Spoiler Review and Analysis: The Kissing Booth 2 (2020)
Last year, I reviewed the Netlfix original film The Kissing Booth. If you read that review, you will know that I despised that film passionately, notably because of the toxic male characters and the sexualised portrayal of our protagonist, an underage girl.
Despite these issues (and others) the film was successful enough to generate a sequel. So, here we are. I will try to stay open minded. I want to believe that some of the criticism the first film received impacted the writing and tone of the sequel. However, considering that the film has the same writer and director in Vince Marcello, I won't keep my hopes high. Only my mind open.
This film is 2 hours and 12 minutes long. I haven't watched the film yet, but I already know it is too long. As with my review of the first film in this duology, I will write and review as I watch along for the first time. Here we go.
The film opens with Elle (Joey King reprises her role here from the previous film) telling us everything that happened between the moment she told Noah (Jacob Elordi) she loved him while he was dressed as Batman pretending to be his brother (it's worth stating that you should probably go and read my review of the first film if you haven't seen it - link above) and the moment she rode her motorbike home from the airport, where they said their goodbyes as he headed off to Harvard university. This is completely unnecessary - we didn't need to see what happened in a tiny space of time between two bits of the two final scenes in the previous film. All we learned from it was that Noah gave Elle a leather jacket and that's about it. I can understand it as an attempt to show the audience the strength of their relationship, but this is The Kissing Booth 2. You already had an entire film to try and convince us that this is a good film.
That's already one minute of this film that easily could have been cut out.
So, continuing from the last film, we see Elle arriving home from the airport, and she tells us through voiceover all of the different activities she's doing to distract herself from missing Noah, as they are now in a long distance relationship. This is where the film should have started.
Elle's distraction activities include starting a video game podcast with her best friend/Noah's brother, Lee (played again by Joel Courtney, and idea of these two having a podcast horrifies me) and applying to the same university as him.
Then she brings up the list.
I actually forgot about the list, which is remarkable really, considering how prominent it was in the first film. I suppose I wanted to repress the memories of its toxic existence.
For those who don't remember (or who chose to skip my review of the first film for some reason) when Elle and Lee were six, they made a list of rules that as best friends, they vowed to always follow. However, following rules that you made up when you were a child turned out not to be the healthiest thing for those two characters in the last film, which I thought they had learned. Apparently not though, because we're only two minutes in, and Elle's narrating to us that she and Lee are following Rule 19, which is to always go to the same school as your best friend.
I really hope that there aren't kids out there who watch these films who think it's a fun idea to copy this list, and then it ends up ruining their friendship when at least one of them feels repressed by it, like in the last film.
But hey! That's all forgotten. Maybe having your childhood best friend at your side as you move away and study in a brand new place isn't such a bad idea.
I can guarantee that this film will somehow make it a bad idea.
Speaking of which, I took a screenshot of Rule 19 to show you above, and can you read Rule 20? "Terrible decisions are not to be discussed". That's awful. Your best friends are the people who you're supposed to be able to share your terrible life decisions with, either so you can laugh at them together, or so they can advise you not to go through with it, or support you if you do.
I don't hate this film yet. However, I am becoming very cautious.
As Elle reflects on the uncertainty of the future of her relationship with Noah, she sits in front of the L of the Hollywood sign, where she lost her virginity to Noah. It's an internationally famous landmark. Does no one ever guard that thing?!
Anyway, on the first day of their senior year (last year of school), Lee picks Elle up from her house and presents her with the mini skirt she wore on the first day of school the previous year, which led to her being sexually harassed. They laugh about it, but if anything I'm confused as to where Lee got the skirt from. Did it somehow end up in his possession, or did he buy a skirt and cut it really short just to make this very quick joke?
They then pick up Lee's girlfriend. When they arrive at school, everyone stares at Elle, which makes her confused. She then learns that everyone thinks she and Noah broke up. Elle repeatedly tries to shut this down, and continues to go about her day.
A school secretary comes to Elle's class and says her father is on the phone for her. When Elle picks up the phone though, it's actually Noah, demanding why she didn't reply to his either of his deeply romantic texts. Those texts were "What up?" and "You there????". This character goes to Harvard, folks.
