The new Netflix original movie To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, based off of the novel by Jenny Han, has been generating a lot of attention in the media since its initial release on August 17. Fans have been swarming social media to express their excitement about the movie.

The story follows sixteen-year-old, Lara Jean, who secretly writes letters to express her feelings every time she has a crush. She keeps all of these letters in a hatbox and nobody knows about them until they somehow get sent out. One of the recipients of the letters happens to be Lara Jean’s older sister’s ex-boyfriend, Josh. To avoid confronting him, Lara Jean decides to fake a relationship with one of her past crushes, Peter Kavinsky, the most popular guy in school. As the movie goes on, she begins to get out of her comfort zone and slowly finds herself developing feelings for Peter. This complicates things because she is still confused about her feelings for both boys. Now, she must continue her fake relationship, balance her academic life, manage her home life after her older sister leaves for college, all while trying to figure out who she truly loves.

Students at Amador who have watched To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before each have their own opinions on the film.

“I think it was refreshing for a chick flick. It was nice to see some Asian representation that isn’t just a bunch of stereotypes for once. It also had nice colors and nice cinematography,” said Saheli Thakkar (‘21).

Many students  admired the Asian representation in the movie.

“Asians aren’t represented in media all that often and when they are it is usually an offensive stereotype. However, in this movie Lara Jean was portrayed as a normal Asian-American girl,” said Zoe Yao (‘19).

For the most part, the movie is a pretty accurate representation of the novel; however, there are some differences.

“In the movie, there seems to be a better relationship between Lara Jean and her sister, which I think was constructive to the film, because it sort of built a sense of family, which is not prevalent in the book. Also, Lara Jean’s relationship with Peter isn’t as easy in the book as it was in the movie,” said Esha Chawla (‘19).

Not only did this movie contrast from the book, but it also stands out from other romantic comedies.

“I think what makes this film better than other romcoms is that the situation that Lara Jean Covey is in, is very relatable to other girls and boys and their struggles of dealing with a crush,” said Vaneesha Dave (‘22).

There is still one major question to be answered: will there be a sequel to the movie? Although Netflix has not issued a statement about whether or not another movie is even in the works, fans are still hoping for a sequel to capture their hearts just as the first one did.