Written by Avani Goswami
To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before rocked the Internet, and the sequel, To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before: P.S. I Still Love You, comes to us almost two years later, lacking some of the magic of the first.
Sequels are often lackluster compared to the first film, but this film fell particularly flat. Lana Condor (X-Men: Apocalypse) still does a notable job as Lara Jean Covey, the hopeless romantic protagonist, but her character is a little less relatable this time around. In the first movie, we got to fall in love with her as a character, but this time around, her personality felt like it was whittled down to her romantic life. A lot of the movie is focused on her decision between her lovable jock boyfriend, Peter Kavinsky (Noah Centineo, Charlie’s Angels), and her ex-crush that finally got her old love letter, John Ambrose Mcclaren (Jordan Fisher, Teen Beach Movie). I wish we got to see more of Lara Jean, her family, and her thoughts, like in the first movie, rather than only her mind going back and forth between her two love interests.
Lara Jean and Peter’s relationship also feels a bit messy. It’s never going to be as good as watching them get together for the first time, but I could’ve done with seeing them interact more. For two people in a relationship that the film tries to sell as a dream, it feels rocky from start to finish, and there is little of the original banter that made it so exciting to watch them interact. The actors, Condor and Centineo, still have great chemistry, but they simply aren’t given enough opportunities to show it off.
Peter, himself, is not as charming as before, mostly because he shows again and again that he may not be the person we thought he was in the first film. John Ambrose Mcclaren comes across surprisingly sweet and respectable. The relationship between him and Lara Jean feels more exciting than hers and Peter’s in this movie, because the viewer is discovering it for the first time. There’s something to explore there, even if Lara Jean’s love connection to him was ages ago and her words of admiration are more than a little cheesy.
Besides this budding connection, there are a few more exciting parts of the movie. The subplots this time around actually helped to keep me more interested in the film than the battle of Lara Jean’s heart. Her best friend Chris (Madeleine Arthur, The Magicians) and jock Trevor (Ross Butler, Shazam!) have a romance I wanted to watch for longer. Side character Lucas (Trezzo Mahoro, Van Helsing) shines once again, and Lara Jean’s dad (John Corbett, Parenthood) is also exploring a new relationship that’s heartwarming. The actors keep some of the same sweet elements alive from the first film, and the scenery is just as beautiful, specifically the Belleview Retirement Home where Lara Jean and John Ambrose volunteer.
Before watching To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before: P.S. I Still Love You, I was enthused to see the romantic world come to life again. Of course, I expected the same cheesiness and drama, but it was sadly less thrilling in every way. The romance between Lara Jean and Peter was nowhere near what it was in the last film, which is a huge disappointment, especially if we are supposed to believe in them and their love. Here’s to hoping the third film, rumored to be released later this year, feels more like the vibrant and nostalgic first installation, rather than the slow-moving and drier second.
Comments are closed.