After 4 Telugu Dubbed Hollywood Movie: “No one wants to read about this romance!” says Tessa, the star of “After: Ever Happy” upon discovering (in a very meta twist) that Ella Hardin’s selfish and self-destructive boyfriend has written a book based on her relationship, which she calls (wow, surprise) !) “Despues de”. 

Our naïve heroine would be surprised to learn that not only are there several books and four movies about her toxic relationship but the promise (or should we say threat?) of a cinematic universe based on the hit saga. After a very boring third part, director Castille Landon returns to what we all expect to see: over-the-top fights, ridiculous teenage melodrama, and a very good dose of laughs, even if they are not intentional.

The film picks up immediately after the events of the past: Hardin (Hero Fiennes Tiffin) is devastated after discovering that his mother, Trish (Louise Lombard), shortly after getting married, is having an affair with the man who has always supported him. Christian Vance (Stephen Moyer). 

Not only that, but he is also his real father, an unforgivable secret for Hardin. Like any mature person, he decides to do what anyone would do: he gets drunk and burns down his mother’s apartment. Realizing this, Vance helps him flee, and his girlfriend Tessa (Josephine Langford) leads him away from the crime scene. Trish’s house isn’t the only thing Hardin lights on fire, for after a brief discussion about how terrible her life is, he and Tessa proceed to have wild sex in the car in the middle of the countryside.

These are just the first minutes of a repetitive and ridiculous script whose structure consists of using the same dynamic over and over again: Hardin shows toxic attitudes, Tessa tries to help him, he mistreats her, she gets angry and leaves, he returns and she forgives him again. 

If this sounds the same as the previous movies, that’s because it is. The story decides to say goodbye to the little development of the character in the last installment to return to the harmful codependency that made the saga so successful, the curiosity of seeing the level of masochism to which this relationship can reach.

The film strives to romanticize Tessa and Hardin’s indefensible courtship through laughable devices to accidentally comedic effect. For example, when Tessa walks through the empty apartment we are shown memories of the couple’s (few) beautiful moments; Suddenly, when the background song mentions something about the world turning to ashes, one of the memories turns (to laughter of the audience) to ashes. 

The subtlety of the soundtrack does not stop there, there is also a part in which the music mentions the good thing about being alone and Tessa runs to be alone. If you’re looking for a subtext, you won’t find it here.

The franchise continues with its irresponsible idea that couples are therapy. In one of the most inspired moments of the plot, Tessa tells Hardin “I’m sorry I couldn’t fix you”, to which the infamous replies “me too”, as if she had an obligation to bring out the best in him. In addition to being a violent criminal, Hardin never respects Tessa’s boundaries, psychologically abusing her and beating up any man who gets close to her. 

Tessa by her side is not far behind in terms of jealousy and is always willing to leave everything to have Hardin by her side: one of the reconciliations occurs when he tells her that when another girl tried to kiss him, he vomited on her. There is nothing more romantic.

Outside of joking, these stories perpetuate misogynistic attitudes, romanticize possessive relationships, and cast intimate partner violence as something to aspire to. Although many see it with the intention of laughing at its terrible dialogue and plot, we must not lose sight of the fact that a large part of its teenage audience could see it as something romantic and tender: Hardin’s character should actually be in prison and is not the knight of dream that the film wants to paint us. 

His great act of redemption (writing the “After” book) is not only a breach of privacy but the ultimate mockery of the woman he supposedly adores. In one of the boldest moments, he has the audacity to write how he loves her despite the fact that she cannot have children, as if she is lucky to be loved for something that is not even her fault; The guy is obnoxious, and if you run into someone like him in real life, it’s best to get a restraining order, instead of launching into a novel romance.

Within the cast, it is worth mentioning Chance Perdomo, who returns as Landon, the couple’s best friend. His presence makes several scenes amusing and it’s nice to have a character telling Hardin the truth to his face: he definitely has the best lines in the movie. Mira Sorvino also does the best she can with her limited role as Carol, the mother of Tessa (previously played by Selma Blair), and thanks to her the mother-daughter relationship is much more believable in this installment.

With an open ending and another movie on the way, the story of this book-loving couple is far from over. At this point, we all know very well what to expect from future installments and, in honor of Hardin and Tessa’s penchant for quoting sophisticated authors (“After: Ever Happy” uses Hemingway several times), at the end of this fourth part, there are no better words than the wise Mike Wazowski: “But hey! The laughs were not lacking.”