I’m a 90’s kid.
I loved everything about the ’90s especially the movies. Rom-com to exact. I never understood much of the scenario, because in Brazil we don’t have the same High-school we have there. High School in Brazil, at least for me, was a bummer and the only joy was those movies, like “Never Been Kissed” or “She is all that”, “Boys and Girls”, Down to you” and so many others. I always had a dream that I didn’t need to be rescued, but down inside, I would love to.
I recently had to write a Young Adult story, and for inspiration, I dived in head first, to those “Coming of age” movies and books. I believe that there was a time, between 2005 and 2017 (too Long!) that those movies were forgotten. All it was seen was Super Heroes, Explosions, Maze Running and other genres, but not “Coming of Age” and nothing particular to Young Adult. Yeah sure, we did have some like The Fault in our Stars, The perks of being a Wallflower, Spectacular Now, etc.
During those days I was looking for inspiration for my story, I decided to look on Netflix for some of this Young Adult Genre, and for my surprise, I loved all of them. Well except one, that you will probably know from my following list.
“To All the Boys I Loved Before” 
This movie is by far the cutest on the short list. Lara Jean and all the mess she put herself into is a pleasure to watch. We all have been there before, not specifically with letters, but I’m pretty sure the teenager you did some still cringes you to this day. I have plenty, ask me later. The movie shows Lara Jean, her cute family, that includes her dad and her two sisters. A younger and and older sister, that’s is moving away to college. In the movie it’s just state that her mother died, in the book, they wrote what happened. But the story is about Lara Jean writing letters to her boys she once loved and after a fight with her little sister, the letters are sent (in the book, the movie has a different reason). Once the letters are sent, we start seeing who were the boys. First Josh, her ex-boyfriend’s sister. She met him before and was in love with him before until Margot decides to date him. The second one is a kid who is gay and the 3rd one is Noah Centineo aka Peter. Peter goes along with faking a relationship with Lara Jean, to make his ex-girlfriend jealous. It works, the story develops beautifully, we fall in love with their fake romance and cheer for them to end up together. It’s just a cute and lovely movie, the teenage rom-com at its best.
“The Kissing Booth” 
California, mansions, rich kids. Another kid that has lost her mom and it is trying to give her life some sense and purpose. Yeah, you are sixteen, you have a best friend since the day you were born and you guys have a list of rules to follow. One of the items of this list is “don’t hook up with my brother”. So far it works fine until you miraculously notice his older brother and realize you have a huge crush on him. Where was that hunk before? In the basement the whole time? After defending Elle from a fight, out of nowhere, they start having feelings for each other. Suddenly he is all over, when she creates the Kissing Booth for the school project, guess who is there? The hunk. He kisses her and it is all downhill from there. They kept it a secret from his brother/her best friend, and go to live that romance wildly. The hunk is a few years older, but she is 16. It was so savage that she would go out on his motorcycle, lose her virginity under the Hollywood sign, have tones of sex in her bedroom, so much that when her best friend came by surprise, she told him she was watching porn. Far too advanced for a 16-year-old. Maybe this is an American thing? Please let me know. When I was 16 all I wanted was to be the backstreet boy girlfriend or at least get someone interested in me. The movie is cute, but its also more grown up.
“Siera Burges is a Loser”
Sierra is the definition of insecurity. Different from the first ones, she has both parents, lives in a structured house, her dad is a writer and she dreams to go Stanford. She has her nemesis, a best friend and apparently, she doesn’t care for what she looks like. Until she gets a text message that it was supposed to be for Veronica, her archenemy.
Sierra tags along and the guy thinks, the guy is Noah again by the way, that she is the other girl. Meaning, Sierra basically catfish the poor guy and used Veronica to get to him, with the intent of helping with her grades. Poor Veronica lives in a messy environment, her mom is quite abusive and her looks don’t define who she is in the inside. Sierra then decided to befriend her and start to realize her attitude is more a cover-up than anything else. At this point, I’m cheering for Veronica. I don’t care about Sierra anymore. They become good friends until something happens and Sierra blames on her friend furiously. When it was not Veronica’s fault at all. In the end, after a reality check, and abusing people she loves and trusts the most, she comes to the realization she is what she is. Accepting herself it would be the best for her. Netflix should work on a sequel. with either one of the characters, maybe with Noah? “Catfished by Sierra Loser”
“SPF 15”
I still don’t know what this movie is about. I had to literally take notes while watching. Forgive me if you love this movie, you probably have a reason for it. The main character is Penny, she is a daughter of a famous actress, and she thinks her mom is a bit all over the place. Her mom is played by Molly Ringwald, mrs Sixteen Candles and The breakfast Club (also play the boys mom on “The Kissing Booth). Penny is boring from the 30 second mark. She always has a camera, constantly filming for whatever it is she is filming, we don’t know. The cousin shows up at her door and she is much more up going than Penny. Camila asks about the guy Penny is seeing, she convinces her to lose her virginity in a crazy sequence. Oh, I almost forgot. Noah is taking care of Keanu Reeves Mansion, like they are besties. Its a gorgeous place in front of the ocean. Quick remarks to not extend this too much :
- Johnny/Noah back story is not very well explained
- There is a Musician that comes from Nashville and no one knows why. Maybe he didn’t like the South or Country music.
- After losing her virginity, Penny meets the musician outside in a kombi van, lost in space, like he came from a different planet. Well, Nashville is different than California .
- Johnny doesn’t have fun with anything. I thought he was actually a ghost .
- Ash, the Musician, gets so mad when Penny upload a video of him playing at the pier, for no apparent reason. Like he gets irate.
- There is a unnecessary sequence of Animation, with Camila and Johnny, because Camila decided to give him a Lucid Dream. Yeah that also happen.
- Camila just met him and asks him if he would take her serious. Now they kiss and they are together. Where is Penny?Pissing off the musician.
- So Penny get all the images and make a video music and everyone is happy in the California sun.
You might like it. I was confused.
See you next week
JS
