Rom-Com Wednesday: ‘To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You’
We have our first sequel of the series!!
Is it a written rule that a sequel to a rom-com has to be sadder than the original? That once the characters get over whatever problem they faced in the first movie there has to be a worse one around the corner. Is that realistic for real life? Maybe. But who wants a rom-com to actually be realistic? Personally, I use rom-coms as a way to feed the delusional side of my brain.
“Part of the reason was because when he was with me, I always thought he was thinking about you. And that I would never be good enough. I was convinced that he was never really gonna get over you. And then I realised that the person who couldn’t get over you …was me” - Lara Jean
If every movie had a quote within it which summarised the plot, the one above would summarise ‘To All the Boys: P.S I Still Love You’. Re-watching the movie reminded me that there was so much more at stake in this movie then just the relationship between Lara Jean (Lana Condor) and Peter (Noah Centineo) - even though I should have guessed that from the first movie. This story has self-doubt, the comeback of a friendship, different characters falling in love, a potential emotional affair and some questionable advice from Stormy (Holland Taylor).
In the 2020 sequel we watch Lara Jean struggle in her relationship with Peter - unsure of how to handle her first relationship and being insecure that everything he is doing with her he has done before - with her ex best friend Gen (Emilija Baranac), now enemy none-the-less. In the beginning of the film we watch her excitement as she goes on a date with Peter, the excitement takes a turn however when she receives a letter from one of the reprints of her love letters. The one and only John Ambrose (Jordan Fisher) (while it is actually just John, but she likes to call him John Ambrose, so he likes it to). Unsure of whether to respond she tells Peter, who used to be friends with him. She never writes back.
But John Ambrose is not the only person to join the story. The high school requires all students to volunteer - Lara jean naturally chooses to volunteer in the same place as her older sister, Margot (Janel Parrish) - an old peoples home called ‘Bellview’. There she meets Stormy, Margot’s personal favourite person there. A character who is very much there for Lara Jean to vent to with no judgement. Lara Jean is the only person from her school to volunteer there, expect for one person from another school. John Ambrose.
Through-out the movie we watch Lara Jean struggle through her feelings for both boys - trying to work out them out. Her and Peter’s relationship keeps hitting a wall of Lara Jeans self-doubt and Peter’s sometimes questionable decisions. While her and Ambrose engage in memories and meaning conversation - oh and at no point does she tell him that her and Peter are together.
This comes to a head as all the high school friends and not so much friends meet in a treehouse that is about to get knocked down to open a time capsule that they buried in middle school. That begins a catalyst of events including Peter and Lara Jeans break-up and Gen and Lara Jean becoming less enemies.
As the movie ends, we watch Lara Jean and John Ambrose at the ‘Star Ball’ they helped to organise that the old people’s home. They talk and dance together and it just happens to start snowing. Like any two people would they go outside, and I don’t know if it is the unresolved feelings or the romantic atmosphere or a combination of the two, but they kiss. In that moment everything makes sense - Lara Jean wants Peter.
As she panics by the confrontation of her feelings she begins to leave and guess who just happens to be standing there when she opens the door. The one and only Peter with arguably the most subtle smoothest line in the film “you said you didn’t like driving in the snow, right?”. I MEAN COME ON (I didn’t mean to capitalise that but even my laptop keyword was like wow).
I’m not going to lie this is my least favourite film of the series but re-watching it made me realise that I forgot how deep the relationships in the film really are. The side characters are not just there to add to the Lara Jean and Peter storyline, but they also have their storylines and struggles that they go through. We watch other relationships blossom - one of course orchestrated by Kitty (Anna Cathcart) - where would we be without Kitty getting involved in potential romances.
We also get to watch the female protagonist in a rom-com struggle to find her feet in a relationship, as well as an insight into her processing her confusion.
In relation to the second movie the director, Michael Fimognari, said:
“We focus deeply on Lara Jean’s perspective of what it means to be in this relationship and the confusion and then the exploration of what it means to maybe have other feelings,” - Michael Fimognari
I don’t know if it’s the lighting, the furniture, fashion, soundtrack or location but nothing feels me with more warmth the ‘To All the Boys’ series. There is something about the movies that makes you want to light a bunch of candles and cover yourself with a blanket.