Plugged In
Kaylee Brewster
With the Netflix movie “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before,” teen romance has never been so awkward, so funny and so lovable.
When it comes to her social life, Lara Jean (Lana Condor) is basically invisible. When it comes to her love life, well, that’s pretty much dead. However, that doesn’t mean Lara Jean doesn’t have feelings. When she gets a serious crush she writes him a letter and sticks it in a box.
Then one day the unthinkable happens, somehow her letters get mailed out to her crushes. Lara Jean might just die from embarrassment before her love life even begins.
Most of the drama occurs between Peter (Noah Centineo) her seventh-grade, first-kiss crush and Josh (Israel Broussard) the boy-next-door who also dated her older sister, Margot (Janel Parrish). Lara Jean dances between the two crushes with all the humor one could hope for in a teen romance comedy.
“To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” succeeds on many fronts, especially through its well-acted characters. In one hour and 39 minutes, you get to know and understand Lara Jean as well as you might your own best friend. Although Peter doesn’t start off on the right foot with Lara Jean, he’s easy to fall for. Josh grows out of the boy-next-door archetype and struggles to see where he fits in Lara Jean’s life. Even Kitty (Anna Cathcart), Lara Jean’s little sister, gets some of the best laugh-out-loud lines and becomes more than just the annoying sister.
That’s where “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” steers away from rom-com cliches. The film focuses on familial love as much as it focuses on romantic love. Lara Jean’s bond with her sisters and father (John Corbett) is as much a part of her life as her complicated relationship with boys. This provides some heartfelt emotional scenes.
With “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” Netflix shows that the romantic comedy is far from dead.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=555oiY9RWM4
