To All the Boys I've Loved Before (film)

Template:Infobox Film

To All the Boys I've Loved Before is a 2018 American teen romance film directed by Susan Johnson and starring Lana Condor, Noah Centineo, Janel Parrish, Anna Cathcart, Madeleine Arthur, Emilija Baranac, Israel Broussard and John Corbett. Based on Jenny Han's 2014 novel of the same name, it was released by Netflix on August 17, 2018.

Plot

High school junior Lara Jean Covey writes letters to boys she feels an intense passion for before locking the letters away in her closet. Her latest letter is to her childhood friend Josh, who is dating her older sister Margot. When Margot moves to college, she breaks up with Josh. Lara has always had a crush on Josh and has to decide if it would be okay to date him.

One night, while hanging out with her little sister, Kitty, Lara Jean falls asleep on the couch, allowing Kitty to sneak into Lara Jean's room and find her collection of letters. The following Monday at school, Lara Jean is confronted by a former crush of hers, Peter. Peter reveals he was mailed his letter, causing Lara Jean to faint. After waking up, she sees Josh approaching with a letter of his own, and in a moment of panic, Lara Jean kisses Peter before running off.

Lara Jean then encounters another recipient of a letter, Lucas, who comes out as gay as she realizes all the letters have been mailed. She then explains to Peter she was merely causing Josh to think she lost interest in him. Peter is surprisingly okay with this and proposes he and Lara Jean fake date each other to make his ex-girlfriend (Lara Jean's ex-best friend and current #1 rival) Gen jealous. She agrees, and the next few months go by with the whole school, along with their respective friends and families, believing the lie.

However, when Peter finds Gen actually jealous, he finds himself conflicted on his true feelings. Meanwhile, Lara Jean finds herself jealous at the two. Eventually, the two go on the school ski trip together, where they confront each other about their true feelings. They proceed to kiss while alone in a hot tub. After the trip ends, Gen confronts Lara Jean, revealing Peter spent the night in her room after they kissed and taunting Lara Jean by showing her a scrunchie Peter let her take, that was actually Lara Jean's favorite. Furious, Lara Jean breaks up with Peter and storms home, where she finds Margot has returned from college. Peter then comes to her house, hoping to explain that nothing happened between him and Gen, but Josh arrives as well. Margot overhears everything and is visibly upset when she learns of Lara Jean's former feelings for Josh. Things are worsened when after Lara Jean asks Peter to leave, she sees that a video of her and Peter in the hot tub has been put up on Instagram.

Lara Jean asks for Margot's help, who calms down and comforts her sister. Kitty then reveals she was the one who sent the letters. While Lara Jean is enraged, Margot calms her down when she asks why the letters had addresses on them. Lara Jean realizes she may have wanted to send them but was too afraid to do so, and the sisters forgive each other before emailing Instagram to get the video taken down.

After Christmas break, Lara Jean discovers everyone knows about the video anyway, while Peter tries to tell everyone that nothing happened. Lara Jean confronts Gen about the video, who reveals she tried to sabotage their relationship as she felt betrayed when Lara Jean kissed Peter in middle school during spin-the-bottle. After talking with her dad and reevaluating the relationships in her life, Lara Jean talks to Josh, who agrees to be friends again. When she hesitates to go to Peter despite having real feelings, Kitty pushes her to do so. Lara Jean goes to see Peter, and he tells her he is in love with her. The two kiss before walking off together.

In a mid-credits scene, John Ambrose, a recipient of Lara Jean's letter who she knew in fifth grade, arrives at her door with flowers in hand.

Cast

• Lana Condor as Lara Jean Covey
  • Isabelle Beech as young Lara Jean
• Noah Centineo as Peter Kavinsky
  • Hunter Dillon as young Peter
• Janel Parrish as Margot Covey
• Anna Cathcart as Kitty Covey
• Andrew Bachelor as Gabe Rivera (changed to Greg in the movie adaptation)
• Trezzo Mahoro as Lucas Krapf (changed to Lucas James in the movie adaptation)
• Madeleine Arthur as Christine
• Emilija Baranac as Genevieve
  • Rhys Fleming as young Gen
• Israel Broussard as Josh Sanderson
  • Christian Michael Cooper as young Josh
• John Corbett as Daniel Covey
• Kelcey Mawema as Emily Nussbaum
• Julia Benson as Mrs. Kavinsky
• Joey Pacheco as Owen Kavinsky
• Edward Kewin as Kenny Donati
• Jordan Burtchett as John Ambrose McClaren
  • Pavel Piddocke as young John
• June B. Wilde as Joan

Production

Development

In June 2014, author Jenny Han's New York Times Best Selling young adult romance novel To All the Boys I've Loved Before was optioned by Will Smith and James Lassiter's production company Overbrook Entertainment. At that time, writer Annie Neal had been hired to adapt the book for the screen. On July 5, 2017, production began in Vancouver, British Columbia. It was announced later that month that Lana Condor had been cast in the leading role of Lara Jean Song Covey, with Susan Johnson directing from a screenplay by Sofia Alvarez. It was also reported that John Corbett, Janel Parrish, Anna Cathcart, Noah Centineo, Israel Broussard, and Andrew Bachelor had joined the cast of the film.

