I think this kind of movie has an inherent problem in that they always cast adorable actresses for the part of The Girl Who Can't Get a Boyfriend (see also: Anne Hathaway in The Princess Diaries) and then expect us to believe that no one wants to date this girl even though she's as cute as a button. Ha!
I agree that the final misunderstanding was contrived, though. To be fair, Peter's never actually said, "You know what? I'm not interested in Gen anymore," so I can see why Lara Jean is inclined to believe that Gen might be telling the truth: getting back with Gen is ostensibly still Peter's plan, even if he also seems to be into Lara Jean. Maybe he's just confused! Maybe he's done a dumb thing because he's a teenager and that's what they do!
So I can see why she takes his wishy-washy response the way she does: the fact that he doesn't contradict Gen or instantly explain suggests that he's got something to hide. But the filmmakers didn't really sell that wishy-washiness to me as an in-character thing for Peter to do, rather than a contrivance to throw one final hurdle in the way of the romance. Aside from the weird set-up of their relationship he and Lara Jean are both generally pretty direct people.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2018-08-23 05:32 pm (UTC)I agree that the final misunderstanding was contrived, though. To be fair, Peter's never actually said, "You know what? I'm not interested in Gen anymore," so I can see why Lara Jean is inclined to believe that Gen might be telling the truth: getting back with Gen is ostensibly still Peter's plan, even if he also seems to be into Lara Jean. Maybe he's just confused! Maybe he's done a dumb thing because he's a teenager and that's what they do!
So I can see why she takes his wishy-washy response the way she does: the fact that he doesn't contradict Gen or instantly explain suggests that he's got something to hide. But the filmmakers didn't really sell that wishy-washiness to me as an in-character thing for Peter to do, rather than a contrivance to throw one final hurdle in the way of the romance. Aside from the weird set-up of their relationship he and Lara Jean are both generally pretty direct people.