Maybe because she's in school, you goof? I Googled it, and apparently Massachusetts (where Noah is) is three hours ahead of California (where Elle is). If they're a couple, surely he should know that? Or even for the fact that Noah's family is there, he should know that, so he can call people at practical times?
So this leads to an uncomfortably unfunny scene where Elle pretends to be on the phone to her dad in front of the school secretary, while Noah is huffing down the line like a raging bull.
She manages to speak to him in private, where surprisingly, Noah is able to articulate his feelings sensibly (admittedly after assuming Elle was dumping him) and explains that he doesn't understand why he rarely hears from her. Elle explains she wants to be mature and not come across as a clingy girlfriend, but Noah assures her that he wants her in his life as much as possible, and loves to hear from her. While the scene doesn't start well, once they actually communicate with each other, it's a nice, rational moment that makes you hope that maybe these two have been written with a bit more maturity this time around.
After that, Elle and Lee pitch the return of the Kissing Booth at their school fair, which everyone eagerly agrees too, further excited by Elle's insistence that the most popular, hot kids in school will be the kissers for it. Of course, she doesn't really have anyone, or anything planned for the kissing booth at all really.
This scene is just awkward. Apart from Joey King and Joel Courtney being the only ones to act fine in it, it's just a rehash of when they proposed the kissing booth in the first film. Elle just comes out with lies to make it sound good, and it will probably once again turn out completely fine for her, meaning she will never learn or grow from her mistakes.
On a lighter note, King and Courtney are decent players in these roles, particularly King. She's unfortunately been in a few duds over the years, but I'm hoping that with the recognition and praise she rightfully received for her role in The Act, her career will continue to grow gracefully.
But let's just see if she get's out of this one alive first.
Elle later facetimes with Noah, and decides that maybe she will break Rule 19, and apply to universities near him, so that they won't have to be a long distance couple for more than a year.
The next day, Elle and Lee go to their beloved arcade, where they find that someone has beaten their highscore on their favourite dance game. The pair vow to beat this new score in time.
I don't have anything to say about these parts, they're just moving the plot forward.
Elle (Joey King, right) and Lee (Joel Courtney) seeing that their score has been beaten
Do you know what slows the plot down though? A two minute scene of Elle making awful, overly sexually comments about the new guy at school over speakerphone, as a goth girl shows her a video of him working out, shirtless (we presume it's him, they never show his face for some reason - the actor may not really have abs). Lee recognises Elle's voice (as does everyone in the school apparently, who oddly find it hilarious and not at all embarrassing to listen to) and we watch him run to the room where the speakerphone transmission is happening, bumping into people and making a mess on the way.
At the start of it, they keep cutting to the school mascot carrying a birthday cake for the headmaster (is this an American thing? I'm pretty sure no one in a secondary school has ever even imagined that their headmasters and headmistresses have birthdays, let alone celebrated it with them). You know what's coming: Lee's going to fly into the mascot and ruin the cake somehow. With the way it's built up, you would think the payoff for this would be really spectacular (I mean, I didn't, but my hopes for this film are still very low). It's not though. Lee just collides with the mascot and gets cake on his face.
Marco, the new guy at school who Elle was just verbally molesting (played by Taylor Zakhar Perez) approaches her at her locker and they actually have a good rapport together. I already ship them more than I shipped her and Noah in the first film.
Speaking of Noah, out of our main trio of actors, I do have to admit that Jacob Elordi is unfortunately the weakest player here. He always just seems a bit uncomfortable somehow, as if he doesn't like his character, or he doesn't want to be in this film. Maybe it's because Noah doesn't have much of a personality beyond liking Elle, but there's something a bit charmless. King and Courtney have awkward character moments, and some rather bad dialogue, but I believe they are charismatic enough to pull it off, and even seem to enjoy playing into the cringe of it all. It also helps that their chemistry is very strong, like they really have been friends all their life. Elordi's strength is also in his chemistry with King, but unfortunately, that's only the real asset he has here.
We next see Noah after he sent Elle a Harvard hoodie and a plane ticket to Boston, to visit him. They talk about it over a facetime call, and are excited, until Noah's new friends arrive, all of them men, except for one called Chloe Winthrop, who is an extremely beautiful black English woman. Elle is immediately jealous and stalks her on Instagram.
