The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema & Tv
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
      • Shows
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureMovie reviewsNetflix

To All the Boys: Always and Forever

To All the Boys: Always and Forever | Movie review
12 February 2021
Georgia Howlett
Avatar
Georgia Howlett
12 February 2021

Movie and show review

Georgia Howlett

To All the Boys: Always and Forever

★★★★★

Release date

12th February 2021

Platform

Netflix

Links

TwitterInstagramFacebookWebsite

The third instalment of the teen rom-com To All the Boys: Always and Forever is an excitable throwback to prom days that will evoke either fond memories or shudders. Based on the eponymous novels by Jenny Han, the film follows 17-year-old Lara-Jean (Lana Condor) and her high-school sweetheart, Peter (Noah Centineo), as they navigate the transition to college and its ever-changing possibilities. With its fast pace, it’s a feature of bright lights and abundance, epitomising the dynamic transformations of a teenager’s life in the modern media age. 

Many may find the pair hard to swallow initially. A sickly sweet spring break reunion sets the tone for pastels, cupcakes and rosy-cheeked romantic gestures, but the nature of the genre warrants it. Luckily little sister Kitty (Anna Cathcart) is an incisive addition, providing the savvy comebacks viewers are likely thinking in response to some precedent melodrama. 

Loosely holding themselves to unattainable rom-com standards, LJ and Peter have high expectations as they plan to attend the same college and flourish as an unbreakable couple “always and forever”. However, they are also worried about what they hear about relationships ruined by long distance. When she is rejected from Stanford, Peter’s university choice, LJ’s fears become reality.

Condor is extremely amiable, managing to counterbalance the movie’s cheesy notes as she evolves into a young woman. Although while she makes bold decisions for the benefit of her own future, there is some weak script delivery from Centineo. A key scene featuring the return of his wayward father lacks compelling traction, and he misses the opportunity to develop his character beyond LJ’s playful puppy companion. However, he is hard to dislike with his overall friendly, inoffensive performance. 

A charming set of characters creates an affable balance of humour and heartache as they manage prevalent obstacles to teenagers whose first significant leap into the unknown is imminent. As LJ grows enamoured with New York and gradually realises the pitfalls of planning her life around a boyfriend, her character only becomes more admirable. Plus, the film makes respectable points in favour of taking healthy advice from loving, older family members. 

Looking past a few sugary clichés, To All the Boys is a fun, benevolent approach to a tricky stage of life, offering warm-hearted optimism and celebrating brave growth over comfort zones, even with romance-muddling matters. LJ presents a charismatic role model and a worthy message for the impressionable audience it appeals to.

★★★★★

Georgia Howlett

To All the Boys: Always and Forever is released on Netflix on 12th February 2021.

Watch the trailer for To All the Boys: Always and Forever here:

Related Itemsreview

More in Movie reviews

Foster Boy

★★★★★
Jim Compton-Hall
Read More

Judas and the Black Messiah

★★★★★
James Humphrey
Read More

Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell

★★★★★
Jake Cudsi
Read More

The United States Vs Billie Holiday

★★★★★
BP Flanagan
Read More

The Sinners

★★★★★
Emma Kiely
Read More

What Lies Below

★★★★★
Mersa Auda
Read More

Ayouni

★★★★★
Jacob Kennedy
Read More

Blush

★★★★★
Mersa Auda
Read More

Wrong Turn

★★★★★
Musanna Ahmed
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Movie and show review

Georgia Howlett

To All the Boys: Always and Forever

★★★★★

Release date

12th February 2021

Platform

Netflix

Links

TwitterInstagramFacebookWebsite

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Smith & Burrows – Only Smith & Burrows Is Good Enough
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Creation Stories
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Detroit Stories – Alice Cooper
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Gatsby at Cadogan Hall: An interview with Jodie Steele and Ross William Wild
    Theatre
  • Wrong Turn
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • My Wonderful Wanda
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Foster Boy
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Your Honor
    ★★★★★
    other
  • Maximo Park – Nature Always Wins
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • The most important inventions of the 21st century
    Tech & Sport
  • My Favourite War
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Typical at Soho Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Detroit Stories – Alice Cooper
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Minari
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • West End Musical Drive In Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

Go global this pancake day with ten recipes from around the world
I Still Believe | Movie review