In a very pleasant and welcome surprise, Netflix’s latest dreamy romcom from director Susan Johnson, To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, has attracted a handful of positive reviews equipping you with the excuse: “But it’s actually good guys” if your mates decide to roast you in the group chat for watching it.
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If you haven’t watched the trailer yet, To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before is based on the New York Times bestselling novel by Jenny Han. It tells the story of teenager Lara Jean Song Covey (Lana Condor), a girl who has experienced a number of intense crushes throughout her life. To temporary rid herself of the ~ feels ~, Lara Jean writes each boy a love letter and stashes it away in her closet.
There are five love letters in total for the five boys.
As the trailer tells us, there’s one for “Peter the most popular guy in school, Kenny from camp, Lucas from homecoming, John Ambrose from Model UN, and Josh…”
To throw a rather huge spanner in the works, Josh is also Lara Jean’s older sister’s boyfriend.
To throw a wrecking ball at Lara Jean’s life, the five love letters mysteriously get sent to the five boys.
The film co-stars John Corbett AKA Aidan from Sex and the City and Ian from My Big Fat Greek Wedding as Lara Jean’s dad, Noah Centineo, and Israel Broussard.
This all sounds very teenage romcom-y so it comes as a pleasant surprise the film actually goes deep. It scored a 92 per cent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and an audience score of 96 per cent.
Decider called the film “Netflix’s best rom-com yet.”
BIG CALL.
Variety wrote: “This endearing Netflix Original offers an honest, unsentimental take on the mating lives of hormone-addled high school students.” Variety also highly praised Condor’s performance.
Entertainment Weekly described it as “strictly Disney Channel stuff, but it’s got more substance then you expect.”
Los Angeles Times praised the film for its weight and described it as “a detailed portrait of the complex emotional lives of teenagers juggling parents, siblings and, most importantly, crushes.”
And Vulture were really sweet in their review:
“Theirs is a teenage romance I can believe in, despite its ridiculously convoluted circumstances. And when was the last time you believed in a teenage romance!?”
A: Never.
Of course, this dreamy romcom isn’t for everyone. In short, The Hollywood Reporter – not a fan of the flick. Their review can be summed up by their Rotten Tomatoes insight of “Whatevs” or how the most interesting aspect of the film to the reviewer was how the director “manages to keep this very thinly plotted high concept aloft for so long.”
Savage.
You can tuck into To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before on Netflix, now.
