To All the Boys I Loved Before, the 2018 Netflix YA hit that launched a franchise and in-house star in Noah Centineo, was integral to the platform’s revival of the rom-com for a reason: it had the ineffable “it” factor. The film, written by Sofia Alvarez and based on the novel by Jenny Han, updated the best of teen romance tropes to the present – awkward yet attractive girl, charismatic yet sensitive Romeo, harmless frenemies; insular school traditions, thwarted flirtations, a good dose of heart and a larger helping of heat. On a streaming platform full of background movies, the first To All the Boys was refreshingly fun to watch.
Along for the Ride, the new Netflix teen romance written and directed by Alvarez, misses that spark. A lot of that comes down to its protagonist. Like To All The Boys’ Lara Jean, Along for the Ride’s Auden (named after the poet – yes, she’s a bookworm) is beautiful, thin, decently fashionable, smart, well-read and lives in an upper-middle-class single parent household. Both are neurotic and awkward, and bury their unspoken desires into the fictional worlds of books.