It's a group of six guy friends and one female - Elle really believes that she must be in it for her boyfriend alone?
Okay, back to the actual film. Which by the way, feels like one of the longest films I've ever watched. We're only twenty minutes in at this point.
Elle has a conversation with her dad about how much money they have for her to go to university. Her dad confesses that they have very little, and Elle realises she won't be able to afford Harvard. She tries to think of ways to earn money.
It then cuts to a sports day at the school, and Elle is competing against Marco, but he wins. It was at this point that I realised that the film really didn't have a plot so much, and we're just following Elle's life. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but when you have what is supposed to be a simple, light teen film and it's over two hours long, you do begin to wonder if that's necessary. I already feel like this film only needed to be 88 minutes long.
However, I will say that so far, this film is an improvement over its predecessor. There's no vile gross out humour, and Elle hasn't been made to strut around in a bikini while guys at school try to touch her up, or get angry at her when they realise she doesn't belong to them. This is definitely a lot lighter and less offensive.
At the arcade, Elle finds a poster advertising a competition for the dance machine she and Lee love, which if she won, she would get $50,000 (seems like a ridiculous amount, but Kissing Booth logic I suppose). This money would help pay for her to go to the universities she wants to attend, so she becomes determined to win the competition. She enlists Lee to enter with her and they begin devotedly practising for it.
Later, Marco arrives there, and the pair ask him to be a kisser at their kissing booth: he's currently the most popular boy in school, so if they get him, the booth is guaranteed to be a success. He doesn't want to though. However, after the pair continue to beg for him to do it, Marco challenges Elle to a dance competition on her favourite machine (after Lee and Elle trick him into thinking she's bad at it, in a move that feels too juvenile even for this film), agreeing that if she wins, he'll do the booth. If he wins, Elle has to babysit his little sister for free.
Elle wins at the machine, despite realising that Marco is MVP - the player who has recently been beating her and Lee's scores. To Lee and Elle's delight, Marco is now a kisser at the kissing booth.
After this success, Lee remembers part of a subplot he is in: he neglects his girlfriend Rachel in order to put Elle first. For this particular segment of the subplot, he was supposed to meet her at the cinema for a date, but instead was watching Elle and Marco compete.
Lee runs to Rachel's house to apologise, but she tearfully tells him that if she keeps choosing Elle over her, then she doesn't know if they can have a relationship.
I know Elle has always been in Lee's life, so he has a deep connection with her, but I feel so bad for Rachel. It's completely fair that she would be annoyed with him. Lee ignores her in every scene they're in together so he can talk with Elle, and now he stood her up? While I'm glad Lee's less weird with Elle here, he's not a good boyfriend. It also makes no sense.
The reason Elle got away with dating Noah in the first film was because Lee was so caught up in dating Rachel and spending time with her. When did that change? Apparently it's because he feels sorry for her since Noah left, and while I understand that in theory, he should be aware of how his girlfriend - the person he's supposed to be in love with- is feeling too.
I'm just concerned that Rachel's going to be made to look like the bad guy here, because Lee and Elle are the protagonists, so by default, the audience is supposed to like them no matter what. Therefore, Rachel's reaction may be interpreted harshly.
To further that point, when Lee drops Elle off at the airport, they were so relaxed together that I was immediately annoyed with Lee for apparently not having mentioned the situation with Rachel to her. Then it turns out he did, and neither of them (particularly Elle) can understand why she was so upset.
Poor Rachel. Dump Lee and find a nice boy in a better teen Netflix film, something like To All the Boys I've Loved Before. You deserve better girl.
When Elle arrives in Boston, Noah is waiting for her with a sign that says her name. It's cute, but soon becomes accidentally hilarious to me as Elle runs into his arms and he throws the sign away, and it just slams into the back of some poor extra who was professional enough not to react.
Noah (Jacob Elordi) holding up the sign...
