Book vs. Movie: To All The Boys I've Loved Before

Via Netflix

This is the weekend I will remember most on the summer movies of 2018. When we had not just one, but TWO movies starring an Asian lead. In my last post, I praised the film adaptation of Kevin Kwan's Crazy Rich Asians. Today, it's the Netflix film adaptation of Jenny Han's To All The Boys I've Loved Before. Honestly, I have been anxiously waiting for this movie all week ever since I binge-read all three books this past weekend. I had to watch the trailer and teaser repeatedly to keep me occupied until Friday when the movie arrived on my Netflix queue. It was definitely worth the wait because the film did not disappoint. I can say without a doubt that I loved it.

The story centers on Lara Jean Song Covey, a shy high school introvert who keeps a fabric box containing five love letters she has written to boys she has had a crush on throughout her life. The two most prominent ones (in terms of this movie and the first book) are Peter Kavinsky, her childhood crush and the most popular boy in school, and Josh Sanderson, the boy next door. Josh had been dating Lara Jean's older sister, Margot until she broke up with him before leaving for college in Scotland. When her letters are mysteriously mailed out to all of her crushes, she and Peter, who had just been broken up with by his girlfriend, Genevieve, come up with a plan to pretend to date. Peter's objective through this is to make Genevieve jealous, while for Lara Jean it is to save face from Josh who now knows her harbored feelings towards him. What starts out as pretend slowly turns into something real between the two as Lara Jean begins to have genuine feelings for Peter.

What I loved about this adaptation was that it captured the heart of the book and its beautiful heroine. As someone who is also an introvert, I definitely related to Lara Jean. I was happy that we got to see her quirky, awkward, but sweet personality through Lana Conder's performance. Her chemistry with Noah Centineo's Peter Kavinsky is almost reminiscent of Molly Ringwald and Michael Schoeffling  in Sixteen Candles, which this movie references as well.

I had read an article in The New York Times by the author herself, that when there was an interest in adapting her book the studios wanted to change the character from Asian to Caucasian. The excuse was "as long as the actress captures the spirit of the character, age and race don’t matter," to which Han's response was "well, her spirit is Asian-American. That was the end of that." I commend her for fighting to keep her character true to what she wrote. As an Asian myself, I too want to see more women, more girls, more actors, who look like me, in a leading role. It's not enough anymore to see an actor of a different race sidelined to a supporting character. We are more than the best friend trope.

There were a couple of changes they made that I thought worked and some that didn't, but there were a lot of things I mostly liked that they kept from the book. Spoilers ahead!

LARA JEAN AND PETER KAVINSKY

For those who have read the books, I cannot say enough how perfectly Lana Condor and Noah Centineo brought these two characters to life. Through their charade, Lara Jean and Peter end up opening themselves and bringing out the best in each other, which the film highlights early on and rarely changes from the book.

In the book, Lara Jean had her first kiss with Peter after attending her first boy-girl party in middle school. While they were waiting for their parents to pick them up, Peter suddenly kissed her unbeknownst to both of them that Genevieve, who had a crush on Peter and was Lara Jean's best friend at the time, had witnessed it. In the film, their first kiss was through a game of spin the bottle. After Lara Jean agreed to kiss Peter, Genvieve ended up hating her for kissing her crush. I actually didn't mind either version. The one difference though is the outcome of the kiss. In the film, Genvieve comes off as having a perennial grudge for a kiss that was only the result of a game. However, in the second book, the real reason she was upset was that even though they kissed, Lara Jean failed to tell Genvieve about it when she knew that she liked Peter. I thought book's version gave a better context to the disintegration of their friendship. You have to support your friends before anything else.

Another difference between the book and the movie was that the film brought in a storyline from the second book, P.S. I Still Love You. After Lara Jean and Peter kiss in the hot tub, a video of them goes viral. It causes a rift between them, but they ultimately make up after Peter defends her. In the first book, the kiss turns into a suggestive rumor that quickly spreads. Then in the second book, a video of them is posted on Instagram and multiple variations of it are shared with others and later even shown during a hijacked assembly presentation. Peter defends Lara Jean in front of everyone at the assembly, further solidifying their relationship. Throughout the second book, however, she begins to question him and his friendship with Genevieve, whom she adamantly believes to have been the one who posted the video as two spend more time together. I actually liked that film brought in bits of the viral video storyline from the second book because it was a minor plot continuation that could have stayed in the first book. However, if you have read P.S. I Still Love You I can understand why Han saved it for later, as the second book gives us more insight into Genevieve and her bond with Peter. If there is to be a sequel (crossing my fingers!), I would be interested in seeing this explored and it would give more depth to Genevieve's character as opposed to the "mean girl" stereotype she's depicted as.

