To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (2018) Review

Lara Jean is not the most confident of teenage girls and over the years to deal with her crushes she wrote a letter to the boy it involved, but when the secret letters are posted everything is about to change in her life.

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For some reason I missed watching this one straight away on Netflix, you know I just love the original films they have been releasing in different years. Therefore I would like to say really early on in this review that this is one of the good hidden gem style ones! Based on a book, which I had never heard of before but let’s face it I am well and truly out of the loop when it comes to books now as I just don’t have time to read them.

Anyway we have Lara Jean who is awkward and struggles when it comes to the opposite sex for anything more than friendship that is. As the film starts she is getting ready to say goodbye to her older sister Margot who is moving to Scotland (yes really of all places) for college. This is something that leaves her struggling as she has relied on her sisters support over the years. Their mother died when they were younger and now she must look to do the same for their youngest sister Kitty. Her father is pretty cool in terms of the boundaries, however embarrassing that may get for her.

After a clear out and her secret letters being found, with addresses on they are sent out. I am sure you will easily guess who did that and this then creates some horrible situations for Lara Jean. Especially when one of the letters was for her sisters ex-boyfriend Josh, who she was very good friends with. Peter sees this as an opportunity to make his ex-girlfriend jealous and enters into a partnership with LJ, as they have rules and agree to be fake boyfriend and girlfriend. With this though real feelings were bound to come into it and it creates a mess at times as well.

I thought the film was acted well enough and Lana Condor was pretty impressive in the leading role as LJ. We were well and truly on her side as I am sure we can all remember those awkward teenage years and how it feels at times to be totally alone. It also takes into consideration the issues teenagers have now with social media and how videos can go viral and when they are not in the best taste that can be fatal for someone’s reputation. Along with that it has some lovely moments as she bonds more with her father and learns new things about her mother. It was nice to see John Corbett in this type of role, I totally see him as Aidan in Sex and the City (still)!

This original from Netflix is well worth the time to watch and I am sure you will be nicely surprised to the different subject matters the film takes on, with all types of relationships covered.