Amazon's 'The Summer That I Turned Pretty' Signals Jenny Han's Triumphant and Masterful Return to Teen Rom-Coms Since 'To All the Boys'
2018 was a great year for romantic comedies starring Asian Americans. Not only was it the year of Crazy Rich Asians, and the world's introduction to the incredibly suave and hunky Henry Golding - 2018 also marked the first installment of Netflix's To All the Boys I've Loved Before, a teen rom-com based on the book of the same name by Jenny Han that also catapulted Noah Centineo to internet boyfriend status overnight.
Now, Amazon has capitalized off Han's mastery of the teen rom-com genre by signing an overall deal with the YA author and having her serve as co-showrunner for her latest book adaptation The Summer That I Turned Pretty - this time for TV.
The Summer That I Turned Pretty follows Belly, played by a fittingly coy Lola Tung, as she and her family spend summer at their family friend's idyllic beach house.
While there, Belly is faced with navigating her entry into adulthood, as she weighs the decision to participate in the local debutante ball, while also juggling a love triangle between brothers Jeremiah and Conrad, childhood friends who are now just starting to realize that the girl they've grown up with is now transitioning into a beautiful young woman.
I will start off this review by saying that in a way, I know I'm slightly out of the target demographic. Sure, I'm an Asian American woman who loves rom-coms and owns the hot take that To All the Boys is the better film than Crazy Rich Asians.
However, I'm also no longer a teen. Thus, watching The Summer I Turned Pretty's pilot episode was a nostalgic exercise in returning to my teen years, while also being fully aware that Belly was making decisions that an older, wiser me would actively avoid.
As a woman, I remember that time when you go from being a child to suddenly being noticed by boys. It's an overwhelming, awkward, and uncomfortable time - one where teen girls are constantly guessing how they should present themselves. The Summer That I Turned Pretty pins down and expresses this feeling perfectly. Belly's experience resonated with me because it felt true to mine. I imagine it would also ring true for teen girls who are in the midst of going through that experience, especially now that there's social media making girls hyper-aware of societal expectations toward ideal, desirable womanhood.
The Summer That I Turned Pretty is also a show obsessed with change, which reflects its coming-of-age genre. Multiple characters, including Belly and Belly's mother Laurel - played by a sympathetic but potentially misguided Jackie Chung - express discomfort with change, and a desire for things to stay the way they have always been. In this story is about growing up and a young woman's shifting identity, it's refreshing to see how this is a struggle not only for the teen in question, but also everyone around her, as they adjust along with her.
As pilots go, The Summer That I Turned Pretty has a decent one. It sets the tone, and the audience understands pretty quickly who our characters are, their concerns, and what kinds of problems they are going to be dealing with during this seven-episode season.
The actors are easy on the eyes, and possess the charisma needed to pull off their character types without feeling one-note, with stands outs including Sean Kaufman, who plays Belly's watchful older brother, and Gavin Casalegno, who plays the ebullient younger brother Jeremiah. All the show needs to do is to hold to the show's summery romance promise, and I'm sure the audience will come away satisfied.
Additionally, the cinematography feels so much like summer that I felt transported to the beach, and this illusion is helped along by a poppy, bubbly soundtrack that includes Taylor Swift. I appreciate the show's classic movie references, including a surprise shout-out to one of my favorite films: the Clark Gable-led It Happened One Night - the screwball rom-com that became the first film that won all the major categories at the Oscars. (I feel like Jenny Han and I must have the same tastes.)
Honestly, the only aspect of watching The Summer That I Turned Pretty that took me out of the meticulously-crafted summer experience was a sneaking impulse to advise Belly not to commit my own teen mistakes.
Christopher Briney's Conrad is a brooding teen, who smokes weed and is obviously going through something. As a former teen girl who has a similar personality and upbringing to Belly - down to having a strict mother who was weird about being friends with people living more well-off lives than us - I can see the appeal. However, as a woman in my thirties, I just want to take Belly and direct her towards the kinder, more sensitive boys around her, like David Iacono's whale-boat intern Cam. But, I guess with six episodes left to watch, we'll see!
For now, I'm content to see where Belly's story goes. Follow me on my journey with these reviews as I continue covering The Summer That I Turned Pretty.
The Summer That I Turned Pretty debuts on Amazon Prime on June 17, 2022.
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