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I got Always And Forever, Lara Jean for my birthday but I never read it because I wanted to reread the first two first, and I finally reread TATBILB yesterday (while working a polling place) and I’m on PSISLY and Christ I love these books, I love Lara Jean Song Covey and I love everything about these books ahhhhhh I can’t want to finally finish them.

#LARA JEAN X PETER 5EVER #ljsc

To All of the Boys I’ve Loved Before: A Review by Miranda Ibarra

Last Tuesday (August 7th) I had the opportunity to attend an advance screening of the To All of the boys I’ve Loved Before, my favorite series ever, at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts. And since I am completely obsessed with it, I decided to give my take on the film in a review. This will more of a book vs. movie comparison instead of a full review. Hopefully, this will be enough to lull everyone over for the two more days left until the film premieres.

Disclaimer: This is my first ever review and I have absolutely no experience in writing them whatsoever, so if the formatting is completely incorrect I wrote something wrong, please don’t take it seriously. I only did this for fun and for people to learn more about the film. Also, may contain few possible spoilers.

Plot: In Comparison to the Book- 8/10

Throughout the film, the plot is seen to be very stuck to and remaining the same as its roots in the novel. However, as this is a movie with only a small timeframe to showcase the entire story have been tweaked a little from the original book to make the storyline flow, but overall it remains the same. (Warning: may contain some spoilers) Some of the scenes include the moment Kitty sends out the letters. Not because Lara Jean almost exposes Kitty’s secret crush on Josh to him, but because Kitty wants Lara Jean to have a boyfriend. As well as having Lara Jean and Peter kiss in the same scene he confronts her about the letter. (ALthough, it was later confirmed that the kiss was filmed this way and not the original because the angling in the hallway would have been too difficult to film properly).

With these several tweaks, it creates itself almost a bit of a space from the book and film. However, its spirit remains true to heart and you will be sure to feel all the emotions throughout this story.

Characters: Movie vs. Book 9/10

Dan/Dad: Same wholesome character. The amazing dad we all know and love 10/10

Lucas: Loving and Supportive friend to Lara Jean as the film progresses 10/10

Genevieve: Not as much seen. A bit more antagonist bitch vibes. Unlike in the book where she holds more of a fake vibe, pretending to make/be seen as nice, She is more upfront and confrontational this time and cringier 7/10

Chris: A great and supportive friend of Lara Jean. However, both the character and actress seems too nice to be a tough girl like the original Chris is. I expected more of the character to be like Angie from Diary of a WImpy kid, more serious and careless. However, here Chris appears more to be a bit more energized and sweeter. But still carries the same protection and supportive aura. 7.5/10

Margot Song Covey: Margot only appears in the very first scenes and towards the end just like in the original book, with the exception of a facetime conversation. The portrayal of her as a big sister continues to be seen as super close, protective, and supportive to both of her younger sisters in both universes. However, her personality changes a bit more lenient in the film in comparison to her stubbornness as seen in the books. But overall is a valued and well-represented character always present in a conversation. 8.5/10

Josh Sanderson: Although always represented as a supportive and emotionally attached person turned distant in the novel. He remains mostly a distant character that is really only mentioned because it’s essential to the plot. He is rarely seen, trying to keep his relationship with Lara Jean back to the way it was before his break up but it never works and he is very spaced away. His personality is more seen as a humble country boy next door, rather than the shy nerdy character as the original. Not entirely likable but has the same sense of support. 6/10

Katherine “Kitty” Song Covey: A very likable and entertaining persona. APpears older and wiser than her age and very beyond her years. Is extremely loving and supportive toward her sister(s) even in the harshest of times. And credits herself for most things when its due even if the situation doesn’t seem necessary for it. Acting and dialogue for Kitty deemed be witty, funny, and clever in almost every single scene and basically stole the entire film. As accurate as always. 10/10

Peter Kavinksy: As smooth and cocky and overly confident as ever. Stops at nothing to protect his jock popular status in school and his relationships. His overly boosted ego starts to deflate and soften during the film as he falls deeper in love with Lara Jean without even realizing it. Played by the amazing Noah Centineo, Peter Kavinsky is amazingly portrayed as the same egotistical yet cheesy romantic character we have all come to love and is perfectly represented in all aspects of this film. 10/10

