Stars: 3.5/5
“To All The Boys I Loved Before: Forever and Always” wraps up the series in the most long-winded, lackluster way possible. This was essentially “High School Musical: Senior Year” without the musical aspect. ‘Forever and Always’ obviously is missing the charm that the first movie had. I can’t describe it in detail, but the first “To All The Boys” had an entrancing aspect.
I read the first two books but got sick of Lara Jean’s personality. So, it’s kind of hard for me to gauge what this movie does related to the novel. I honestly don’t have a strong opinion. The movie does its job as the final installment of the series and did everything I thought it was going to do. Nothing too wild or outstanding.
The first half of “Forever and Always” is essentially Lara Jean (Lana Condor) and Peter (Noah Centineo) planning to go to college together, then she has problems with deciding where to go. The second half is brutal but is the more drama-filled half showing more problems for the couple. Some of the things that Peter says to Lara Jean are so blunt that they hurt my feelings. Prom night went from fun to unfair.
I was a little hurt by Peter’s blunt remarks to her about changing colleges. If you love her so much, then support her. What Peter did on Prom night was wrong. He could have waited a day. I understand that he was hurt, too, but that was anger built up from weeks of no communication. Lara Jean also had her faults by leading him on for so long about going to Stanford or UC Berkley. Eventually, he came around, and they worked things out.
Time is the biggest gripe I have with “Forever and Always” because most of the scenes did not need to be there. I got sleepy around the 55-minute mark. This isn’t a fantasy young adult movie; it’s a romance movie. Why were two hours needed?
“Forever and Always” drags on for two long hours where you are waiting for something to happen, yet you are never satisfied.
Honestly, this whole movie could have been under an hour, if Lara Jean and Peter had better communication skills. I understand that they’re teenagers and going to do dumb things, but a lot of the movie’s drama could have been resolved with a quick text or a respectable, understanding conversation. No offense, but how do they expect to last throughout college when they break up in every movie?
Also, where is John Ambrose? No mention of him….when he was one of the main characters in the second movie.
I applauded Genevieve’s character development. She went from a jealous ex-girlfriend to one of Lara Jean’s biggest supporters. When I first saw her in the movie, I thought she’d pull a mean girl stunt, but she was kind.
Kitty’s classic stunt of hiding something from Lara Jean touched my heart this time. She said she’ll miss her on a scale of 12 out of 10. The sister dynamic is what honestly saves this movie and makes it stand out from other teen romance movies.
“To All The Boys: Forever and Always” deserves 3.5 stars because of how it warmed my heart and got a few tears out of me. Since I didn’t read the final book, I was expecting the movie to blow me away. The first movie blew me away, and it sucks that the final one couldn’t reach that level. However, this series will forever and always be in my heart.