Film Review: "To All the Boys: Always and Forever" (2021).

"You never know where love will lead you." This is To All the Boys: Always and Forever. This teen romantic comedy film directed by Michael Fimognari, adapted by Katie Lovejoy and based on Jenny Han's 2017 novel Always and Forever, Lara Jean. It is the sequel to To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You (2020), and the third and final installment in the To All the Boys I've Loved Before film series. Senior year of high school takes center stage as Lara Jean returns from a family trip to Korea and considers her college plans — with and without Peter.

Development on the film began while its predecessor was still in production. Lovejoy was hired to pen the adaptation and Fimognari hired to direct the third and final installment, on top of its predecessor. By mid July, Lana Condor, Noah Centineo, Jordan Fisher, Anna Cathcart, Janel Parrish, Ross Butler, Madeleine Arthur, Emilija Baranac, Holland Taylor, Sarayu Blue and John Corbett returned to reprise their roles. At the same time, principal photography commenced and wrapped in late August. Filming took place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

The film stars Condor, Centineo, Fisher, Cathcart, Parrish, Butler, Arthur, Baranac, Taylor, Blue and Corbett, who reprise their roles. Whatever the movie's numerous faults, it's nice to see Condor again. She transforms a fuzzy, somewhat uneven, script into something that's seemingly effortless. She's the reason the movie works. Condor can still make viewers sympathetic toward Lara-Jean's trials and tribulations in part because Lara-Jean has some traces of the woman searching for true love in all of us. The film is at its best when it brings its two leading actors together, Condor and Centineo. Their light-hearted triumphs and pitfalls provide more than enough laughs and tears to make this an entertaining experience.

Funny, modern, intelligent, and good-willed, the film proves that sequels aren't always a bad idea. This film I really quite enjoyed - more than a couple of good belly laughs and some pleasingly grown-up humor. The film is a hilariously satisfying finale to franchise that pays equal parts homage and satire to the rom com genre. The film is pretty much in keeping with the content and tone of its predecessors. Those who liked the first two films should like this installment. I wouldn't say that it's a great movie or even much of a step forward for Asian-American representation. But, I have to confess that I can't remember smiling quite so much at a movie lately, and even laughing out loud. Even though a lengthy two hours, the narrative skips along rather nicely. Fans of the series are sure to like it. The film is a rather lovable and funny one, and it will give everyone a good chuckle and a nice warm feeling inside regardless of sex, age or ethnicity. A film that succeeds due to the creative formula behind cameras that worked perfectly with the first film and for being hilarious enough that it fulfills its own pretensions.

Simon says To All the Boys: Always and Forever receives:

Also, see my review for To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You.