The sequel to Jenny Han’s To All the Boys I Loved Before is out now. Netflix dropped To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You at midnight.
Fans of the first installment are already raving about the sequel.
The first film focuses on the romance between Lara Jean Covey (Lana Condor) and Peter Kavinksy (Noah Centineo). P.S. I Still Love introduces a second love interest for Lara Jean: John Ambrose (Jordan Fischer). Both Fischer and Centineo have charmed audiences with their performances.
The movie currently has a 75 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics felt that while the sequel wasn’t as strong as its predecessor, it was still charming.
“To All the Boys: PS I Still Love You doesn’t quite match its predecessor for heart fizzing romance – the first film dealt sensitively with loss and grief – but it’s just as entertaining and charming anchored by a supremely likable central performance from Condor,” Ann Lee wrote in her review for The Guardian.
However, some critics were not convinced by Condor’s performance. Robyn Bahr, a critic for The Hollywood Reporter, found Lara Jean uninteresting.
“Lara Jean Covey is someone I would have Mean Girl-ed in high school,” Bahr wrote. “The chick is a straight-up wiener.”
Bahr also added that the film didn’t properly address Lara Jean’s struggles as a hapa teenager.
“Of course, the mere existence of a biracial protagonist does not mean a story needs to meaningfully address race or cultural plurality,” she wrote. “But here, neglecting these topics is a disservice to the film, coming off more as erasure than a boon for color-blind representation.”
However, for some, Bahr misses the point. Many fans felt the representation in itself was meaningful.
Lee added that Lara Jean’s story is complex. Her Korean heritage is thus “treated as just one thread in the tapestry of her life.”
To All the Boys I Loved Before: P.S. I Still Love You is streaming now on Netflix.
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