One scene I really missed and wished they had put in the movie was the Halloween scene from the first book. There are so many fans who have talked about and enjoyed this scene. So, I was disappointed that it was excluded (maybe they can bring it back in the sequel perhaps?). In the book, Lara Jean decides to go as Cho Chang from Harry Potter. To her surprise, Josh dresses up as Harry Potter. Meanwhile, Peter and his friends go as superheroes, with Peter obviously dressed up as Spider-Man. Peter gets jealous that Lara Jean and Josh basically chose a couple-costume, while Lara Jean is still upset with him for always picking her up late for school. The little argument turns into a silly banter with Lara Jean pretending to hex Peter while he's pretending to use his spidey-web powers on her, to which they end up chasing each other around the school. By the time they get to class, Peter writes her a note apologizing for being late and that he will pick her up early from now on. It's such a small but cute scene, and one of the early instances that they begin to fall for each other.

Some other small changes between the book and the film:

• Lara Jean kisses Peter in the hallway when she sees Josh approaching, whereas the film changes this setting to a track field.
• The contract negotiation takes place outside Peter's house in the book, instead of on the school grounds. The ski trip and the double feature movie were not included. Peter ends up asking Lara Jean to come on the ski trip later on as their fake relationship progresses. Also, Peter is the one who suggested the hand in the back pocket.
• They both keep their fake relationship a secret from everyone throughout the entire series. In the film, Lara Jean ends up telling Margot and Lucas. She actually broke a lot of things on the contract in the film than in the book.
• The film ends with Lara Jean confessing her true feelings to Peter with a love letter in hand. This event actually takes place in the second book and is slightly different. She writes Peter a love letter and goes to his house on after celebrating Korean New Year. She hesitates to give it to him until he notices it in her pocket and reads it. They end up getting back together as a real couple this time. I actually liked how the film though sets their reunion on the lacrosse film instead mirroring the opening scene, and it makes for a better cinematic ending.

JOSH SANDERSON

The one thing I was a little disappointed with in the film was the lack of screentime for Israel Broussard as Josh Sanderson. I thought Josh was sideline too much for a majority of the movie when it could have been interesting to explore how the letter affected him, and how he compares to Peter.

In the book, it turns out Josh actually had feelings for Lara Jean long before he began dating Margot when they were just kids. His feelings changed when Lara Jean accidentally scratched his bicycle he had saved up for during a walk home. A few years later, when Lara Jean wanted to admit her feelings to Josh, he ends up admitting his crush on Margot. Just as in the movie, Josh was upset that Lara Jean was dating Peter, but compared to the book this was geared towards concern than jealousy. Throughout the book, there is tension and jealousy between him and Peter that boils over when Josh kisses Lara Jean showing that he has feelings for her that may have been harbored since they were kids. Lara Jean realizes at that moment though that she does not love Josh. As the rest of the series continues, she and Josh become friends but they inevitably drift apart as they could never have the same relationship they had before when he was dating Margot.

In the film, I thought Josh came off as surprised, maybe even confused and curious about Lara Jean's feelings towards him, making him question how he may possibly feel about her. While I prefer this depiction of his initial reaction to the love letter, I feel that the film did not get to explore this further as he never gets a chance to talk to Lara Jean about it until the very end. Although their conversation at the end gives a better closure than the book, there could have been more scenes between the two than just lingering looks from afar, or even with Peter than the two scenes they had, to build up towards that.

THE LOVE LETTERS

A small but major difference between the book and the movie was the reason behind why the letters were sent. Kitty and Lara Jean get along but occasionally fight at the beginning of the book. When Josh visits them one night, Kitty talks about getting a dog to which Josh asks what she would name it. Lara Jean teases her that Kitty would name it after her crush, which actually turned out to be Josh. Upset, Kitty sends out her sister's love letters to get back at her.

In the film, Kitty and Lara Jean are very close to a point where Kitty even cancels her Saturday night plans to spend time with her whom she feels is lonely. She sneaks into her room and sends out all of the letters in an attempt to help her. Kitty even has this great line where she says that the reason she sent out all of them out was so that Lara Jean would have a higher number of chances of getting a boyfriend. I really liked this change from the book as Kitty's reasoning was more out of love than revenge.

Before the movie ends, we are introduced to John Ambrose McClaren, the last recipient of the love letters. There is a great storyline in P.S. I Still Love You that explores his relationship with Lara Jean and how he could be a real contender against Peter (although I am Team Peter all the way). 

Hopefully, we get a sequel or even possibly a TV series with the same actors to continue the story because there is still so much to tell. Either way though, I enjoyed this movie and I have no shame in admitting that I have been watching it on repeat this whole weekend. For those who have nothing to do, go out and watch Crazy Rich Asians then go home and watch To All The Boys I've Loved Before.