Film

To All the Boys I've Loved Before

Name: To All the Boys I've Loved Before
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Released: 2018
Cast: Lana Condor, Noah Centineo, Israel Broussard, Janel Parrish, Anna Cathcart

Jenny Han's novel becomes the glossy teen rom-com that reset the genre for a streaming generation: fuzzy sweaters, a fake-dating premise, and a fizzy, unforced chemistry between Lana Condor and Noah Centineo. It plays every trope completely sincerely rather than knowingly. Watch it for comfort and warmth, not surprise — this is romance as a soft landing, not a puzzle.

TMDb rating

7.6

If you liked this

Crazy Rich Asians2018

Same year, same star wattage, and another mainstream romance putting Asian and Asian-American characters front and centre — glossy, funny, and unapologetically swoony.

But It's a wealth-fantasy rom-com, not a teen story — the stakes are weddings and empires, not lockers and crushes.

Love, Simon2018

Same year, same John Hughes-descended high-school sweetness, but centres a gay teen's first love with equal warmth and comic timing.

But More earnest coming-out drama than fluffy fake-dating fun — it wants a few tears alongside the laughs.

10 Things I Hate About You1999

The teen rom-com ancestor — sharp, funny, and running a fake-relationship-turns-real plot decades before Lara Jean, with a cast that still crackles.

But Late-90s slang and fashion date it hard, and the gender politics haven't all aged gracefully.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Shop Around the Corner1940

The original secret-correspondence romance — two people who despise each other in person fall for words on a page, decades before Lara Jean's letters ever got mailed.

Ernst Lubitsch at his most tender, with dialogue so light and precise it barely seems written — the ancestor of every romance where words on a page reveal the truth.

But Black and white, 1940s pacing, and a shop-clerk setting that couldn't feel further from lockers and letterman jackets.

The Half of It2020

Same Netflix-teen-romance neighbourhood, but swaps the fantasy gloss for something quieter and more thoughtful about who we really write love letters for.

But Slower and sadder, with less kissing — a mood piece more than a straightforward crowd-pleaser.

Set It Up2018

Same year, same warm rom-com engine, just with overworked assistants scheming instead of teenagers — proof the formula works just as well for adults.

But No high-school nostalgia here — it's an office comedy, so the vibe runs older and brasher.

The Kissing Booth2018no page yet

Same year, same Netflix algorithm that made Lara Jean a hit — more secret crushes and best-friend drama, delivered instantly and unashamedly.

But Broader and sillier, with far less interest in emotional nuance than To All the Boys.

She's All That1999

A bet-turned-romance high school classic that shaped a generation of teen movies, complete with makeover montage and prom-night payoff.

But The "secretly beautiful loser" premise feels dated and a little mean by today's standards.

Never Have I Ever2020

Mindy Kaling's series has the same big-hearted, funny first-love energy, just with room to breathe across a whole season.

But It's a TV commitment rather than a two-hour dose, and grief plotlines add weight the film never carries.

Sierra Burgess Is a Loser2018

Same year, same studio system, another awkward-teen-finds-love story with genuine heart buried under some messy choices.

But The central deception is much harder to root for, and the film seems to know it less than it should.

Whisper of the Heart1995

Swap the letters for a library card and a notebook of songs — same idea of first love discovered through someone's writing, just animated and Japanese.

Studio Ghibli's quietest, most grounded film — a hand-drawn ache of a story about a girl falling for a boy through the things he's written.

But Gentle to the point of slow, with almost none of the plot mechanics or scheming this genre usually runs on.

Eighth Grade2018

Same year, same subject — a teenager's crush-addled inner life — but stripped of every rom-com gloss to show how genuinely mortifying that age actually feels.

Bo Burnham's achingly funny, painfully honest directorial debut, anchored by Elsie Fisher's performance as a girl just trying to survive being thirteen.

But There's no swoony payoff — it's cringe-real rather than comforting, and some will find it too raw to enjoy.