I still loved this! There was bound to be some disappointment given how excited I was for this movie after reading the book, but it is just SOME disappointment. The casting for this was just excellent! The picks for Alex and Henry were pretty perfect. Visually, this was gorgeous. So many scenes were taken directly from the book and flawlessly brought to life. That moment on the couch with Alex's shirt hanging open was not only perfect for this book adaptation, but brought to life the covers of a few Regency era gay romances in my book collection. It really does do great editing the book down to a 2 hour movie.
For the most part.
Now I have to compare it to the source material and point out the flaws that I, personally, find. I hate Miguel, who does not exist in the book. Not sure why they chose him as a character to create and insert into the movie, but he comes across as an old hookup scorned out to get Alex for not wanting more with Miguel. Not only do I dislike that kind of character in general, I don't think they account for how his presence messes with the key trope of the book, Alex's bi-awakening. The book works because Alex is unaware of his attraction to Henry and just oblivious that Henry may feel the same, but the movie, through Miguel, makes it clear that Alex is bisexual so why would he not at least a little aware that he only saw Henry as an "enemy" because he'd been hurt by how Henry, his crush, had acted the first time they ever met. Another big issue I have is with the absence of two key characters from the book. I can understand cutting out Rafael Luna and all the politics there, but why is June, Alex's sister, erased? They hardly used Nora in the movie, certainly not in the same way she was written in the book as a previous girlfriend of Alex's that people still shipped together, so why keep her but cut out Alex's sister? Another extremely underutilized character from the book was Shaan Shrivastava, a personal favorite of mine, but I guess I should count us lucky to even have him appear in the movie. Zahra, similarly, had woefully little screen time which was such a waste of the beautiful and wonderful talent of Sarah Shahi. Basically, they cut and trimmed a lot to fit the runtime and so many things I loved in the book just didn't make the movie which is a bummer. The development of characters and plot are what make the book so great and the movie lacks a lot of that.
But all of that doesn't mean that I don't love the movie. It'll grow on me in the places I didn't instantly adore. Except Miguel. I'm never going to like that insert, especially with the implied connection he has to the media leak.
For the most part.
Now I have to compare it to the source material and point out the flaws that I, personally, find. I hate Miguel, who does not exist in the book. Not sure why they chose him as a character to create and insert into the movie, but he comes across as an old hookup scorned out to get Alex for not wanting more with Miguel. Not only do I dislike that kind of character in general, I don't think they account for how his presence messes with the key trope of the book, Alex's bi-awakening. The book works because Alex is unaware of his attraction to Henry and just oblivious that Henry may feel the same, but the movie, through Miguel, makes it clear that Alex is bisexual so why would he not at least a little aware that he only saw Henry as an "enemy" because he'd been hurt by how Henry, his crush, had acted the first time they ever met. Another big issue I have is with the absence of two key characters from the book. I can understand cutting out Rafael Luna and all the politics there, but why is June, Alex's sister, erased? They hardly used Nora in the movie, certainly not in the same way she was written in the book as a previous girlfriend of Alex's that people still shipped together, so why keep her but cut out Alex's sister? Another extremely underutilized character from the book was Shaan Shrivastava, a personal favorite of mine, but I guess I should count us lucky to even have him appear in the movie. Zahra, similarly, had woefully little screen time which was such a waste of the beautiful and wonderful talent of Sarah Shahi. Basically, they cut and trimmed a lot to fit the runtime and so many things I loved in the book just didn't make the movie which is a bummer. The development of characters and plot are what make the book so great and the movie lacks a lot of that.
But all of that doesn't mean that I don't love the movie. It'll grow on me in the places I didn't instantly adore. Except Miguel. I'm never going to like that insert, especially with the implied connection he has to the media leak.
