abandonment, guilt and anger, but have the subtlety to accept them.