Ada Apa dengan Cinta? (2002) Review: An Iconic Indonesian Romance About Love and Friendship

 

Ada Apa dengan Cinta? (Alternate Title: What's Up with Cinta?) | 2002 | 1h 52m
Genre: Drama / Romance | Country: Indonesia
Director: Rudy Soedjarwo | Writers: Mira Lesmana, Jujur Prananto, Rako Prijanto
Cast: Dian Sastrowardoyo, Nicholas Saputra, Ladya Cheryl
IMDb: 7.7
My Rate: 10/10

Cinta and Rangga's awkward first encounter gradually develops into love, but Cinta faces a difficult choice when her feelings put her long-standing friendships at risk.

Warning

Contains violence.

Some teenage romances are sweet while you are watching them, then feel incredibly dated when you revisit them years later. Ada Apa dengan Cinta? (2002) somehow avoids that fate. Even after all these years, the story still feels sincere because it captures something more complicated than simply falling in love: the moment when love begins to collide with friendship, loyalty, and the choices we make for the people we care about.

Cinta (Dian Sastrowardoyo) is a high school student who loves art and poetry. Together with her close friends Alya, Carmen, Maura, and Milly, she helps manage the school magazine. When the school holds a poetry competition, everyone assumes Cinta will win. She is confident, talented, and already seen as one of the strongest writers among her classmates.

But the result surprises everyone.

Rangga (Nicholas Saputra) wins the competition, even though he does not even know that he participated. His poem was secretly submitted by Mang Diman, the school caretaker. When Rangga does not appear during the announcement, Cinta becomes curious about the mysterious winner.

She eventually approaches Rangga to interview him for the school magazine. Unfortunately, Rangga does not respond very warmly. Cinta feels annoyed and decides that she wants nothing to do with him anymore. Of course, that decision does not last very long.

Her curiosity keeps bringing her back to Rangga.

Their interactions gradually become more frequent. Sometimes they get along, sometimes they argue, but something slowly changes between them. Cinta keeps their relationship hidden from her friends, with only Alya knowing what is happening.

At the same time, Alya has serious problems at home. Her family is far from harmonious, and there comes a moment when she desperately needs Cinta to be there for her. But Cinta, who is secretly meeting Rangga, lies to cover up their date.

That lie becomes much bigger than Cinta expects.

Suddenly, she is forced to choose between the feelings growing inside her and the friendship she has built with the people who have been part of her life for so long. And that is where Ada Apa dengan Cinta? becomes more than a simple teenage romance.

The story itself is actually quite light. It is about romance during high school, but that simplicity is part of its charm. What I particularly appreciate is how naturally the teenage world is presented. The makeup and clothing do not try too hard to make the characters look older or more glamorous than they are. They really look like high school students.

That may sound like a small detail, but it makes a huge difference.

The romance feels sweet precisely because it is allowed to remain youthful. The characters are teenagers, so their expressions, clothes, conversations, and even the way they experience love feel appropriate for their age rather than like adults pretending to be teenagers.

The storytelling is also handled very well. The backgrounds of the characters are introduced clearly, the conflicts develop in a way that is easy to understand, and the resolution feels satisfying. The one moment that I still find somewhat difficult to believe is how Cinta manages to get into the airport. That part feels a little too convenient for me.

The performances, both from the main cast and the supporting actors, are another strong point. The interactions feel natural, and the characters do not seem to be competing for attention. Even when some of the dialogue uses casual teenage slang, it still retains an artistic quality that fits the film's overall atmosphere.

And perhaps that is one of the reasons Ada Apa dengan Cinta? has remained so memorable. It never feels like it is trying too hard to become a legendary movie. It simply tells its story sincerely.

Even now, I think it remains a film that can be watched without feeling embarrassingly outdated. It has that rare quality of being almost timeless. The details of teenage life may change, but the emotions do not. Falling for someone, keeping secrets from friends, feeling guilty, choosing between love and loyalty—those things are still familiar to people even when the world around them has changed.

One of the scenes I remember most is when Cinta is suddenly asked to sing at a café while she is on a date with Rangga. Instead of simply singing a song, she chooses to perform a musical interpretation of Rangga's poem.

Rangga is surprised, and clearly impressed.

I love this scene because it shows how poetry can be experienced in more than one form. The same words can carry different emotions when they are spoken, sung, or transformed into music. Poetry can also reveal things about its writer that ordinary conversation cannot. Sometimes the deepest thoughts of a person are hidden inside the words they create.

Cinta's performance makes Rangga's poem feel different, but it also allows us to understand something about Rangga himself.

The line, “Sejak gw ketemu elu, gw berubah jadi orang yang beda,” captures the emotional core of their relationship. Meeting someone can change us in ways we never planned. Sometimes we discover a side of ourselves that we did not know existed simply because another person entered our life.

But the film also reminds us that falling in love does not automatically make every choice right.

Cinta's biggest struggle is not whether she loves Rangga. It is whether she can balance that love with the people who have loved her long before Rangga arrived. When we fall for someone, it can be tempting to put that relationship at the center of everything. Yet friendship, trust, and the responsibilities we already have do not suddenly disappear.

That is why the conflict between Cinta and her friends feels important. Love may be exciting, but relationships of every kind require honesty. A secret might begin with something that feels harmless, but it can become painful when the people who trust us are the ones who get hurt.

For me, that is part of why Ada Apa dengan Cinta? remains such an iconic romance. It is not only about whether Cinta ends up with Rangga. It is also about growing up, discovering what love feels like, and realizing that every choice has consequences.

This is a film I would recommend to anyone who enjoys romantic stories, especially those who appreciate a youthful romance that does not force its characters to behave like adults. Ada Apa dengan Cinta? is still a must-watch for me, and perhaps that is the strongest compliment I can give it: after more than two decades, it still knows how to make a simple teenage love story feel meaningful.

Maybe that is why certain stories survive their era while others do not. Fashion changes, slang changes, technology changes, and the way teenagers communicate changes. But the confusion of falling in love, the fear of losing a friend, and the struggle to decide what truly matters remain surprisingly familiar.

And perhaps, when we look back at our own teenage years, we may realize that the hardest choices were never simply about choosing between two people. They were about learning who we wanted to become.

(Aluna Uwie)

Previously published on Alunauwie.com

"This article was originally written in Indonesian and has been adapted into English for international readers."