My New Obsession: To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before

Last week I saw a headline about a Netflix movie called “To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before” currently available on Netflix streaming. I had seen a couple other made-for-Netflix movies that were awful (I’m looking at you specifically, “Ibiza”) but also one that wasn’t too bad (“Set It Up”). I decided to bite the bullet and watch “TATBILB.”
Y’all.

Y’ALL!

This movie. THIS MOVIE! It has my heart. I love this movie so much.

So much that I’ve already watched it 7 times in less than week.

It is by far one of the sweetest, most charming, and wonderful teenage rom-coms in a long, long time. It is the happy anti-thesis of the TERRIBLE, NO GOOD, HORRIBLE made-for-Netflix movie “The Kissing Booth” which has AWFUL messages for teen-aged girls.

The basic premise of the movie is that Lara Jean Covey loves romance novels and has written 5 love letters that have never been sent. One to a boy she met at camp, one to a boy she met at model U.N. club in the fifth grade. Lucas with whom she danced at the freshman year homecoming dance. Peter Kavinsky, a boy she kissed during a game of spin the bottle in the 7th grade. And finally, Josh Sanderson, her best friend until he began dating her older sister, which made it awkward to be around him because Lara Jean realized she had more-than-friend feelings for him.  Unfortunately, her love letters get put in the mail, and suddenly the word is out.

Let me count just FIVE of the reasons I love “TATBILB.” Let the fangirling commence!

1) Lara Jean is confident. The lead character, Lara Jean Covey, is not part of the popular crowd and considers herself to be “invisible,” but she is not some shy late bloomer as seen in other teen rom-coms in years’ past. She is confident, outspoken, honest and unafraid. She knows who she is (and who she is is WONDERFUL). Not only that, but the actress that portrays her, Lana Candor, is quite simply delightful in the role. Even though I’m almost 50 years old, I want to be friends with Lara Jean Covey because Lana Candor so perfectly embodied this character.

 

2) Lara Jean has values, and she’s sticking to them. After the aforementioned love letters get mailed out, Peter decides to make lemons out of lemonades and asks Lara Jean to fake a dating relationship with him so that she can hide the fact that she has feelings for her sister’s boyfriend, and so that Peter can make his ex-girlfriend (who broke up him for a college guy) jealous. They write up a contract wherein Lara Jean tells Peter that he cannot kiss her. He says no one will believe they are not dating if he can’t touch her, and she says it is non-negotiable.  Seeing this is important to her, Peter agrees to the rule.  Is she the perfect teenager? No – but she’s pretty darn awesome.

 

3) Those Song (Covey) girls. I haven’t read the books by Jenny Han (yet) but I love how the Song sisters are tight and won’t let anyone tear them apart. Not being in other countries, and certainly not boys (although boys make for some twisty situations). They are reminiscent of Jane and Lizzy in “Pride and Prejudice,” or the March sisters from “Little Women.” Sure, they may bicker and have their differences, but in the end they present a united front when one of them is going through something.

 

4) Peter Kavinsky is kind. As I said, “The Kissing Booth” is an awful movie, much in part due to the main “romantic” male lead being a complete jerk, mostly unlikeable with violent tendencies. Peter Kavinsky? Peter Kavinsky is sweet. Polite. Considerate. Respectful. Sensitive (but not mawkish). And most of all, he is kind. And not afraid to be that way.  Peter, because he’s kind and sees she has values, agrees to Lara Jean’s non-kissing requirement.  Despite Josh telling Lara Jean that Peter is a jerk, he really isn’t (and Josh is merely saying it out of jealousy).  Another reason to believe Peter is a good guy is by what his ex-girlfriend, Gen, says at a party. When someone asks Lara Jean “how far” she has gone with Peter, Gen interjects and says, “They haven’t done anything.” Lara Jean tries to play coy as part of the relationship cover and says, “How do you know?” Gen replies, “Because I know Peter.” Is Peter Kavinsky perfect? Not at all – he makes some mistakes in the story, for sure. But those mistakes are far outweighed by the fact that he is just charming beyond all belief, and (more importantly) an all-around good guy who genuinely likes Lara Jean for being exactly who she is.

 

5) The onscreen chemistry between Lana Candor (Lara Jean) and Noah Centineo (Peter) needs to be bottled. Seriously. Those two need to star in every movie together – they play that well off of each other in every scene they share. I don’t use the word “adorbs” unironically because I am nearly 50 years old. But those two? Adorbs. Half the fun of this movie is watching their facial expressions as they make their way through a scene. In most of their two-ups (when two characters are on the screen at the same time), when Lara Jean is talking, I pay attention to Peter’s face. And likewise when Peter is talking – Lara Jean is VERY expressive. Because of that I can’t help but think that these two actors had a LOT of fun filming together.

Reasons 6-10 are all about Peter Kavinsky, who has replaced Lloyd Dobler from “Say Anything” in my movie-loving heart – a day I thought would NEVER come (it took 29 years for another character to come along and take over the top spot and honestly?  I think I’ll be 99 years old and still loving Peter Kavinsky).  If I could put fictional characters on my Fake Boyfriend list, Peter Kavinsky would be in the number one spot, followed by Mr. Darcy from “Pride & Prejudice” and Mr. Rochester from “Jane Eyre.”

Rightfully so, this movie has become an Internet sensation since it’s release just over a week ago – #TATBILB is a hot hashtag on Twitter, the “woah woah woah” memes are awesome (my favorite is the one in the cafe), and there’s list after list after list about all the things to love about the movie (this one is my favorite (be aware it has major spoilers but trust me when I say even knowing how the movie ends because of the linked list, you’ll still love the movie)).

I REALLY hope Netflix decides to release this movie on DVD at some point because I NEED to have it permanently in my life. If you haven’t watched it? Go to your Netflix streaming account RIGHT NOW and watch it. It’s well worth your time, and I’m hoping that Netflix decides to make more movies like this one.