Dreams Do Come True

“So love and dating? I love to read about it, and it’s fun to write about, and to think about in my head, but when it’s real...” Lara Jean is a shy, starry-eyed sixteen-year-old that lives in her own fantasies. Whenever she has a crush so strong that she feels she must get over it, she writes a letter, addresses it, and stores it in her secret teal hatbox. These letters, of course, aren’t meant to be sent to their respective recipients; they are more of a coping mechanism for her to get over her infatuation. One day, when her letters—five in total—get sent, her dreams of romance can no longer be a figment of her imagination. Lara Jean, the girl who lives in her dreams, is suddenly forced to confront her past love interests. “To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before” brings to life the bubbly, dreamy love story of Lara Jean, based on the novel of the same title by Jenny Han. The plot is, at times, predictable, but the movie effectively draws the audience into a dreamy daze of romance with the chemistry of the cast and the carefully designed sets.

This feel-good romance is illuminated by Etsy-inspired sets. The sets featured in the movie are exactly what you’d imagine dreamy upper-middle class suburbia in Virginia to be: large streamlets with DIY-style teenage bedrooms. Lara Jean’s room is incredibly large, which is expected, taking into consideration its role as a focal point in the plot. Though unrealistic in style, her room is every hippie teen’s dream: angelic teal drapes, dim strings of lights, scattered potpourri, and a roomy, large closet. The ethereality of the set sets a dreamy tone that the movie itself is meant to evoke.

It’s hard to deny the immediate chemistry of the cast, which features Lana Condor (who portrays Lara Jean), Noah Centineo, and Israel Broussard (who play her two main love interests, Peter and Josh, respectively). Condor, Centineo, and Broussard bring to life the characters of the novel and make them feel genuine. Anna Cathcart brings to life Kitty, Lara Jean’s younger sister, with her witty and spunky attitude.

The cast is generally strong in embodying the essence of the characters from the novel; some, however, miss the mark, such as Margot (Janel Parrish), who is Lara Jean’s older sister. In the novel, Margot is firm, yet affectionate. In the movie, Margot feels more like a sickly sweet sister, lacking the firm edge present in the novel. Throughout, she lacks the overprotectiveness she exhibits with her two sisters, like when she doesn’t seem to be as shocked about Lara Jean dating Peter in the film as she did in the novel. To add on, Lara Jean’s dad, Dr. Covey (John Corbett), feels more chic and extroverted than the novel makes him out to be. This Dr. Covey is talkative and confident. Nevertheless, these differences from the novel do not detract much from the overall strength and accuracy of the cast in replicating the dreaminess of the novels that made it so successful.

It’s notable that Lara Jean, who is half-Korean, is portrayed by Lana Condor, who is also Asian American. The cast is a strong step for diversity, an important issue in the arts and entertainment industry at the moment. After the recent release of “Crazy Rich Asians,” the first movie in decades to feature an all-Asian cast, the story of Lara Jean, a normal teenage girl living in the suburbs, is yet another testament to the fact that Asian American representation matters.

In addition, “To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before” is not, and was not intended to be, a blockbuster movie. With a modest release as a Netflix Original, the film is meant to be a casual romance. It’s definitely refreshing to see Asian Americans in a teen romance after growing up with scarce teen romances to begin with, all of them featuring a white guy and girl.

“To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before” is monumental in terms of what it brings to the table in diversity—but that isn’t supposed to be the main focus of the film. Bringing to life the light, sweet romance story of Lara Jean, a regular teenage girl in suburban Virginia, the film hopes to normalize Asian Americans in romance films, and all genres, for that matter. “To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before” draws you into its world of naïve romance and dreamy sets, and is definitely worth a watch.