I’m really burning through some franchises this year, am I not? First X-Men, then National Treasure and now To All the Boys. I mean, why not? There’s always room for some laid back viewing and it doesn’t always have to be snooty film snobbery stuff, right?
To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You is the one movie in the franchise that doesn’t quite stand up as highly as the rest of them. In this second instalment, our heroine Lara Jean is living happily with her boyfriend Peter, the guy from the first movie. It’s not all simple, happy families however. One of the recipients of her letters comes crawling out of the woodwork in the shape of Jordan Fisher, and all the feelings she once had for him come flooding back. Two men?! How ever will she choose?! The rest of the movie is dedicated to how she figures that out.
WARNING: *major spoilers ahead*
She really pied off an intelligent, sweet, talented singer/dancer like Jordan Fisher for a lacrosse player with wannabe Mark Ruffalo vibes who steals material from Edgar Allan Poe? Simply unrealistic. Get out of my face. Bleh bleh bleh.
You have to admit, they stepped it up on the casting front with this one. Lana Condor is obviously the heart of the movie, but Holland Taylor? Sassy queen. For context, Taylor appears as Stormi, who is somewhat of a mentor/Grandmother figure to LJ in this movie. Again, Jordan Fisher a.k.a. the most talented young man in Hollywood right now and Anna Cathcart returns on top form as Kitty, meaning I was actually buzzing to watch this second movie when I saw the cast list… It’s just a shame about the rest of it.
First, Lara Jean is less of a dork these days, so the story is less interesting from the get go. Everything in this sequel has been done before so many times, and the narrative itself is basically non-existent. In short, the script is stretched within an inch of its life and could have been completed in 60 minutes instead of 100. I’ve actually seen the third movie at this point (review coming soon!) and you could easily cut this entire movie out of the line up and no one would be any the wiser.
I don’t know, it’s all well-made enough and the soundtrack is once again pretty great, but the story just doesn’t seem to go anywhere. Maybe it’s relatable for a lot of teens, but I never felt that way about it. Sure, I’m 28, but I also don’t ever recall being in any one of these situations when I was 17. Meh. It’s just one big meh.
To summarise, it’s all just a bit pointless and feels more like an overly long episode of Riverdale than a movie. I’ll say it again: they should have just skipped this one and moved on to the third.
To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You is available to stream on Netflix in the UK.
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Overall Rating: ½
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