When I say I struggled through this one, I mean I
struggled.
The Kissing Booth is a high school romance/comedy which was released on May 11, 2018. So, yes, I am very late in watching and reviewing it. It was a one-hour-and-fifty-minute long feature movie that was put up as a Netflix Original. It was directed and written by Vince Marcello and advertised as TV-14.
The main character, Elle Evans, is played by Joey King. King has acted in many other shows and movies like 2019's The Act and 2013's The Conjuring. Elle's best friend, Lee Flynn, is played by Joel Courtney, from 2017's F*&% the Prom(I've been meaning to do this movie) and 2014's Sins of Our Youth. The love interest, Noah Flynn, is played by Jacob Elordi, from 2017's Pirates of the Caribbean and the ongoing Euphoria. This is all to say that as far as I know, they've all had much better roles and are genuinely good, even amazing actors when given a solid script to work with.
This was not one of those cases. To put it lightly, it feels like a rushed adaptation of a Wattpad teen romance.
The movie starts well enough. We see a newborn Elle and Lee being born side by side and raised together as their moms were "BFFs before people even started using the term." Then follows a collage of them growing up together which, while cliche, was well done and captivating. My only issue was that they stressed that these two families were like brothers, but they still had Noah be the love interest? He repeatedly refers to her as a little sister several times, he's the older brother of what is basically her twin, and she still likes him? Why not pick someone else? They can't even play the "older brother" card to explain the difference. Noah and Lee go to the same high school with Lee being a junior and Noah being a senior. They are barely a year apart. Lee, Elle, and Noah all should have been raised relatively together unless Noah was neglected by both families--which would explain his violent nature.
But, Noah does specify in the beginning that Elle is like a little sister to him, so he wasn't pushed completely out of the picture. Though, a neglected Noah is starting to make more sense in my head.
Anyhow, the movie continues, and we see a 16-year-old Elle and Lee hanging out at the Flynn's pool. Because they're rich. Obviously. And, already, we have a joke about a teenage girl's breasts that's used to introduce Noah and paint his douchery. Jokes like this are made extremely often in more overt ways, and considering this was written by a grown man--yikes.
We then jump into the pair's first day of eleventh grade. And...another inappropriate joke. Elle's pants are in the dry cleaners and her last pair ripped...so now she has to "fit an eleventh-grade body into a ninth-grade skirt." It goes exactly as you'd imagine, except she is assaulted and Noah steps in to pummel the guy who's responsible. And, as a terrible movie, they attempt to paint Noah's response as an example of him being violent. Don't get me wrong, he is and they show better examples, but if anyone touched my younger sister I'd do the very same. And then, Noah has the audacity to say that "she's asking for it." He acknowledged how sexist the comment was and stopped in his tracks. This is a perfect example of Noah's character. He does something distasteful, and then the movie poorly tries to redeem him. It's infuriating and really just made me hate him more. Though, if my abusive theory is true, this perfectly showcases a two-faced, manipulative snake.
Also, Elle gets in trouble for breaking the dress code. Which is understandable as her underwear was showing. But, is kinda weird to say at a uniform school. During the dressing scene, we see plenty of Elle's clothes, but she searches for a certain one that matches what both she, Lee, and Noah are wearing, implying there's a uniform. Yet after she's punished and goes into the lunchroom, no one matches. They're not even street clothes, just different uniforms. There's a girl in the background shown in a navy blue skirt. And there's a good length navy blue skirt shown in the closet scene!
That's only the ridiculousness of this school. For a fundraiser, they allowed the dance team to do a kissing booth. First off, WHAT SCHOOL. Secondly, why would the dance team do anything other than a performance??? You're dancers, so dance for money. Thirdly, Elle is never shown to have any connection to the dance team except when she represents them. She doesn't dance, never attends practice, and has no mentioned relationship with anyone who does dance. So why does she speak for them???
Next, we see Elle forcing her way into Noah's house party, drinking(the OMG girls were supposed to have pressured her into it, but all they said was "c'mon, girl!"), and stripping on the pool table. Like I said, the constant sexual tension around a sixteen-year-old made me uncomfortable. Honestly, unless it's a mature movie, this much sexual tension shouldn't be around any character. It's unnecessary and gross. This is about where I stopped, I was disgusted.
Lastly, I just want to reiterate how idiotic Elle's crush is if this is the romance it's advertised as. Even if you forget the family thing, she clearly watched him grow up into this bad boy life that she clearly doesn't approve of. She comments on how he's always fighting and is so irresponsible, and yet, she doesn't stay away. She knows he sleeps around and sees her as inferior to him, but the audience is made to believe that his looks and few positive moments should be enough for the relationship I could tell was coming.
If my theory holds up, however, I could very well let this slide. Noah bashes and degrades her while never letting her go and keeping her on a string. But I never watched to see how they addressed it, and a romance movie wouldn't have their main relationship be painted as toxic--that's for drama and realism. Point is, there was potential...lmao no there wasn't.
