I’ll forever be jealous of the class of 2008 for graduating with the High School Musical characters, but the “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” trilogy gives me the class of 2021 representation I’ve always wanted.
“To All the Boys I’ve Loved: Always and Forever,” the third and final movie of the trilogy, strays from the love letter plot that the first two movies heavily revolved around. Lana Condor’s Lara Jean is now a senior grappling with college decisions and her future with Peter Kavinsky, played by Noah Centineo.
Lara Jean’s grand plan for her future crumbles when she receives a rejection letter from Stanford, where she had planned to attend college with Peter. In Netflix movieland where everyone seems to easily get accepted into any and every Ivy League, seeing a rejection was a nice change of pace — even though she does end up attending NYU.
After watching the first movie twice in a row on a particularly slow homework day, I had high hopes for the second two installments of the series. It followed the fake dating turned real dating rom-com trope — my personal favorite — and Noah Centineo’s Twitter account hadn’t yet ruined any of his charm in my eyes.
However, the series follows the all-too-familiar trilogy pattern. “To All the Boys I’ve Loved: Always and Forever,” feels like a completely different story than the first two, and it makes it hard to root for some of the characters — you can’t introduce me to John Ambrose in the second movie and then expect me to root for Peter Kavinsky.
Even though it doesn’t exactly hold up to the first two films in my eyes, it still offers 90 minutes of classic rom-com material — from romantic dates to relationship drama. And since it’s looking like my only senior year tradition will be senior spring break if I’m lucky, seeing prom and a senior trip to New York was a nice escape from this COVID-filled school year.
The movie still has the colorful scenes and catchy soundtrack that made the first two movies so fun to watch — “Greeting Committee,” a Kansas City-based band, even made a cameo.
Although it’s an enjoyable watch, the movie lacks the unique plot that had the original topping my list. If you have five hours to spare for the whole series, “To All the Boys I’ve Loved: Always and Forever” is a nice ending to the trilogy. But if you’re like me and looking for a movie to squeeze in between Gov videos and English papers, I’d stick to rewatching “To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before” for the tenth time.