You’re Still The One

Trilogies are not common within the genre of romantic comedies. The formula of “boy and girl meet, they fall in love, they break up, they get back together” can only be stretched so far within a span of a two hour long story, it’s even harder to expand on that formula for another four hours worth of story. Sure, there have been attempts, such as “Before Sunrise”, “Before Sunset”, and “Before Midnight” (although they aren’t comedies), and other attempts focus on the three phases of the relationship: the budding romance, their wedding day, and the birth of the first child (see the “Meet The Parents” trilogy, or better yet, don’t). So I was hoping that when Netflix planned to make a sequel to their hit movie “To All The Boys I Loved Before”, I feared it would walk into all the tropes and cliches of rom-coms before it. Thankfully, they didn’t go far into cringe territory. But how does the film fair as a whole? Let’s find out.

In “To All The Boys I Loved Before”, Lara Jean Song Covey (played by the painfully adorable Lana Condor), wrote five love letters to all the boys she had girlhood crushes on in her short lifetime. Her kid sister mailed out all the letters, resulting in one of the boys, Peter Kavinsky (Noah Centineo, Netflix’s go-to actor for high school romance movies), convinces Lara to date him in order to get back at his ex-girlfriend. In true rom-com fashion, Lara and Peter fall in love for real and become a legit couple. Now months later, “PS, I Still Love You” is about Lara questioning her relationship after one of the other letter recipients shows up in her life.

The movie was directed by Michael Fimognari, and this is his directorial debut (he worked as a cinematographer beforehand). For his first movie as a director, he did well for himself. Given that he was a cinematographer, everything was well shot. The screenplay was co-written by Jenny Han, who wrote the novels that these movies are adapted from. Honestly, I prefer it when authors have some creative control over the movie adaptations of their work, since they know best about how the story and characters should be. I definitely think it helped, because this movie seriously reduced the more “sappy” elements of rom-coms that the first movie embraced entirely too much.

As mentioned before, Lana Condor is the most adorable girl in the world as Lara Jean, and plays her as the sweetest person you’d ever want to meet or know. Noah Centineo plays on the razor’s edge of being the jock with a heart of gold and being a typical rom-com gym-bro as Peter, much like how he did in the first movie. The pacing of the movie is also more brisk now that Lara and Peter’s relationship has been established and they are just a normal couple. Joining the cast is Jordan Fisher as John Ambrose McClaren, who received one of the love letters in which Lara confessed her middle school crush to him. The John character is pretty much a parents’ dream come true for their daughter’s boyfriend, he’s nice, respectful, and is interested in things that most kids his age aren’t normally interested in because they aren’t considered “cool”. Rounding out the cast are Holland Taylor as Stormy, a senior citizen who is friends with Lara at the retirement home that she volunteers for, John Corbett as Lara’s dad, and Anna Cathcart as Lara’s little sister, Kitty.

When I said I was hoping the movie wouldn’t fall into the tropes of rom-coms, I meant I was dreading that they would lean too much on the love triangle aspect of this story. Thankfully, it doesn’t. There's one scene in which Peter and John have mild tension with each other, but it never leads to a fist fight in which Lara has to break them up and declare that she won’t choose between the two of them, and will be her own woman, etc. I do enjoy that the movie shows teenagers being volunteers to the community as a positive thing, while being at parties is lame. Granted, I was never a social butterfly at the age that these characters are, but I appreciate seeing high schoolers are doing more productive things with their lives than getting drunk and getting into trouble. It’s also nice to see teenagers being respectful of their elders and asking them for advice, as Stormy becomes a motherly voice to Lara. It’s also unique to see a treehouse being used as an important setting in a teenager movie. And there’s two sequences that focus on families gathering together to celebrate traditions both old and newly created; how refreshing.

I’ve stated before that I consider John Hughes as the master of the high school movie, and this movie does play subtle homages to him, what with musical cues and references to old 80s movies. The movie, for me at least, doesn’t reach the level of spot-on Hughes quality, such as other movies like “Easy A” or “Superbad” have done in the past. Respect for elders, treehouses, and celebrating family togetherness aside, this is very much a movie for kids who grew up in the 2000s, as stuff like cell phones, the Internet, and Harry Potter fandom are key points in the plot.

As for short comings, there are very few. While the cinematography is good, there’s one sequence where they lay it on a bit too thick when it comes to visual symbolism. I can respect the film for being artsy for a rom-com, the symbolism is a little too on the nose. Kitty, the younger sister, is just there and serves little purpose. She’s not annoying to the point of wishing her to go away, but at the same time, she’s forgettable. There’s a dangling plot thread in which Lara’s dad is falling in love with the neighbor across the street that has no payoff. And there’s this classmate who knows both Lara and Peter, and he comes across as being more important than he’s made to be. He’s a little too perfect, considering he’s handsome, is an athlete, and can sing. I felt he was supposed to have something more to do with the plot, but he doesn’t. There is going to be a final installment to the trilogy, so I’m guessing the father’s relationship and this classmate will be further developed in that movie.

Overall, I give this movie a well-deserved four out of five stars. It’s a cute, heartfelt, and harmless movie that teens can watch and cuddle to. I dare say it’s one of those few sequels that are even better than the original installment. It won’t make you forget about “The Breakfast Club” or “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” anytime soon, but it’s still enjoyable. So if you’re up for a movie this Valentine’s Day, or any date night, this is a good choice. That concludes this fanpicked review. And remember, when it comes to the media that you consume, be like Indiana Jones, and choose wisely.

Short Version

Pros:

Charming performances from everyone.

Great cinematography.

Cons:

A few plot lines are left without conclusions.

Visual symbolism is a little too obvious.

Verdict: **** (four out of five stars).