To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before Movie Appreciation Post

I don’t know about you, but I’ve noticed that the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before movie on Netflix blew up when it first came out. Everyone is buzzing about it, and not having Netflix access at the moment, I was devastated that I couldn’t join in on all the conversation and fangirling everyone was doing.

Recently, my friend invited me over to her house and we watched the movie together, and let me tell you, the movie is GLORIOUS. It was so cute that I wanted to combust with gooey happiness.

I was so in love that I decided to dedicate a whole post about how much I love this movie. That being said, there are major spoilers in this post, so if you haven’t watched the movie or read the book and plan on doing so, I highly suggest you skip on reading this and come back later.

Just a warning: There is a lot of shouting and fangirling in this post. Not sorry about it.

Ok, I feel like I need to address this first before I explode.

LOOK HOW CUTE LANA CONDOR AND NOAH CENTINEO ARE TOGETHER!!

LIKE AHHHHHHHHHHH! ❤

You remember this lock screen?

Well, turns out that it was a totally candid moment because Lana and Noah are such great friends. They were just taking a nap together between scenes or something and one of the crew members found them like that and took a picture. If that isn’t cute then I don’t know what is. Not only are they bf/gf in the movies, they’re really good friends in real life.

(I don’t know about you, but the more I look at the picture, the more I feel like those aren’t comfortable positions to sleep in, but I dunno. It’s adorable and my heart can’t take it.)

Like, look at this. They are so excited to see each other that I’m excited that they’re seeing each other. They’re not dating in real life, but I don’t think any of us would be too upset if they did.

Even while the cast was on their press tour thing, you could tell that Lana and Noah were really close. I felt sorry for Israel (who plays Josh) because he looked kind of uncomfortable and third-wheel-ish.

But seriously though, who can resist loving these two? They may be older than I am (which is weird to think about because they play characters that are younger than I am), but they are my children and I will protect them at all cost. Thank you and Godspeed.

Speaking of age, I have a *slight* complaint about Margot (Lara Jean’s older sister). While I was watching the movie, the first thing that popped in my head when she made an entrance was why does she look like she’s in her late 20’s early 30’s. Turns out, it’s because the actress is 29, and turns 30 in October. No freshman in college looks that mature, for the most part. In fact, I’m going to go as far as saying no high school junior boy looks as good as Noah. Seriously. No one looks that good in their teens. If you did look that good in high school, how? I can’t relate.

(^^ seriously no one should look this good)

One thing I noticed pretty quickly about this movie is that…

THE MOVIE IS SO AESTHETICALLY PLEASING 

Lara Jean’s room and wardrobe are goals. Seriously. Her room is straight out of a Pinterest board and her clothes is any teen girl’s dream.

Her style is cutesy and as someone who just wears jeans and a t-shirt everyday I could take some inspiration from her.

THIS MOVIE IS SO CHEESY AND WHOLESOME

If you need something to lift your spirits, this movie will do it. There are some cheesy moments that make you want to squeal with joy. In my book review, someone commented on how the story was so wholesome, and I wholeheartedly agree. The movie has that same innocent cutesy vibe as the book, and I’m living for it.

(author’s note: no one does the hand-in-the-back-pocket thing, but it’s cute)

THE CHARACTERS ARE GREAT IN THEIR OWN WAYS

I don’t know about you, but I think Anna Cathcart, a.k.a. Kitty, stole the show. Her sarcasm and humor made the movie all the more better.

There was this iconic moment where Lara Jean realized that all her love letters were sent out and screamed. Kitty was sitting with the dad at the dinner table and said something along the lines of “women, amiright?” which made me laugh so hard. Also, when she told Lara Jean about how she sent the letters, her reasoning was hilarious. She yelled about LJ being lonely and she wanted to increase her chance in getting a boyfriend by sending all five letters. Kitty is the dose of reality for LJ, and she owns it during her limited screen time.

Lucas was my favorite character. He gave Lara Jean the needed support whenever it was necessary. He was also part of the comedic relief. I loved the moment where LJ, Chris, and Lucas were all at the cabin during the ski trip and Chris tried to get Lucas to help her convince LJ to go skiing and Lucas was all like “excuse me it’s cold I’m not going out” and once LJ mentioned she had Korean face masks (which are amazing btw if you ever want to try one) Lucas sided with her. Then they basically had a girls night in and gossiped and I tugboated them so hard. (For those who don’t know, tugboating is kind of like shipping two people but for a friendship rather than a romantic relationship.)

The reason I put Gen in this list of great characters is that Emilija Baranac did a great job of creating a hateable character. Gen was a [insert choice of word here] in the book, and it translated into the movie too. She was a snake. Sure, the character was not likable because of how she kept on trying to get between Peter and Lara Jean, but the actress did a great job of portraying that.

Her reasoning about why she’s been trying to bully Lara Jean is a bit far-fetched, in my opinion. It happened in middle school, honey. You’re almost done with high school and you’re still not over that? Girl, let it go. It’s not worth your time and energy. I think she took it too far by sharing the video of Lara Jean and Noah together during the ski trip. It’s kind of sad how a girl would do that to another girl just because LJ kissed the boy Gen liked during a game of spin the bottle four years ago.

I loved the dad too. He is that one chill dad that has a great relationship with his daughters. It’s clear he’s trying his best to raise his children in absence of his wife, and he loves them dearly.

His talk with Lara Jean in the car before she went off into the ski trip was hilarious. It’s awkward enough that he had to have the sex talk with his daughter, but the fact that he is an OB/GYN made it more funny. Lara Jean was super uncomfortable, and the awkwardness of the situation cracked me up so much. He seems like the dad who would constantly make dad jokes tries to cook but can’t. I don’t know why that’s what comes to mind when I look at him, but it does.

I know this is a tangent, but doesn’t Noah and Israel kind of look similar? They don’t look the same, but they look like they could be brothers or something. There are some moments during the movie where I did a double-take because of how similar they looked. Sometimes they look like two different people. Sometimes they look like the same person. I don’t know if this is just me or other people feel the same way.

THE MOVIE IS PRETTY SIMILAR TO THE BOOK

For the most part, the movie stuck to the plot of the book. Sure, they had to change some things because of their limit on time and just so that the movie flowed more. They kept the important parts the same. One thing that they changed was why Kitty sent out Lara Jean’s letters. In the book, Kitty sent them out because she was upset with Lara Jean for teasing her about liking Josh but in the movie Kitty’s reasoning was because she wanted Lara Jean to be less lonely and find a boyfriend. In the end, Lara Jean has a boyfriend, so I guessed it worked out for her.

They took out the part where Josh liked Lara Jean back for a moment, which I’m kind of glad they did. The situation would have been more sticky than it already was, and I don’t know how the writers would’ve resolved the problem.

If you couldn’t tell from all my screaming and fangirling, I really enjoyed this movie. I’m thinking about watching it again, if the opportunity arises. It’s so cute, and I want to drown in all the feelings. Even if you don’t like rom-coms, I still highly suggest you watch this. A lot of the guys I’ve talked to who don’t normally watch rom-coms loved this movie. I think there’s something about this movie that appeals to all groups.

What are your thoughts about the movie? The book?

Do you think Noah (Peter) and Israel (Josh) look similar? 

Do you tugboat or ship Lana and Noah?

Until next time….