FilmSnobReviews

Title: To All the Boys: Always and Forever
MPAA Rating: TV-14
Director: Michael Fimognari, Gareth Smith
Starring: Lana Condor, Noah Centineo, Janel Parrish
Runtime: 1 hr 49 mins

What It Is: Laran Jean (Condor) and Peter (Centineo) are now well invested as a couple. So much so that they plan to go to Stanford together in the fall. Just a few things getting in the way. First among these…well…Lara Jean didn’t get into Stanford. Secondly, she’s fallen in love with the city of New York and with NYU. A place she did get into. Will they survive as a couple? Will they make it work?

What We Think: This is the weakest film in this series. Hit hard by sequelitis. The first film features an interesting premise. Lara Jean dealing with her letters being sent out. The second one is all about a cog being thrown into the relationship. The stakes here aren’t nearly as interesting. Condor and Centineo still have cute energy about them. It isn’t enough to make a third film and just hope the characters you’ve established will work. You have to give them a proper resolution and I don’t really think this one did that. Instead, it played like a story that ran out of steam.

Our Grade: C, Lana Condor will most certainly come out of the other end of this trilogy as the star she deserves to be. This is just a case of a film series that had nowhere left to go. A script that muddles too much of what had this franchise shining. If there’s one thing I understand and love it’s a good romantic comedy. This one worked in the meta of that genre. Often calling back to others. Unlike the Before trilogy or perhaps like it the quality reduces with each film. Though that’s where the comparisons end. Because all three of those aforementioned films (in the Before trilogy) are still so solid.I mean it’s an easy watch being on Netflix and if you’ve seen the other two go on and check this one out.