Michael Fimognari
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Adventures in Babysitting (1987)
Directed by Chris Columbus
influenced To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You (2020)
Visuals
Despite Condor’s determination to make Lara Jean feel like a real girl — albeit with distracting false eyelashes — she’s stuck being a clone, opening the film crooning “And Then He Kissed Me” to her bedroom mirror just as Elisabeth Shue did in “Adventures in Babysitting.”
It’s only fitting that a franchise that so pulls so liberally from its ’80s-era predecessors — no other teen movie has made such a meal out of heart-eyed teens throwing their hands in the paramour’s back pockets since, of course, “16 Candles” — kicks off with a bopping tribute to “Adventures in Babysitting,” as Lara Jean dances around to “And Then He Kissed Me,” a la Elizabeth Shue.
I Still Love You tries to further subvert the genre while still paying homage to the classics right from the jump: The opening scene finds Lara Jean Covey (Lana Condor) mimicking the iconic opening of Adventures in Babysitting.
The Breakfast Club (1985)
Directed by John Hughes
influenced To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You (2020)
Visuals
Lara Jean swoons over one-off classics like “The Breakfast Club” and “Sixteen Candles” (even as she concedes Long Duk Dong is “extremely racist”).
The end of “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” was downright John Hughes-ian, including a big kiss between Lara Jean Song-Covey and Peter Kavinsky on a football field meant to echo Judd Nelson ’s pumped fist at the end of “ The Breakfast Club .”
These movies provide them with the basic vocabulary of their relationship: In the Netflix movie adaptations, when one of them manages to recreate a classic scene — maybe Peter holds a radio over his head à la Lloyd Dobler in Say Anything , or Lara Jean plans a date inspired by the The Big Lebowski — we understand that they are making a top romantic gesture.
It name-drops more rom-coms and rolls out a surprising and solid tribute to The Big Lebowski.
Pretty in Pink (1986)
Directed by Howard Deutch
influenced To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You (2020)
Themes Plot
For example, Pretty in Pink , Some Kind of Wonderful , She's All That and countless others in the genre pinpoint class as a significant social barrier for our potential couples.
John Corbett returns as the girls' devoted father, getting a lovely side narrative, and Holland Taylor is a real treat as the older, wiser Stormy, who dispenses sound advice to our heroine; the latter nicely paying tribute to Iona and Andie's dynamic in Pretty in Pink , when the teenage girl has to choose between two boys.
Twilight (2008)
Directed by Catherine Hardwicke
influenced To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You (2020)
Characters
Peter is neither turned on by Lara Jean’s virgin status nor interested in protecting her virtue à la Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) in the Twilight saga.
Whereas the first movie felt modern (Lara Jean might have sent those letters via snail mail, but she still had to cope with the 21st-century challenge of being slut-shamed around school when a hot tub make-out video went viral), this squeaky-clean follow-up would have felt awfully square had it come out anytime in the last half-century: It makes everything from “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” to “Thirteen” look like Larry Clark’s “Kids” by comparison.
Sixteen Candles (1984)
Directed by John Hughes
influenced To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You (2020)
It even made a point of showing Peter watching Sixteen Candles with Lara Jean and her younger sister Kitty (Anna Cathcart), and having the girls affirm that the dreamboat qualities of the Jake Ryan character make the “extremely racist” Long Duk Dong one worth enduring.
Lara Jean swoons over one-off classics like “The Breakfast Club” and “Sixteen Candles” (even as she concedes Long Duk Dong is “extremely racist”).
Skyfall (2012)
Directed by Sam Mendes
influenced To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You (2020)
Visuals
Fimognari, promoted from the job of cinematographer on the first installment, occasionally cribs a shot from a more ambitious movie: a floating kiss; a pair of snow angels; an argument on a class trip to the aquarium filmed before a tank of bioluminescent jellyfish, recalling a James Bond brawl in “Skyfall.”
Age of Consent (1969)
Directed by Michael Powell
influenced To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You (2020)
Music
…stylish, with a beautiful pastel colour palette and a fashionable electro-pop soundtrack (featuring some modern remakes of '80s classics like "Age of Consent" and "Girls Just Want to Have Fun").
The Philadelphia Story (1940)
Directed by George Cukor
influenced To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You (2020)
Plot
But “The Philadelphia Story” this ain’t, even if audiences are sure to be torn between #TeamPeter and #TeamJohn (Fisher certainly gives the goofy Centineo a run for his money in the charm department).
Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
Directed by Amy Heckerling
influenced To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You (2020)
Themes
Whereas the first movie felt modern (Lara Jean might have sent those letters via snail mail, but she still had to cope with the 21st-century challenge of being slut-shamed around school when a hot tub make-out video went viral), this squeaky-clean follow-up would have felt awfully square had it come out anytime in the last half-century: It makes everything from “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” to “Thirteen” look like Larry Clark’s “Kids” by comparison.
Some Kind of Wonderful (1987)
Directed by Howard Deutch
influenced To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You (2020)
Themes
For example, Pretty in Pink , Some Kind of Wonderful , She's All That and countless others in the genre pinpoint class as a significant social barrier for our potential couples.
Not Another Teen Movie (2001)
Directed by Joel Gallen
influenced To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You (2020)
Plot
After a delightful start, that touches upon Lara Jean's Korean heritage, the way the film then plays with the tropes of the teen comedy threatens to take it into Not Another Teen Movie territory.
The Graduate (1967)
Directed by Mike Nichols
influenced To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You (2020)
Themes
Think of this installment as everything after the nervous bus ride at the end of The Graduate , when a new couple so swept up in the excitement of one another has to then figure out all the boring, anxious negotiations of daily life together.
The Fault in Our Stars (2014)
Directed by Josh Boone
influenced To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You (2020)
Themes
Unlike in some of their famous predecessors, such as John Green’s 2012 novel The Fault in Our Stars , which became a film in 2014 and situates sex as a means to feel alive, they don’t imply a lot of hidden meaning behind teenage curiosity and lust.
She's All That (1999)
Directed by Robert Iscove
influenced To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You (2020)
Themes
For example, Pretty in Pink , Some Kind of Wonderful , She's All That and countless others in the genre pinpoint class as a significant social barrier for our potential couples.
Sex and the City (2008)
Directed by Michael Patrick King
influenced To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You (2020)
Since he’s the actor best known for playing one of Carrie’s flames on Sex and the City , why yes, we’ll allow it.
Fast & Furious (2009)
Directed by Justin Lin
influenced To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You (2020)
I Still Love You arrives, accordingly, with the cozy sheen of an already-successful franchise, like the Fast & Furious of Gen-Z epistolary romance — all parts pre-assembled and road-ready, with a few jazzy new add-ons.
To All the Boys I've Loved Before (2018)
Directed by Susan Johnson
influenced To All the Boys: Always and Forever (2021)
First came To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, which introduced rom-com lovers to bookish heroine Lara Jean Covey (Lana Condor), and her unexpected Dream Boy, Peter Kavinsky (Noah Centineo).
The Kissing Booth (2018)
Directed by Vince Marcello
influenced To All the Boys: Always and Forever (2021)
Themes
I have serious questions for anyone who prefers, say, The Kissing Booth over this, which is the same sort of uplifting young-love-conquers-all affair but without the crackling chemistry, smart writing (Katie Lovejoy did the screenplays alongside Han), and absurdly likable performances that have always made the romantic travails of Lara Jean Song Covey (Condor) and Peter Kavinsky (Centineo) stand out from the crowd.