To All The Boys: Always and Forever (2021) review - Lockdown Cinema 🎫

Hey everyone,

Happy 2021 y'all, Victoria is back in lockdown for the next 5 days! Not the greatest start to the year, but the state I live in is the latest Aussie place to do a 'circuit breaker' lockdown so I am going to be staying home until Wednesday (at least...). As is tradition for my brain whenever 'Stage 4 Lockdown' is pencilled into my schedule, I've decided to write some reviews for a few movies that have been released on streaming recently.

Anyone who knows me IRL should know about my love of rom-coms, and the teen rom-com is quite the guilty pleasure of mine. So for my first review I decided to write about the end of a franchise I've followed since it started in 2018 - To All The Boys I've Loved Before. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but there's plenty more movie thoughts coming in the next few days. Stay tuned, but in the mean time, here's my thoughts on To All The Boys: Always and Forever....

Source: IMDB

Lord Netflix started what has been a long line of teen rom-com cult success in 2018 with To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. A summer sensation that reinvigorated the profile of love letters in the social media age, the phenomenon has grown into a popular trilogy which comes to an end with To All The Boys: Always and Forever. Based on the YA novel by Jenny Han, it’s senior year for bubbly protagonist Lara Jean Covey (Lana Condor) and the fate of her relationship with Peter Kavinsky (Noah Centineo) is on the line as she contemplates college plans with and without him. Whilst dripping in high school and rom-com tropes backed up by an upbeat, catchy soundtrack; this film never hit the peaks and troughs of its predecessors with a conclusion that was bland and frankly unmemorable.

Excessive cheesiness weighed down much of this film’s ability to grow into something with more soul. Do not watch if lactose intolerant because there was way too much cheese going on, even for the most devoted of teen rom-com connoisseurs. Colourful montages of dates, pictures and sickly sweet couple stuff littered the narrative, and as a result much of the plot and by extension Katie Lovejoy’s script felt alarmingly shallow and underdeveloped. The main tension that plagued the central couple known online as ‘Covinsky’ was college plans, yet not much time was spent discussing the colleges themselves outside their geography and class handbook. Everything felt distractingly shallow and consequently fell flat in much of its emotional impact. It felt largely anti-climactic because nothing shocking happened. Even when the inevitable break in the relationship took place, there was little to no tension in it because at no point was there any solid indication Lara Jean and Peter weren’t going to end up together. Even when the script and sad music were trying to tell a viewer otherwise, they were always going to make long distance work because this franchise has a history of neat and tidy happy endings. The third was no different, but by this point it moved beyond cute cliques to boring predictability.

Criminally, there was also not enough new blood to move the plot into completely new territory. For all the talk about Stanford University, there was no on-campus shenanigans or engagement beyond sweatshirts and a tree hat. Meanwhile, the bright lights and known landmarks of New York City made an exciting extended appearance. Fresh faces NYU senior Heather (Sofia Black-D’Elia) and her couch-stealing friends were fabulous additions that grew the story beyond the familiar and injected some more female friendship moments to the mix. Although falling in love with the Big Apple is a well-worn clique for teen cinema, it felt like the right move for a creative, imaginative dreamer like Lara-Jean. The New York sequences, particularly the NYU party and adorable minor felony were some of the best parts of the film.

Conversely, Lovejoy’s script and Michael Fimognari’s direction was way too ‘Covinsky’ focused. They are the centre of the trilogy and Condor and Centineo had incredibly watchable on-screen chemistry, but the balance between them and the supporting cast was distractingly off this time around. Anything non-Covinsky was disappointingly basic with sprinklings of secondary subplots that were often more interesting than the main plot points but never got the juice they deserved to make them sing. There was nowhere near enough Margot (Janel Parrish) and the evolution of Kitty’s introduction to adolescence and boys was rushed in favour of snippy one-liners that created more tension with Lara Jean rather than naturally evolving Kitty’s character.

There were a few saving graces that made Always and Forever not completely unwatchable. Lana Condor was always the beating heart of the franchise, and her performance was once again full of love, warmth and authenticity. Her sister chemistry with Parrish’s Margot and Cathcart’s Kitty was wonderful, and her interactions with Chris (Madeleine Arthur) and Lucas (Trezzo Mahoro) peaked with fun dialogue and lovely friendship moments. The long awaited thawing of friction between Lara Jean, Chris and franchise mean girl/misunderstood lady Genevieve (Emilija Baranac) served as the most compelling emotional payoff all film, but this was also simplified in favour of more Covinsky cuteness montages.

A love story that was surprisingly lacking any true heart and too reliant on romance movie tropes, the final installment of the To All The Boys franchise provided a colourfully lacklustre emotional rollercoaster that never got out of cruise control. Too reliant on the moments that fans already know and love, there was never enough new stuff to move beyond pretty niceties.

7/10, 3 STARS

Thanks for reading,

Love and perfectly written love letters, Emily 💖