If you never read Wattpad fanfiction as a teenager, what were you even doing? Netflix’s After is adapted from Anna Todd’s wildly popular Harry Styles fanfiction on Wattpad, which has amassed a staggering 583 million reads. Despite never falling into the clutches of the One Direction fandom myself, the story became so popular that it constantly appeared in the ‘recommended’ section of my account. Though the tale may have been well-loved in the early 2010s (in other words, we glossed over the story’s problematic elements), in 2019 it is simply unrealistic. The world has moved on since then, and we are starting to call out unreasonable behaviour.

The film follows college freshman Tessa Young’s complicated journey as she falls for bad boy Hardin Scott (aka Harry Styles). His name itself is ridiculous, but something tells me they were trying to show just how much a bad boy he was by having the word ‘hard’ in his name. Having said that, he does fit the fantasy ‘bad boy’ type, so there may be some credit due there. Tessa’s character is essentially comprised of pleading, innocent stares and flustered stammers every time Hardin is near. I kept wanting to scream ‘come on, spit it out!’ at the screen whenever Hardin fixes his steely gaze on her and she starts doing goldfish impressions. I realise that the passive female and dominant male stereotype is rife within rom-coms, but it seems unnecessary for them to perpetuate it any further.

In fairness, the cinematography and set design are beautiful. There is a scene where Tessa and Hardin go swimming in a lake, which follows the lovely colour palette of the rest of the film. Although it isn’t the most realistic of situations (or flats – that professor must be loaded), the professor’s empty flat that the couple temporarily live in is gorgeous and aesthetically pleasing.

I usually have a guilty pleasure for rom-coms and cheesy teen romance movies, but After just left me feeling uneasy and annoyed. The main issue is the tension in the film, or lack thereof. It all seems so outdated. Tessa is shamed for being a virgin and sober at a frat party. In this day and age, no one cares if you’re a virgin or not. No one cares if you drink or not. It is painfully obvious that the film was plucked straight from Wattpad. Granted, it may have been really popular there, but as film standards go, the fast pacing, unrealistic forms of tension and poorly-written characters make this stick out like a teetotaller at a frat party.

At one point, Tessa’s mum disowns her for dating Hardin, which is an all-too-familiar trope for the seasoned fanfiction reader. Yet again it is unrealistic, but I did have a little smile knowing my 14-year-old would have found this extremely dramatic. It is possible that I might just be criticising this film through the lens of a cynical 20-year-old: that weird sexual and alcoholic hierarchy was something that swept through secondary school. It was only when I reached university that I realised no one actually cares. I scoffed when my friend’s 17-year-old sister found it realistic, but maybe I just couldn’t relate any more. On the other hand, I would not want a younger person watching this and thinking that veering from being a ‘good girl’ is genuinely something to be shamed. Hardin and Tessa’s mildly toxic relationship is not an ideal to strive for. And don’t even get me started on Tessa’s boyfriend Noah being disappointed in her for going to a party and telling her not to do it again.

After the film ended, I was left feeling unsatisfied and rather dejected. The film appears to tie all its loose ends up, but these are either introduced too late, or introduced right at the start of the film only to be vaguely addressed right at the end. There is virtually no room for emotional connection with the characters. Issues, if you could even call them that, are quickly brushed over. Some scenes don’t even have a chance to become fully-fledged points of tension, such as Hardin’s ‘complicated’ personality. Do the barest hint of daddy issues really make a boy ‘complicated’?

All this being said, the film does feel oddly familiar, even comforting. It has all the essential ingredients of a ‘pure girl falls for bad boy’ fanfiction that dominated the early 2010s. Then you remember that these ingredients are just two-dimensional characters thinly veiled by a ‘character arc’, which is the bad boy becoming somewhat better and the pure girl learning to let loose. Goals, honestly.

Verdict:

After is a laughably unrealistic film, but one that could potentially be dangerously unrealistic to young people who have never experienced university or relationships before, and believe it is the norm. The only reason I didn’t turn the TV off was because it felt exactly like a Wattpad fanfiction, which made me nostalgic for my early teen years.

4/10

After is now streaming on Netflix.