Oh boy. Where to begin?
My entire apartment just watched this movie. It was the end of Valentine’s Weekend, we had all at least semi-enjoyed To All The Boys I Loved Before, and we all sat down prepared for a wholesome teen romance.
Well… Let me put it this way: we barely—and I mean BARELY—made it through the whole movie. (It became necessary to pause for audience rant breaks on at least three separate occasions.) Honestly, if I hadn’t already committed to watching this movie, I wouldn’t have finished it.
No, I take that back. Had I not been watching P.S. I Still Love You with a group of people, I would have stopped within the first five minutes. As it was, I could only hope the plot would magically be resolved in some kind of vaguely-satisfying manner. Instead, the movie’s resolution left me with more questions than it answered. The writers left so many plotlines unresolved.
But I digress. Something must be saved for the rest of this post. So, let’s get into what I liked (while I remember the contents of this short list), and what I didn’t like about Netflix’s P.S. I Still Love You.
What I Liked:
Some Pretty Compelling Background Characters
Let me start this off by saying that Stormy was the absolute queen of this movie. Not only did Stormy provide some much-needed comedic value amidst a cast of overdramatized, overblown, and underdeveloped characters, but she also proved to be one of the more relatable figures in the film. Seriously, if I had to deal with Lara Jean’s senseless drama all the time, I would probably be driven to drink too. (I’ll discuss my many issues with Lara Jean herself later.)
I honestly also appreciated the background romances that developed over the course of the movie much more than the relationships central to P.S. I Still Love You’s plot. Chris and Trevor’s budding romance possessed a genuineness completely absent from the John or Peter and Lara Jean relationships central to the story. I could have happily spent the entire two hours focused on them instead. Even the relationship between Mr. Covey and the divorced neighbor, stereotypically wince inducing as it was, could have passed as cute had everything else been handled correctly.
Aaannndd that’s it for the (sort of) positives. Deep breath, everyone.
What I Disliked:
Lara Jean Herself
This girl CREATES ALL HER OWN PROBLEMS. Lara Jean is a complete nightmare throughout the entire movie: sullen, paranoid, completely irrational, senselessly jealous—basically all the relationship red flags rolled into a single person. Lara Jean lost my sympathy and the interest of the people I watched the movie with from almost the opening scene. She jumps to conclusions at a logic-defying speed, and her internal struggle with inexperience in love quickly becomes more self-perpetuated than endearing. The absolute last straw for me was when Lara Jean decided to roll around on the wet ground in a borrowed dress. I mean, how self-centered can you possibly get?
Anyway, I’m stating the very obvious here, but enjoying a movie proves supremely difficult when you can’t stand the protagonist.
Problematic Messages
I fully acknowledge that I watched this movie through jaded eyes. Fairy tale-style love stories just don’t cut it for me anymore, unless they’re accompanied by some pretty compelling auxiliary material. But then I think about the number of young people watching P.S. I Still Love You without my cynical perspective, and that scares me more than the realization that Netflix plans to make a third movie. Let us PLEASE not take the many problematic messages this movie sent to heart.
As one of my apartment-mates so wisely said, “love is not ‘we’re not going to break each other’s hearts.’ It’s we’re going to love each other through the heartbreak.” And I guess you could argue that’s the idea filmmakers tried to get across with Lara Jean and Peter’s initial promise and later reconciliation. But this moral arc comes at a significant ideological cost. Lara Jean’s actions inform audiences that:
- Your love life outweighs your responsibilities to your family, friends, and community.
- It’s totally normal to obsess over hypothetical situations from middle school.
- The superficial aspects of a relationship (i.e. how you celebrate Valentine’s Day, how you look/what outsiders think of you) matter at least as much as how you feel.
- It’s okay to emotionally manipulate and/or lead on multiple people because you’re experiencing some sort of romantic indecision or inner turmoil.
All of these present a significant problem, particularly in a film directed at teens just beginning to dabble in relationships of their own. Instead of portraying healthy relationships, P.S. I Still Love You features and PROMOTES the very stereotypes that damage the romantic perceptions of young people in particular.
That Ending… Yikes.
First of all, “you don’t like driving in the snow” was NOT a good enough reason for Peter to randomly show up at the old people’s home. I don’t expect movies like this to be completely realistic, okay? But REALLY??
Peter and Lara Jean’s relationship was so full of problems I don’t think several DAYS of conversation could have salvaged it, let alone ONE completely arbitrary sentence. Forgiveness doesn’t come that easily.
Second, I have a serious problem with Lara Jean flat-out leaving the party she supposedly volunteered to run. And not only did she leave; she also left behind the boy whose heart she just broke for no particular reason to finish her job and clean up all by himself. Finally, I’ll leave you with this: what the heck was up with the whole levitation shtick right before the closing credits? If it was supposed to represent some kind of euphoric metaphor, the filmmakers definitely missed the mark on that one.
What on EARTH happened to the characters I CARED about? And for that matter, WHAT HAPPENED TO JOHN??
As mentioned previously, the ending to this movie barely resolves the conflict between Lara Jean and Peter. Worse, the sheer number of additional plot holes that P.S. I Still Love You managed to leave gaping wide open proved truly astounding. What happened to Mr. Covey and the neighbor? How about Gen, and her parents’ divorce? Or Chris and Trevor’s relationship? What did poor John do after Lara Jean kissed him then left him standing alone in the snow?
The credits rolled, leaving me with more questions than answers. While I suppose that most of the unresolved storylines could be neatly wrapped up over the course of a third movie, I found P.S. I Still Love You’s failure to acknowledge any of its secondary characters during the closing five minutes of the film more than a little alarming. It was as if Lara Jean’s boundless self-preoccupation had somehow managed to hijack the entire script.
On a more personal note, in my opinion, the interactions between the Covey sisters represented one of the more compelling subplots of To All the Boys I Loved Before. The youngest sister’s decision to mail out Lara Jean’s love letters set the plot of the entire series in motion, after all. But more importantly, the sisters’ dynamic struck a chord close to my own heart. The way the three of them laughed, cried, and behaved together reminded me in some ways of my relationship with my own sisters. Unfortunately, Lara Jean’s sisters play a drastically reduced role in P.S. I Still Love You. Perhaps with a few more sequences like the Korean New Year scene, Netflix’s second installment in the series would have packed a bit more of an emotional punch.
The Verdict:
Well guys, here we are. No surprises here; we all know where this is going. I think this post might represent my first truly negative movie review on this blog. That being said, P.S. I Still Love You is by no means the worst movie I have ever seen. That dubious honor still belongs to Batman vs. Superman, which we can discuss another time. However, as my apartment-mate so accurately stated, P.S. I Still Love You hovered just above a Hallmark movie-caliber standard throughout. (Note: As a filmmaker, this is NOT a category you want your work to be placed in.) Yes, it could have been worse. But I seriously doubt that I’ll end up watching the Netflix’s third and final installment in the series. I already kind of regret wasting a couple of hours watching the second one. Overall, I would give P.S. I Still Love You a 3.5/10.