Netflix’s The Last Letter From Your Lover Early Review

Film has always served as an escape for viewers as they allow themselves to be taken on journeys through their stories and characters. However as with the nature of film, those journeys will not be for everyone and in the case of The Last Letter From Your Lover, this is no different. This title should more or less tell any prospective viewers what they have to know about it but let’s face it, fans of this genre have already made their decision about this one while others will not have their minds changed and that’s fine. That being said, though the film certainly checks all the proverbial boxes which will surely be enough to many viewers, it is definitely not the best of what this genre has to offer (though not that it has to). Too long, dull, thin, and relying on tropes, the film essentially falls apart before it ever got started, making it a chore to watch that will more than likely feel longer than its nearly 2 hour running time.

Based on the book of the same name by Jojo Moyes, The Last Letter From Your Lover takes place in two different time periods and tells the story of a pair of women including a journalist named Ellie (Jones) and the wife of a wealthy industrialist named Jennifer (Woodley) as the former uncovered a collection of love letters between the latter and a financial journalist named Anthony (Turner) who was assigned to cover her husband. As Ellie uncovered more and more letters, we learned more about the relationship between Jennifer and Anthony and the forbidden affair that developed all while Ellie’s own love life blossomed. Jumping between both characters and timelines, neither truly got going because of the overly-thin nature of both characters as the film only became increasingly dull from there. Neither saw much in the way of development as each remained on the same level for the most part from beginning to end.

Out of the two main characters, Jennifer was the more developed of the two as Ellie seemed more like a means to prop up Jennifer while both were propped up by derivative tropes and lazy writing, making for dull and uninteresting characters and a tedious watch overall. Connecting to either Ellie and Jennifer on an emotional level was next to impossible which made it hard to want to go on a journey or believe in either relationship they found themselves in, if they could be even called that, with them. This is, suffice it to say, an important factor when it comes to The Last Letter From Your Lover. The ability of viewers to connect with them is where the film is going to live or die on that point as fans of this genre or either actress are sure to do in spite of its many flaws.

Questionable writing and the abundant lack of chemistry aside, the best part of The Last Letter From Your Lover by default at this point was its performances. By performances, Jones and Woodley are merely going through the motions as Ellie and Jennifer respectively. Though Jones got by on her infectious charisma and screen presence, a miscast Woodley looked lost amongst it all which showed in her performance. Meanwhile for a romance film, it failed in that regard by featuring relationships with no chemistry whatsoever, including Jones and Nabhaan Rizwan as an archivist named Rory and Woodley and Turner. Rizwan and Turner were fine though they weren’t required to do all that much. 

In the end, The Last Letter From Your Lover is simply more fluff for better or worse which will continue to be supported by fans of the genre regardless.

still courtesy of Netflix

If you liked this, please read our other reviews here and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter or Instagram or like us on Facebook.

Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.