“To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” is a romantic comedy film that has been sweeping the nation. Despite romantic comedies being belittled for their predictability and cliche plots, “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” has been rewarded for its heart-melting characteristics and modernized twist.
This Netflix original film follows high school junior, Lara Jean, whom, although having always dreamt of and read about love, has never experienced it first hand. Throughout her life, she would write personalized letters to the boys she liked in order to vent her affectionate feelings, unknowing that one day in the future her love letters would be mailed and her admiration would no longer be secret.
Peter, the boy who Lara Jean had shared her first kiss with, receives one of these letters and proposes that he and Lara Jean pretend to be in a relationship. This idea seemingly would help both Peter and Lara Jean, for it would make Peter’s ex-girlfriend jealous whilst making Lara Jean unapproachable to the other boys her letters were sent to.
The components of a classic romantic comedy are set from the very beginning of the movie. There is a girl whose tragic past hinders her from openly accepting love with full trust and comfort. Then comes along a boy she believes to be way out of her league, who has also suffered unfortunate experiences. They connect; he unveils the beauty in her that the rest of the world has been ignoring all along, and they ultimately unintentionally fall in love.
That is the true key to a romantic comedy: those who never meant to fall in love inevitably do. This idea is carried through tons of films like “The Wedding Singer,” “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days”, and even “Just Go With It.” In this way, rom-coms are particularly uplifting and encourage the audience to trust that an opportunity for true love will approach when least expected.
Romantic comedies such as “To All the Boys I’ve Ever Loved” allow viewers to laugh at the inconvenient quirks of life whilst pushing the necessity of love in one’s life. In this film particularly, Lara Jean’s outspoken little sister who sent the letters without any empathy or regard for privacy ended up being the sole reason Lara Jean and Peter ever began dating.
Being that Lara Jean’s little sister, Kitty, ignorant of social cues and societal of expectations, resolves all the conflict in the film, a viewer could assume that the director was making a statement about being direct and honest. Unfortunately fate cannot be completely depended on.
A person must admit their own thoughts and beliefs in order to grasp their dreams whether it be of love or anything else. Despite potential failures and embarrassments, one must take the risk in order to achieve potential successes. In this way, “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” is a slightly modernized rom-com.
Although “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” was a decent film, being that it mimics the classic elements of a standard romantic comedy, the audience is left with the classic feelings after watching a standard romantic comedy. There is a temporary optimism towards love, and a few butterflies flutter in the pits of the audience members’ stomachs, but those feelings quickly fade. The movie just is not very memorable. Soon, there will be another Netflix original film that everyone will swoon over, and “To All the Boys I’ve Ever Loved” will unfortunately be quickly forgotten.
