A sweet, low-stakes teen rom-com with a strong fantasy-to-reality hook, charming leads, and an easy emotional payoff. It’s especially appealing if you like soft, cozy romance, family warmth, and a heroine whose inner life drives the story.
To All the Boys I've Loved Before
Where to watch: Buy
Movie · Comedy · Romance
Fri · 1h 40m
Director: Susan Johnson
Starring: Lana Condor, Noah Centineo, Israel Broussard
Overview
Lara Jean's love life goes from imaginary to out of control when her secret letters to every boy she's ever fallen for are mysteriously mailed out.
Director
Susan Johnson
Cast
Lana Condor, Noah Centineo, Israel Broussard
Curator Review
Verdict
A sweet, low-stakes teen rom-com with a strong fantasy-to-reality hook, charming leads, and an easy emotional payoff. It’s especially appealing if you like soft, cozy romance, family warmth, and a heroine whose inner life drives the story.
Best for
fans of gentle teen romance
viewers who like bookish, introverted protagonists
people looking for a comfort-watch rom-com
audiences who enjoy high-school crush dynamics and makeover-adjacent wish fulfillment
Skip if
you want sharp satire or edgy comedy
you prefer more mature or sexually explicit romance
you’re impatient with earnest, sentimental storytelling
you dislike teen melodrama or awkward secondhand embarrassment
Overview
To All the Boys I've Loved Before works because it treats teenage longing with sincerity instead of irony. The premise is pure rom-com contrivance, but the film sells it with warmth, a clear sense of character, and a lead performance that makes Lara Jean’s private emotional world feel vivid and specific.
Worth noting
The movie’s pleasures are small but effective: cozy family scenes, a dreamy school romance, and the push-pull between fantasy and real intimacy. It has the polished, pastel comfort of a modern YA adaptation, with enough humor and chemistry to keep the sentiment from feeling too sugary.
Bottom line
It’s not trying to be subversive, and that’s part of the appeal. If you want a low-conflict, emotionally accessible teen romance that plays like a soft blanket, this is an easy recommendation.
Top Letterboxd reviews
cinéfila... 🕯️ (3.5★) · 7496 likes
kavinsky has the general vibe of a teenage mark ruffalo and i'm losing my entire mind over it
shay (4★) · 7006 likes
cute and wholesome but my advice to my fellow women out there is that if a guy likes fight club, run the other direction
nagomi (4★) · 6756 likes
she's just like me fr
Riley 🩸 · 5222 likes
lara jean fantasizing about love and when she has to face the reality of it, backs out and also being a terrible driver?? yeah i felt that
bel (4.5★) · 4036 likes
gonna leave the kitchen now Christine
Themes
teen romance, secret crushes, coming-of-age, family bonds, identity and vulnerability, wish fulfillment, first love, emotional guardedness
Topics
teen rom-com, YA adaptation, coming-of-age, cozy romance, high school, first love, family warmth, wish fulfillment, light comedy, sentimental