P.S. I Still Hate It

To All The Boys: P.S. I Still Love You is a let down

To+All+The+Boys+Ive+Loved+Before%3A+P.S.+I+Still+Love+You+comes+out+just+in+time+for+Valentines+day%2C+but+its+the+opposite+of+what+everybody+%28single+or+taken%29+needed.+

Netflix

To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before: P.S. I Still Love You comes out just in time for Valentine’s day, but it’s the opposite of what everybody (single or taken) needed.

Avery Marr, Staff Writer

Ever wanted to watch an extremely predictable film with characters that lack emotional depth? Then try out To All The Boys: P.S. I Still Love You. Released the 13th of February on Netflix, the sequel of To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before is thoroughly disappointing. The first Netflix original blew viewers out of the park and still remains to be one of the most replayed movies on the platform. However, when the sequel was released, it left each and every critic with the same conclusion: the movie highlights rom-com pitfalls and teenage insecurities (and that’s it).

The sequel follows Lara Jean, played by Lana Condor, through her sweet highschool romance. Lara Jean and her new official boyfriend Peter Kavinsky, played by Noah Centineo, are the epitome of chick-flick romance. The film highlights Lara’s trials and errors in her new relationship. As Lana’s character is very much an overthinker, the film never glosses over a moment of hesitation within the character. Peter, on the other hand, is perfectly composed and never comes in conflict with inner demons. It depicts yet another male character who doesn’t seem to show emotions and has the girl as the emotional one within the relationship. As a high schooler, this is very unrealistic and the director should’ve applied more emotional depth to his character.

In the first film, Lara’s spunky younger sister sent all of her love letters out to the world. Towards the end of the film, there was a ‘lost’ letter out of the five that had been received and therefore indicated a second film to be released. The sequel follows exactly that plotline, as a new character, John Ambrose is introduced. He is the fifth boy mentioned in the first film and comes to steal Lara’s heart back. Throughout this movie, Lara Jean is tugged between John and Peter and has to make the ultimate decision of which boy is better for her. It seems like a totally original plot, right? As mentioned before, John is the same age but still remains to be an emotional heartthrob for Lara Jean. As a viewer, this really confused me and the director placed all of the insecurities on the lead female role and left the two male roles unaffected, as mentioned before.

The film had a very distinctive shot and imagery style that made the film extremely boring. The director mainly focused on wide shots with characters centered in the middle. On each shot, the characters were perfectly engulfed in clusters of greenery to give an aesthetic appeal. The film rarely used the Rule of Thirds, only seen in a few shots. Mainly focusing on bright colors and any centered object to make the scene look aesthetically pleasing. Like most Netflix originals, the film used tons of drone montage shots. These are the worst of all and every terrible film has the tendency to include these shots. Each montage shot was tracking a car driving through scenic hills or dense forest. Overall, if the film got more adventurous with the shots, it would improve the quality immensely, and that’s without the cringe-worthy acting.

To All The Boys: P.S. I Still Love You is a great movie for a lonely hopeless-romantic with low standards. However, if you are looking for quality content, look elsewhere. This film didn’t strike a single emotion within and I don’t plan to watch the third film. The film is found on Netflix if you want to give it a second look.