Moments later, the card right before it crashes into some poor extra
Noah is one of our main characters, yet we've barely seen him in this film. Maybe it will be nice to see him. Upon seeing Elle, it might be good to just watch them wander around Harvard, as he tells her about what's like to be in an Ivy League university, or for us to see how much he's grown as a character, how he's changed-
Nope, instead we get another montage of them going around Boston, seeing the sights and doing fun things as an upbeat pop song plays. It's fine in theory, as I know we'll see them having at least one discussion soon. However, the last film -and in fact the opening of this one- has done this before. While we see plenty of discussions between Lee and Elle together, enforcing their chemistry as friends, we really don't see a lot of one to one time with Elle and Noah. When we see them in their happiest moments, it's usually through a montage sequence, so we don't get to hear if they have anything in common, or see why these postcard picture moments are actually bringing them closer in any way.
Side note: in the montage, there's a moment where Joey King as Elle is staring into the camera as she licks Noah's cheek. It just feels very out of place, especially when they cut to phone/vlogging style footage where both characters look into the camera. It would have been fine for that part.
So, after a day of seeing tourist sights and using fake IDs to drink in bars, Elle goes home with Noah, after telling him she wants to use him as her very own jungle gym.
Eww.
In the next day or so, Elle meets all of Noah's academic friends, including Chloe. Elle is fixated with Chloe and is deeply jealous of her for no apparent reason: she's kind to Elle, she's interesting and pretty. She's upset that Noah didn't introduce them, but doesn't tell him that.
I'm more fascinated by the fact that Noah actually has friends at Harvard. They make a show of these people being well-cultured, overly intellectual types to the point where you can't understand what they're talking about, yet Noah's personality trait is... well, I don't know what he is. Elle's boyfriend? That's about it. We know nothing about Noah in this film, not what he's studying or how he even got into Harvard when he was the school's bad boy, getting into detention and fighting. We know Elle likes him, because in her mind, he's hot. But why do these people like him? Why should they like him? His character is completely hollow, devoid of personality.
After that, Elle has an interview for Harvard, where the interviewer tells her at the end to be herself, and not who she thinks they want her to be.
Disappointed, she returns to Noah's room to pack her bags to go home, where she finds an earring under the bed. Even worse, after his phone buzzes, she starts reading his text exchanges with Chloe, which are clearly flirtatious. When Noah comes back in the room (he was showering and is only wearing a towel- the film likes him to be shirtless a lot) he asks her what's wrong, but Elle walks away without telling him, only making a snide comment about checking his phone messages instead.
Seems healthy.
Elle goes home and admits to her father that she's been applying for universities in Boston to be close to Noah. Her father rightfully asks her if she's sure she wants to plan her entire relationship around him, and if she truly has enough faith in their relationship for this to be the right decision.
There's a very interesting situation here (that goes completely ignored) in that Elle's father, in both films, has never liked Noah. He thinks Noah is a bad influence on her, and doesn't think they should be dating. This is doubly strange because he's always known Noah, because their families are friends, which is how Lee and Elle are so close. So why doesn't he like a man he's know for all eighteen or nineteen years of his life? This could make for some really interesting tension, but it's almost completely ignored and it feels like a bit of a waste.
When Elle next sees Lee at the arcade, she asks him if things have been any better with Rachel, to which he says no. I don't understand this. With Elle out of the way, surely he and Rachel should have spent time together, appreciating that they won't be interrupted so that they can work on their relationship and talk things through? Nope.
Lee fakes an injury to get out of the dance competition with Elle. You would think this is so he could spend more time with Rachel, but from the way it's edited together and scripted, you would think he was exclusively trying to set them up together.
Lee tells Rachel that he loves her over the school speakers, and requests that she sends him a smiley emoji if she feels the same way, or a poo emoji.
I hate it, this scene was so embarrassing to watch. Not through any fault of the actors, no one could have pulled that dialogue off well.
The entire school cheers though, and Rachel sends a smiley emoji. Elle's narration affirms that this means things are fine now, but I'm pretty sure they're not.
For a while, it's just Elle and Marco working on their dance routine and getting closer, while Elle quietly worries that Noah is cheating on her with Chloe, which he insists he isn't. It doesn't help that he lies about having been to a concert with her, when we know Elle rang his phone and his roommate answered, telling her they were out together. It's just awkward. If you don't trust him, don't be with him.
There's a Halloween scene, and it's one of the most horrible parts of the film, specifically for Rachel.
