Every year since the 2019 release of After, we have received a new movie in the series based on Anna Todd’s young adult romance series. We have finally arrived at the fifth and seemingly final film in the franchise, After Everything. This is the first movie in the series to not be based on one of Todd’s books directly, and it is the first to be written by long-time director Castille Landon. Although it is admittedly the strongest of the series, this final chapter is yet another laughably bad romance movie that glamorizes horrible behavior and revels in its own fake-deep musings and narrative.
After the events of the previous film, Hardin is now alone. Tessa has broken up with him over the book he published without her consent, and she has moved on. Plagued with a troubling bout of writer’s block, Hardin travels to Portugal to confront his dark past in hopes that this can be the start of repairing his relationship with Tessa. This is a premise that is heavily focused on Hardin and his backstory which may or may not work for viewers since Tessa is missing from most of this movie.
Landon’s first attempt at writing for this series is not great by any means, but it’s certainly not as bad as the worst the series has to offer. The first four installments set a low bar for their writing, but at the very least, Landon surpassed those low expectations. However, it’s abundantly clear that she lacks nuance with her characters and motivations and also struggles with its dialogue. These are problems that are not unknown to fans of the series, so I don’t see it winning over any new converts, but it likely won’t deter dedicated fans.
Hero Fiennes Tiffin is tasked with carrying this movie more than previous installments playing the boding Hardin Scott. His acting chops still aren’t impressive, and his mannerisms are barely tolerable at best still. His dialogue and delivery never really work, and it is unfortunately laughable at times. Mimi Keene is a newcomer to the series as Nathalie, a woman from Hardin’s past. While she’s nowhere near as enjoyable as in her previous work, she is still the best part of this movie. Granted, it’s not great, but it works on a much higher level than any other actor in this film.
Like the past movies, this one still has a problem with how it approaches unhealthy and borderline abusive behavior. I think the transgressions are on their biggest display in this movie though. Especially with regards to Hardin’s backstory and how it’s handled in the present day, this definitely does not send a great message. For a series that has such a large teen following, I wish Landon would have course-corrected the series’ troubling history with this behavior. It does try to show development especially when talking about the series topics of personal boundaries and consent, but it doesn’t feel tasteful by the end.
After Everything is pretty much everything you expect from the series at this point. There’s nothing in this that will please newcomers, and there’s nothing here that will turn away fans. One can only hope that this is officially the end for Hardin and Tessa, and I can’t say I’ll be sad to finally be free from this romance series.
After Everything is in theaters September 13.
