We have reached the final chapter in the To All The Boys trilogy. Senior year brings a mix of promposals, class trips, and college decisions, the latter of which might threaten the relationship of Peter (Noah Centineo) and Lara Jean (Lana Condor).
Now that the bitter ex-girlfriend/ex-best friend Gen (Emilija Baranac) has formed a truce with Lara Jean, the majority of the drama for this film comes from deciding on a college. The plan has always been for both Peter and Lara Jean to attend Stanford together. When Stanford rejects her application, Lara Jean’s insecurities go into overdrive. She now has to decide if she should attend college in nearby Berkley, only an hour away from Stanford, or follow her newly discovered dream of attending NYU.
The book, Always and Forever, Lara Jean, serves as only a loose inspiration for To All The Boys: Always And Forever. The bones are there, with a trip to Korea, college decision drama, and the wedding of Lara Jean’s father (John Corbett) appearing in both. They switched up a lot of details, however, including changing the colleges under consideration, removing the trip to the beach entirely, and shifting that Korea trip to the beginning of the movie instead of the end.
What does not change from the page to the screen is the spirit of the characters. The last film featured a painfully insecure Lara Jean struggling to find confidence in her relationship with Peter. Now the constant threat of jealousy breaking them up is replaced with the fear that their love will not survive four years of living on opposite sides of the country.
The movie is predictable, as young adult romantic comedies tend to be, but it feels much closer to the charm of the original To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before than the sequel, P.S. I Still Love You. Rather than introducing a bunch of new characters, director Michael Fimognari and screenwriter Katie Lovejoy focus on the people the viewers already know and love. We get some cute moments with Lara Jean’s sisters (Janel Parrish and Anna Cathcart) along with supporting scenes featuring friends Trevor (Ross Butler) and Chris (Madeleine Arthur). The one new character they did add seems like more of an afterthought than an actual plot point, Peter runs into his father (Henry Thomas) at a bowling alley. That moment hinted at some greater purpose that never fully materialized.
Always and Forever keeps the familiar pink and blue color palette of the first two films, along with Lara Jean’s prim but quirky personal style. No one has a sudden shift of personality or says anything that feels out of character. This final edition of the trilogy just wants to be warm and comfortable, like pulling on your favorite old sweater.
Nothing ground shaking or earth-shattering happens in Always And Forever. You can watch the trailer and guess everything that will happen in the film. The more cynical among us will have to turn off the part of their brain that wants to say “twenty years from now none of this will matter” to just enjoy the ride. Even though you will probably not be surprised, you are getting a fairly satisfying ending to a fun and entertaining trilogy.
To All The Boys: Always And Forever streams on Netflix beginning February 12, 2021.
About To All The Boys: Always And Forever
Runtime: 1h 49m
As Lara Jean Covey prepares for the end of high school and the start of adulthood, a pair of life-changing trips lead her to reimagine what life with her family, friends, and Peter will look like after graduation.