Elle has a dance with Marco, and that's all fine. That's the only part of the Halloween party where I'm not busy feeling bad for Rachel.
At the last minute, Elle and Lee decided to change their costumes to be Ghostbusters, because apparently it's cooler.
Anyway, It turns out that Lee didn't let Rachel know, so she shows up in her part of what was supposed to be a trio costume: she is a marshmallow, (the three of them combined were supposed to be a s'more, which is an American snack consisting of a marshmallow between two crackers with melted chocolate on them, which actually sounds delicious).
Rachel bravely insists it's fine (although she's clearly angry) and goes in with them to the party. While they're in there, Lee and Elle break out into their own personal dance routine to a song that plays, leaving Rachel once again feeling left out. Afterwards, Elle goes to check on her, but Rachel explodes at her. I'm surprised to say it, but I actually feel more sorry for Elle here than I do for Rachel. She completely lacks self-awareness and is remarkably naive when it comes to boundaries, but Lee is the one who should have made things clear to both girls. Elle was only trying to be kind to Rachel when she was upset.
And yes, the costume thing is really, truly horrible. I can see why Elle and Lee having their own dance routine might be the tipping point for her, but ultimately, she knows that these two are lifelong friends and that they love dancing together. Surely she could see that this particular act was not a personal attack on her in any way. So, how will Lee solve this, because it's his problem to fix. He should encourage the girls to spend some time together without him, in hopes that the two girls he loves most can become friends and feel more at ease about hanging out with each other. Or maybe he could learn to divide his time evenly between the two?
But no, instead Lee spends all his time with Rachel to make up for the Halloween incidents, and excludes Elle entirely. This actually leads to part of my problem with Rachel in this scenario. Don't mistake me, this situation is almost entirely Lee's fault, but I don't think Rachel is perfect either. On the one hand, you can't blame her for her faults too harshly, because Lee and the writers are immature and insensitive to respond to them properly.
However, I can't help but think of what Daniel Sloss said in his comedy special Jigsaw (a much better use of your time on Netflix, in my opinion). There's a segment in it where he talks about how his toxic ex-girlfriend hated his female best friend, saying to him that sometimes, it felt like he preferred his best friend of eight years to her, his new girlfriend. Sloss points out to the audience that, as he eloquently puts it, "you don't suck a dick and get to become number one". Maybe it sounds harsh, but the fact is, relationships of any kind are a foundation that need to be built upon and strengthened by both parties involved over time. The unfortunate thing is that this is a teen relationship, originally written by a teenager, for teenagers. That means that relationships -or more specifically, feelings of romantic love- are intensified, because at that age, you believe that someone else's love the most important thing to have in life, and if you lose it, you will never be okay again.
This isn't exclusively The Kissing Booth's fault. In fact, everywhere you look in the media, society demands that we be coupled up. However, Rachel should have communicated her feelings more and with patience, to both Lee and Elle, instead of just walking away from Lee and Elle when she's frustrated with them.
But then, Lee stood her up and humiliated her multiple times in public, plus the relationship he has with Elle feels somewhat incestuous, so we'll give the girl a break.
Anyway, Elle uses her free time to practise dancing with Marco on the arcade machine, and to worry about if Noah may be cheating on her with Chloe. I have a feeling these two things may collide at some point.
Elle finds a picture of Chloe wearing the earring on Instagram, as she fondles it between her fingertips obsessively. Yes, she kept it, just as she's been keeping the earring a secret from Noah. For goodness sake girl, just ask your boyfriend! I've said it before and I'll say it again: if you don't trust him, then you can't have a truly loving relationship, so LEAVE.
Additionally, the scenes with her and Marco are really nice. Marco genuinely seems like a lovely guy, and the scenes she shares with him are much nicer than the ones she had in the first film with Noah, and display a better growth in chemistry between the two people.
Elle and Marco practising for the dance competition
Noah phones Elle and tells her that he's coming home for Thanksgiving the day after the dance competition, which is the next day. He tells her that they need to talk about some things face to face, and wishes her luck with the competition.
What's the bet that Noah shows up a day early to surprise Elle at her dance competition, only to see her kissing Marco? It's not even a prediction, I just feel like I have sheer knowledge of the fact that this is definitely going to happen, and I'm going to hate it so much because our female lead will be cheating on her boyfriend. Whatever Noah's been up to, it doesn't justify cheating on him, but somehow this film will believe it's okay.