Lara Jean Song Covey: The leading character in this entire universe. Seen as a very hopeful and sparked character with a few secrets that intentionally get seen and exposed to many. Played by Lana Candor, Lara Jean is represented as a brilliantly bright protagonist with many flaws and insecurities that she learns to overcome in the process. With her feelings going from one place to another, she is carried on an emotional journey from the fear of being known, to the fear of falling in love and finally into the acceptance of it all. The downsides of her portrayal have to do with her personality. In the film, she is seen to be very messy and unorganized when she is very clean and loves to be attentive towards things. As well as we see her love of baking disappear, with the exception of one scene, but even then she seems clueless about it. Which is instead replaced by an even bigger show for her love of books instead. Overall, a beautifully phenomenal portrayal of the strong and powerful young person we know and recognize since the very beginning. 10/10

Missing Scenes throughout the film:

Because of time constraints, a lot of scenes that were not totally necessary, but very much admired were not able to be filmed. Here is a list of some of the scenes I would have loved to have seen in the movie.

Josh: Josh is only seen to be more of a “covey family oriented” character at the very first scene of the film. When in reality he still has a long attachment even into the middle of the novel before it starts to fade with his break up with Margot. I would have loved to see more interactions with the coveys and him.

Halloween: I think its a very iconic part of the novel where we see even more development between Lara Jean and Peter through school and their fake relationship. It definitely deserved to have its moment in the spotlight.

Christmas Cookie Bonanza and the Recital Party: These were very essential parts in the novel that changed the entire course of the relationships between Lara Jean and Peter and Josh. Starting off with Cookie Bonanza, Lara Jean's love for baking is entirely erased and we never get to see her joy and excitement and Peter’s interest and later apology gift for one of the recipes. As well as the nostalgic party that the brawl between the two boys never took place in the scene. The Christmas time events deserved their moment more than any other scene in the film and I’m quite disappointed that it never happened.

Overall Thoughts and Final Opinion 10/10

As this series is very near and dear to my heart, I have very strong and biased opinions on this overall experience and film. I firmly believe that this film came out as amazing as it could have. Despite the many changes and cuts from the novels, it did very much so stick to its true elements and followed the story through as accurately as possible, which I find happens very little in novels-turned-film adaptions. The casting was unbelievably amazing, finding 3 beautiful and talented Asian-American girls to be sisters and front and center is truly what I hoped for to stay essential, and I am truly grateful that the did that. Everything from the sets to the location even to the plot changes I think was pretty great and worked well, that it made everything look so complete and realistic.

All in all, I have to say that this came out almost exactly how I envisioned this story to look like. Peter and Lara Jean carried themselves perfectly to the end as a couple and as characters and as my biggest hopes, it all went supremely. I highly recommend watching this film many many times, and the best setting I believe is with your best friends on a Friday night full of laughter and cheer. Go watch it on Netflix August 17th, 2018 :)

Tiny Fun Facts from Director Susan Johnson for your Entertainment ;)

The Director thought that Noah would play Josh and Israel (Josh) would play Peter, but knew right away after chemistry screen tests that it would work out the opposite

The team tried as best as possible to keep the Song girls Korean-American, but there were not enough actresses in the audition pool to make it happen.

The hot tub in the snow scene was filmed in 95 degrees (35 Celcius) weather in the summer in Vancouver.

The director very much Lana Candor to play the part of Lara Jean the moment she auditioned, she knew and pulled her aside to tell her she was rooting for her.

All the scenes at the Covey house were the first to be filmed and all in one week.

They gave Kitty so much more dialogue that they had to move the part from the supposed age 9 to age 11.

Jenny Han played a big role in helping the film. She guided the director on everything. Including what Korean-American traditions to uphold to.

Jenny Han cameos in a scene.

Even though they don’t wear shoes in the house as in the book, there’s a scene where Margot wears slippers in Lara Jean’s bed. This happened accidentally during filming.

#to all the boys i've loved before #tatbilb #lara jean song covey #ljsc #peter kavinsky #lara jean #convinsky #song covey #kavinsky #movie review #netflix original #my diary