To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You
Director: Michael Fimognari
Writer: Sofia Alvarez, J. Mills Goodloe,
Based on: Jenny Han’s novel
Sequel to: To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before
Cast: Lana Condor, Noah Centineo, Jordan Fisher, Janel Parrish, Anna Cathcart, John Corbett, Trezzo Mahoro, Madeleine Arthur, Ross Butler, Emilija Baranac, Holland Taylor, Sarayu Blue
Seen on: 13.4.2020

Plot:
Lara Jean (Lana Condor) and Peter (Noah Centineo) are finally dating for real and things are good. That’s when Lara Jean receives a reply to one of her love letters that were sent out, a reply from John Ambrose (Jordan Fisher). The letter stirs up Lara Jean’s old feelings. And when John Ambrose shows up by chance as a volunteer at the senior home Lara Jean volunteers at, while things with Peter start to get more complicated, Lara Jean finds herself in an awkward position.

To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You hits all the right cuteness buttons that I’ve come to expect from both the books and the first film. If you’re looking from something nice and sweet and light, this is the way to go.

I’m usually not a fan of love triangles (a sentence I write a surprising amount of times), but I will forgive even this in this case, because I liked all of them so much. I could definitely understand why Lara Jean was so torn between the guys. Though I have to say, the re-cast of John Ambrose was a bit weird (especially since I re-watched the first film just before seeing this one), Fisher quickly won me over with all his charme, making me forget that there was another John Ambrose earlier (and since this John Ambrose is black and the first was white, go diversity as well). But I also have to say that Peter is still the cutest.

I liked the way things were resolved between Gen and Lara Jean a little better here than I did in the book. Both solutions are similar enough, but there is one crucial difference in how Lara Jean reacts to Gen’s jealousy of her first kiss with Peter that worked much better for me. On the flipside, I regretted a little that the film barely features Lara Jean’s sisters. Although at least they included Ms Rothchild.

The story here is completely on Lara Jean and the two guys. Fortunately, the central trio of actors is wonderful, above all Lana Condor. She’s an absolute star and I hope that we will get to see her a whole lot in the future.

On a different note: I don’t understand why Susan Johnson – director of the first film – was replaced by another director for this one, and a man to boot. But it reminds me a lot of what happened with Twilight and it sucks.

In any case, the film is like a soft pastel blanket and even if you’re not into pastels all that much (I’m not), there’s no way that you can’t wrap yourself into this blanket and enjoy the feeling. It’s the perfect film for forgetting the world around you.

Summarizing: Beautifully cute.