So the next day, it's the dance competition. Firstly, I cannot believe the scale of this thing. I thought it was something that just a couple of kids would be doing in their town hall, but they have a stadium packed with people, watching a dance machine competition.
I'm sorry, but I can't believe that many people would care that much about this dance competition. And the fact that it's for $50,000?
It feels very out-of-touch and amateurish. If this plotline was taken word for word out of the original Wattpad story, I wouldn't be surprised.
Elle and Marco watch all the dancers, who are very good, and begin to worry that their act isn't good enough. Then they go onstage and are amazing, because of course they are.
At least we did see them practising a lot, so it does feel like this is earned.
Elle and Marco at the competition (and no, we never saw them deciding on their outfits)
It is then revealed that Noah is in the audience watching. He has a massive smile on his face all the way through, clearly proud of his girlfriend. Then when the dance ends, Elle kisses Marco. When they pull apart, Elle sees a devastated Noah, who leaves the arena. She goes to run after him, but is dragged back onstage as it's revealed that she and Marco have won the contest.
What a twist. Only saw it coming the second Noah made it clear he was aware of a dance competition happening.
The following day is Thanksgiving, and this was the scene in the film to make me squirm the most in my seat, tied with Elle talking about Marco's body over the school speakers. Elle's family goes to Lee and Noah's house to celebrate the holiday together and have their Thanksgiving meal. I won't go into all of it, but to break it down: Noah, Lee and Rachel all argue with Elle over dinner, resulting in Rachel and Lee breaking up; Elle and Lee not speaking because he's upset she applied to Harvard without telling him; Elle storming off tearfully after handing Chloe back her earring (because yes, Noah invited her to this thing) and they all just yelled at each other while their poor parents and Elle's ten-ish year old brother are all just trying to enjoy their food.
In a scene that presumably takes place that evening, Noah is playing pool with Chloe, who reveals that she slept in his bed one night while he was out, and her earring must have fallen out then. Noah's relieved to know the truth, but this conversation feels so dumb. Why didn't Chloe pipe up with that information at the dinner table? Now if she tells Elle, it will seem like she made it up to protect Noah, because she's had that much time to do so.
I'm glad Lee and Rachel broke up. They are a terrible, terrible couple. Yet Elle sets to work trying to get them back together. Why?
They go to a thing at their school, where Lee wins the title of Homecoming King. I say "thing" because I'm English, and I have no idea what Homecoming actually means. Noah nearly gets into a fight that Marco tries to start with him. Chloe stops it though.
I don't even understand why Noah and Chloe are at the school for that scene. The only real reason he would have had would be for Elle's sake, but they've fallen out/potentially broken up (and his relationship with Lee is awful - Lee doesn't even react to the fact that Elle cheated on him, they barely interact in this film, and their biggest scene together in the last film was a fist fight).
And I know he was popular at school (based on his personality, I don't know how) but no one wants to go back to school after they've left, never. Knowing that your ex-girlfriend (or at least, your girlfriend who you're having major problems with) is there surely should make it even less appealing.
Remember how this film is called The Kissing Booth 2? Well, at 1 hour and 45 minutes into this film, we finally get to see the actual kissing booth.
I wrote that like it's something I've been looking forward to, but it's not. It is quite remarkable how far they've pushed it aside though.
In a remarkably manipulative move, Rachel and Lee are both blindfolded and paired up to kiss each other as the whole school watches in anticipation.
First of all: why. do. people. care. about. this. couple?
Secondly, I think this is a very twisted move. In real life, this would backfire horribly and would probably be very upsetting for them both.
Rachel's a good-looking girl, I'm sure she could find someone else out there who doesn't mind her doormat personality or the fact that she doesn't like it if you're close with your best friend.
Lee's a good-looking guy. Granted, he makes a terrible boyfriend, but at this point, at least let him try and be a horrible boyfriend with somebody else.
But no, they're a couple again, because they realised they missed each other.
Then the minor gay subplot arrives to reach its conclusion.