This is the first film released by AwesomenessTV after its acquisition by Viacom.

Filming

Principal photography began in Vancouver, British Columbia and the surrounding areas on July 5, 2017. Parts of the film were shot in Portland, Oregon, which is also the setting for the film. Scenes at Lara Jean's high school were filmed at Point Grey Secondary School. Production concluded on August 4, 2017.

Release

In March 2018, Netflix acquired distribution rights to the film, and released it on August 17, 2018.

Reception

On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 96% based on 52 reviews, with an average rating of 7.4/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "To All the Boys I've Loved Before plays by the teen rom-com rules, but relatable characters and a thoroughly charming cast more than make up for a lack of surprises." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 64 out of 100, based on reviews from 12 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

The film has been criticized on social media for the casting of white male actors in the roles of four of the five love interests for Lara Jean. Speaking with IndieWire, author Jenny Han stated, "I understand the frustration and I share that frustration of wanting to see more Asian-American men in media." Han added, "For [To All the Boys I've Loved Before], all I can say is this is the story that I wrote."

A scene in the film featured Kitty offering Peter a bottle of Yakult led to a spike in sales for the drink in parts of the world.

Sequel

In August 2018, Jenny Han, author of the source novel, said of a sequel film, which would adapt Han's written sequel book, titled P.S. I Still Love You:

“

There's so many things in the second book that I would love to see in a sequel. The whole reason why I wrote a second book was for the character of John Ambrose McClaren, who is a fan favorite, and he's a favorite of mine too. I would love to see that explored, and also there's a character called Stormy that I love to write. I would love to see that.

”

In November 2018, it was reported that Netflix and Paramount's Awesomeness Films were in discussions to produce a sequel to the film, and Netflix announced development of a sequel film, featuring Condor and Centineo, in December 2018.

Trivia

• The scene in which Peter saves the popcorn from the couch during the pillow fight and the scene where he spins Lara Jean around in the cafeteria were unscripted and improvised by Noah Centineo.
• After finishing To All the Boys I've Loved Before, Lana Condor was immediately part of "Team Peter".
• Noah Centineo and Lana Condor originally met during the pre-read process of the film, where Centineo asked Condor if she wanted to go through the lines with him. She declined.
• Lana Condor and Janel Parrish actually have a sister-like relationship in real life.
• Much like Lara Jean, Lana Condor writes The Letters in real life to help her deal with her emotions.
• The scene in which Peter and Lara Jean kiss for the first time was co-created by Noah Centineo and Lana Condor.
• One of Janel Parrish's reasons for wanting to work on To All The Boys I've Loved Before was because she wanted to be in a movie "she wished was around when she was younger".
• Lana Condor and Anna Cathcart actively follow all the To All The Boys I've Loved Before memes and jokes and share them with each other.
• In order to create the necessary chemistry for the hot tub scene, Noah Centineo and Lana Condor spent a lot of time in the hot tubs at their apartments.
• Lara Jean's phone wallpaper is an actual picture of Lana Condor and Noah Centineo cuddling.
• Lana Condor hand-wrote all of the versions of Lara Jean's and Peter's contract that are seen in the movie during a lunch break.
• Jenny Han, the author of the book series, has a cameo in the movie as the chaperone at Lara Jean's school dance.
• Many studios were interested in adapting To All The Boys I've Loved Before before but all under the condition that Lara Jean's race was changed from Asian to Caucasian. Jenny Han, however, didn't want that to happen and instead searched for a studio that was interested in keeping Lara Jean's original heritage.
• In the track scene, Lara Jean was initially supposed to jump into Peter's arms but upon realizing that it didn't look right when filmed, they rewrote the scene.
• Lara Jean's and Chris' conversation about Chris' EDM concert was unscripted.
• The Corner Cafe, where the characters repeatedly meet, was an actual diner up until late 2018 when it was rebranded and relaunched as Douce Diner. It is located in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada at Pemberton & 15th Street.

Gallery

Promotional

Movie

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