All The Boys I Love

WHOAWHOAWHOA! You may find some spoilers here, read at your own risk! 

Netfix movie official poster

Who doesn't love a good cheesy romantical story from time to time? If you do, then you surely have watched (and rewatched, as in my case...) To All The Boys I've Loved Before, possibly one of the most popular comedies premiered in 2018. It has everything you might be looking for: it is funny, it has a very good girl (our dear Lara Jean) and a very bad one (Gen), as well as two main male characters (Josh, the best friend, and Peter, the beloved).

Susan Johnson clearly did a good job adapting Jenny Han's book. Because yes, it was first a book, a trilogy, in fact. Although the author has been really involved through the filming, the differences between the book and the film are obvious.

First of all, Kitty - who sends the love letters - is the typical little sister, overall lovely but petty sometimes. This is perfectly seen in the written version. In the film she does send the letters out of sisterly love in hopes of Lara Jean to finally have a boyfriend and live her life as a normal teenager should do, but in the book, Kitty sends the letters as a revenge on Lara Jean, who was constantly teasing the little one because of her crush on Josh (he really conquered all the family).

Second but not least important, the male characters. Yes, the main ones are two, Josh and Peter, and yes, they are pretty much the same in the book and in the film. However, the difference lies in the progress of their stories. 

Josh Sanderson (Israel Broussard)

Josh Sanderson is LJ's best friend and her first crush but turns out he ends up dating her older sister - who drastically breaks up with him before her moving to Scotland -  Margot. As LJ realizes her real feelings toward him, she decides to write the love letters about all the boys she has had a crush on. The literary LJ says - and I quote - "My letters are for when I don’t want to be in love anymore. They’re for good-bye. Because after I write my letter, I’m no longer consumed by my all-consuming love." Josh's character plays a key role in both versions of the story, but in the film, it seems like he really doesn't because we barely get any scene of him and Lara Jean - and when they do appear together casually talking or having a serious deep conversation, it is about no other than Peter. 

Peter Kavinsky (Noah Centineo)

Peter Kavinsky is the first boy she has first kissed (the infamous kiss that made Gen her hater and enemy), and although when she wrote the letter the feeling had long faded away, everything changed when he received it. It is funny how his reacion to the letter was literally him saying to her "I'm sorry but it's not gonna happen" and in the span of a few dates he was already head over heels for Lara Jean. This character is, along with Lara Jean, the core of the motion picture and appears in most of the scenes, while in the book we have to squint hard and wait until the second half of it to properly have Covinsky interactions. 

Lara herself is slightly different. Her hobbies and likings give us the same feeling of a shy, romantic girl, but while literary she consumes her time scrapbooking and baking, in the big screen her favourite pastimes are reading and watching films with Kitty. 

Song Covey girls forever!!!!!

Her "emotional support" also changes from one version to the other. In the book she relies the most on both her sisters and her father, and later on, on Peter. In the movie, she has her loyal, fantastic and sassy best friend, Chris (who happens to be Gen's cousin). Chris is present in the novel, but the way both girls interact and have each other's back is not even close to be similar to the way they do in the film.

The beginning of Lara and Peter's relationship is different too. In both formats Peter was the one to suggest the idea of pretending to be in a relationship, but out of different motifs. In the book, Gen breaks up with him to hang out with a college boy, and Peter asks Lara to fake-date in order to show Gen that he is already over her. In the movie, Peter's reaction is to do the proposal in order to make Gen jealous and get her back. Lara simply accepts because she needs Josh to actually believe that she is no longer in love with him. 

In the movie, it all starts and ends with a letter. After their breakup, Lara has a conversation with Josh about her feelings (in which she apologizes to him and explains the nature of her love letters), and Kitty gives her back the turquoise box with all the notes Peter had wrote to her while they were "dating". Then she surprise, surprise realizes that she is in love with Peter, so she goes on and writes a new letter to him. She goes to the lacrosse field (driving!!!!!), confesses to him, they start a real relationship and they live happily ever after, or so we thought until THAT appearance (three words: John. Ambrose. McClaren). In the book, she gets to write the letter, but it ends. Yes, the book literally ends like that, on a cliffhanger.

Covinsky being the OTP to end all the OTPs

The movie has omitted certain cute moments, like the Halloween party or that time when Lara accompanies Peter to buy antique chairs for his mom - the first time they really hung out alone because they wanted to -  but still, it catches the essence of the story from the very first moment, plus the fact that some details were improvised by the actors (in the scene where Peter is watching Sixteen Candles with the Song Covey girls, Noah Centineo was not supposed to take away the popcorn bowl) gives this film an even cuter vibe. Such a finale anticipates a sequel, which has already been confirmed by the protagonists (watch the video here)

P.S: Curious about which role would suit you the most? Find it out here