Oh yeah, the film has a subplot -more of a micro-plot- with two gay characters. Sorry to bring up my review of the last film once again, but in it, I accused it of queerbaiting, due to approximately two seconds of a hint of homosexuality between two guys. Now, in this film, they do show two guys kissing, but I really don't like how it was handled.
For a film longer than two hours, they make very little time for a subplot about two guys. One of them is supposed to be friends with Elle, but we have no idea how this friendship was formed or when. Heck, I don't even remember these guys names. The plot is that the one who is friends with Elle is in the closet, and is afraid to pursue the boy he fancies because of what his sports team friends might say. This plot probably takes up a maximum of three minutes of film time.
And no, they aren't the two gay guys who had a moment in the first film.
The plotline itself isn't bad, but in this day and age, I don't see why this kid would be afraid of coming out of the closet. We don't know anything about him, whether he comes from a religious background that's against homosexuality for example, and we don't see him ever speaking with his friends, so we don't have any context from them as to why he would be conflicted about this. Everyone readily celebrates the couple by the end anyway, which just feels like a lazy resolution. Why couldn't you have had an openly gay kid be shy about confronting the boy he likes with his crush, and dealing with that? I think that makes more sense as a plot here. Then Elle could have taken him under her wing when she realised his feelings, and that could have been how they became friends. But that's not how it happened, so I'l just have to accept that.
I believe there was some criticism online (no, not just from me) at how the kissing booth was only exclusive to heterosexual couples in the first film. If you took this minor gay plotline out of the film, nothing about it would change.
If this film had been released in the mid 2000s, I'm sure it would have almost been revolutionary for two gay characters to kiss and be a couple in high school. Times have changed though, and this film seems to be completely unaware of that. It won't age well.
If an LGBTQ+ kid sees this film and is moved by the portrayal of these characters, then good on them, that's fine. I just hope they know there are better characters like that in films like this. There are better teen films with gay side characters who are friends with the protagonist, Mean Girls, The Perks of Being a Wallflower and To All the Boys I Loved Before immediately spring to mind. Additionally, Love, Simon is a teen film with a gay protagonist pursuing the boy he likes. I'm just saying, in terms of representation, there are much better films to watch for it than this.
Also, they then have two girls kissing in the bloopers as a joke, so I feel quite a mixed message being put out here.
Marco comes onto the stage to speak with Elle as she's taking her position as a kisser. He tells her that instead of kissing her, he just wants to use the time he's paid for to talk with her, because she's ignored him since their kiss. Poor Marco. He's the only side character who has been given a personality in this series - heck, he has more personality than Noah. He's handsome, he's a musician, he's athletic. He's loyal, kind and he's generally laid back. He's a good guy. Out of all the characters in this franchise so far, he's the only one I'd like to meet, or at least, who I think wouldn't get on my nerves in real life.
Elle admits to him that she finds him attractive, but she's not in love with him like he is with Noah. After this rejection, she runs off to the airport to find Noah.
It does frustrate me that this is the second teen film sequel from Netflix this year that introduced a lovely, handsome, guy of colour who is a much better person than their love rival, only for the main girl character to choose the blander, whiter guy instead.
At the airport, Elle only finds Chloe, as Noah had run off to the kissing booth at the same time to try and find Elle.
It's very cliche, but it's a nice way to give Elle some time to speak with Chloe on her own. Chloe tells her that Noah only brought her to his house for the Thanksgiving meal because he wanted the two girls to be friends.
Eh?
So they part as friends, (because yes, it was apparently that easy) and Elle runs off to meet Noah. They make up, yadda yadda yadda, we all knew this was coming. It's just boring, really.
We cut to Elle and Lee's graduation day. Thanksgiving takes place in November, and the kissing booth was only a couple of days after that, so I would guess we've just cut ahead at least seven months? Apparently, their romantic relationships are all still fine though, as Noah is there with Elle, and Lee is with Rachel, who also graduated that day.
Then something terrible happens. As Elle and Noah talk with Lee and Rachel at the graduation ceremony, we see Marco talking with a couple of his friends (he has friends? I know he's a popular, good looking guy, but the only person we ever see him talking to is Elle) and he looks away to watch Elle. One of Marco's friends tells him that she's not worth it, but Marco says with a smile that she is.
Oh no.
