Netflix has been doubling down on the romantic comedies lately.
Three of the streaming giant’s new releases this summer — “Set It Up,” “The Kissing Booth” and “Like Father” — sent the message that bubble gum romantic comedies are likely to become a staple of Netflix’s original content strategy moving forward.
The latest entry is the surprisingly sophisticated teen rom-com “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.”
“To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” is based on the YA novel of the same name by Jenny Han (part of a three-book series including sequels “P.S. I Still Love You” and “Always and Forever, Lara Jean”).
The film tells the story of Lara Jean Song Covey (Lana Condor), a 16-year-old teen who is a hopeless romantic. She and her three sisters (Lara Jean is the middle child) are being raised by their widower dad Dan (John Corbett).
Lara Jean keeps a set of love letters she has written (but hasn’t sent) to all the boys she has loved throughout her life — when she “has a crush so intense” she doesn’t know what else to do.
She writes the letters for herself — storing them in a special hat box her mom left her.
One of Lara Jean’s loves is Josh — the “boy next door” who has been dating Lara Jean’s older sister Margot (Janel Parrish). When Margot breaks up with Josh (because she is leaving home to attend college in Scotland), Lara Jean’s feelings for the boy return.
Lara Jean thinks the five letters are “safe and sound” in her room, until a classmate named Peter Kavinsky (Noah Centineo) approaches her at school and mentions having received the letter written about him.
Our protagonist has to deal with the ramifications of her letters being out in the wild — crafting a way to save face and avoid further embarrassment.
While the setup for “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” might sound routine for a teenage romantic comedy, the performances in the film help set the story apart.
Lana Condor is believable playing the socially-awkward Lara Jean. Her performance doesn’t feel contrived. She has a sincerity that adds authenticity to the film. She is the beating heart of “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.”
On the whole, the entire cast is likable. That’s what makes the movie work.
There’s one particular scene in “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” that harkens back to the teen rom-coms that John Hughes became famous making back in the 1980s.
In the sequence, Lara’s Jean father Dan is trying to cheer up the melancholy girl, and takes her out for a bite to eat at a greasy spoon called “Corner Cafe” — a place he and Lara Jean’s mom frequented when they were dating.
Dan tells Lara Jean that her mom would play Tears For Fears “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” over and over again on the jukebox.
As the song plays, Dan talks about how his wife would dance around the aisles: “I think back, and I think ‘Man... I should have been up there dancing with her.’”
He encourages his daughter to let the world see her for the woman she is.
Little moments like this help “To All the Boy’s I’ve Loved Before” rise above the standard teen rom-com fare.
As a result, “To All the Boy’s I’ve Loved Before” is a romantic comedy worth checking out.
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