Then it's additionally revealed that Elle lied about being put on the waiting lists for Harvard and Berkeley, and was in fact accepted into both, leaving her with a dilemma: does she go to Harvard to be with Noah, or does she stay with Lee and go to Berkeley as they'd always planned?
You know what that means. With this unresolved plotline, as well as the implication that the Marco plot also isn't over, The Kissing Booth 2 is ending by setting up a sequel.
Indeed, after watching this film, I popped over to YouTube, where I was recommended a video by Netflix, previewing a clip from The Kissing Booth 3.
What that says about websites stalking my internet activity aside, I can't believe they're really doing another one of these. This is one of the most unnecessary sequels I have ever seen, and a third film feels even more so.
Also, quick side-note, but it says on Elle's university letters that her name is Rochelle Evans. It's the end of the second film, and I'm only just learning that Elle's real name is Rochelle? Eugh, don't like it.
It's also completely ridiculous that Elle would get into Harvard. I'm amazed she even got an interview there. She joins in with extracurricular activities, which I know is a big thing for American universities when looking at their applicants, but Elle isn't academic or studious by nature. There is no way in the world she would ever be accepted into Harvard in reality, but hey, if Noah can do it, so can anyone.
Elle's application letter (which was another subplot in this film by the way) was awful. After being told that she needs to be herself and not who she thinks others want her to be at her interview, she eventually writes a new letter, responding to the question of where she would like to be in five years time. It goes like this:
"Maybe it’s because it’s less about what I want to be and more about who I want to be. In five years I want to be my brother’s joy. I want to be my dad’s love and my mom’s warmth. In five years I want to be Rachel’s kindness. I want to be Noah’s courage and his mom’s wisdom. But most of all, I want to be my best friend’s laughter. All those things together is who I want to be in five years."
Now that's all very nice, but the poor random professor or administrator at Harvard who has to read all this must be sat there wondering who Noah and Rachel are, or why Elle care's about them. For all they know, she could be talking about Noah from the Noah's Ark tale, and Rachel from Friends.
And how did Rachel even make it onto the list, particularly for her kindness? She was mean to Elle more than once in this film, and I don't think their relationship justifies her being mentioned in the letter.
But who knows, those seven or eight months before graduation that we didn't see might have done great things for their relationship.
Finally, it's acted bloopers in the end credits like in the first film, and then it's over, at last. I survived.
This film is better than the first in many ways. I'm glad that Elle wasn't sexualised here (she's only in her bra and pants once, and that's mostly covered by Noah), and there's no gross out humour. Stylistically, this film is a lot more creative with its cinematography, and it's a better looking film in general.
An example of the more creative styling in this film, as Elle tries to let go of her troubles as she dances with Marco.
The characters are still problematic though, in new ways if anything and the film itself is remarkably predictable due to poor writing in terms of plot. Some of the dialogue was a bit wittier this time around, and a bit more natural, but ultimately, a lot of it wasn't great. The gay subplot and the scene with Elle speaking on the school intercom about Marco's body as Lee tries to stop it, suggest that this film isn't aware of how this generation of teens work, nor what they find amusing. I don't like that Elle and Lee, our protagonists, display such toxic behaviours to their partners, who in return are made to look like bad people because of it.
I believe Elle and Lee should just be together. I don't particularly think they would be a great couple, but at least they are mostly happy together. They make great friends, and while this film (and only this one in the series so far) is a good example of a girl and a boy being able to have a purely platonic relationship together. However, this film - even more so than the first- has shown that these two are better at communicating and making up after arguments with each other, than either of them are with their significant others. So maybe they should just end up together. They probably won't because this film wants us to think Lee and Rachel are destined for each other, same with Noah and Elle. We have one more film to find out though. Oh dear.
THE SCOREBOARD
Chick Flick Check List Elements: 1, 5, 7, 8, 11, 17, 21, 25, 26, 42 (+3), 43, 47, 52, 53, 54, 57, 58, 59, 64 (+5), 68, 69.
Total: 28
Is this really a chick flick or will men like it too? Teen's chick flick.
Would I recommend this film? No.
Quote of the film: "I'm trying to be mature and not come off as some clingy girlfriend." - Elle
Film rating: 2/10
