The Kissing Booth


The Kissing Booth is a 2018 American teen romantic comedy film written and directed by Vince Marcello, based on the novel of the same name by Beth Reekles. It stars Joey King, Jacob Elordi, Joel Courtney and Molly Ringwald. The film follows Elle, a quirky, late blooming teenager whose budding romance with high school senior and bad boy Noah puts her lifelong friendship with Noah's younger brother Lee in jeopardy.
The Kissing Booth was released on Netflix on May 11, 2018, and was dubbed a commercial success by the service, due to it being widely viewed by subscribers. The film received largely negative reviews from critics, who deemed its storyline and themes to be clichéd and misogynistic. A sequel, The Kissing Booth 2, was released on July 24, 2020, and a third film, The Kissing Booth 3, is in post-production and is scheduled for a 2021 release.

Plot

Elle Evans and Lee Flynn, born at the same time in the same hospital in Los Angeles, have been best friends all their lives due to their mothers, Joni Evans and Sara Flynn, growing up together and having a deep bond. They create rules to maintain their friendship; chiefly, they are forbidden from dating each other's relatives, specifically Lee's handsome older brother Noah, who Elle has had a crush on for years.
As the two grow up, they develop a love for dancing, specifically on an arcade dance machine on the pier. When Elle is 11, she discovers her mother is terminally ill and, three years later, she eventually passes away. As she grows up, Elle's crush on Noah deepens but she tries her hardest to forget it.
Two years later, students are returning to school after summer break. Elle splits her pants and her other pants are at the dry cleaners, so she is forced to wear a tiny skirt from years ago. When an older student, Tuppen, inappropriately slaps Elle's buttocks, Lee almost punches him but Noah defends his brother and Elle and fights Tuppen. Tuppen, Noah, and Elle serve detention, where Tuppen apologizes by performing a dance wearing a tight skirt in front of the students, for which Elle accepts his request for a date. Tuppen does not show up though, later telling Elle that Noah threatened everyone to not pursue Elle romantically.
Elle and Lee create a kissing booth for a school fundraiser. During a party, Elle tells the girls that Noah will be part of the booth, despite Noah having already refused her request. At the kissing booth, everything goes well until Lee serves as the kisser instead of Noah. Angry that Elle lied about Noah's participation, the popular girls set up Elle to kiss an undesirable student. At the last second, the student waves Noah ahead, and Noah and Elle share a series of passionate kisses in front of the entire school.
Cleaning up the booth, Elle is upset to see Noah flirting with another girl, and runs outside where it starts to rain. Noah offers her a ride on his motorcycle, but the rain forces them to shelter in a park. Elle kisses Noah, but then tells him she cannot be just another sexual conquest. Hurt, Noah reveals he has feelings for her. They kiss again but are interrupted by a security guard who recognizes Noah, telling him to stop bringing girls there, angering Elle.
At a beach party, Elle is harassed by another student, Warren. Noah breaks his promise to Elle not to fight and body slams Warren. Elle calms him down and they drive to the Hollywood sign, admitting their feelings for each other and establishing rules for their relationship, most importantly that Lee never find out. They share a passionate kiss and have sex.
Elle and Noah keep seeing each other in secret. Noah's mother almost catches them in his room. Hiding under his bed, Elle overhears Noah's mother say he has been accepted to Harvard University, and that he must be nice to Elle because she has a crush on him. They share a laugh, and Noah makes Elle promise not to tell anyone about his college acceptance.
Elle falls and cuts her face in the garage while they are fixing Noah's motorcycle, and when Lee walks in he accuses Noah of hurting Elle. Surprised when Elle calms Noah's anger, Lee asks Elle about her and Noah's relationship, which she denies but feels guilty. As Noah and Elle share a kiss after agreeing to tell Lee the truth, he walks in on them. The brothers fight, and Lee furiously severs his friendship with Elle when he finds out she and Noah have not only been kissing and meeting up behind his back, but also sleeping together. Heartbroken, Elle yells at Noah and blames him for the argument, telling him to leave her alone. Hurt by this, Noah agrees and drives off.
Weeks pass until one day, Mrs Flynn visits Elle and explains that even she and Elle's mother had messy arguments sometimes but they always made up because that's what best friends do. She urges Elle to fix things with Lee. Eventually, Lee and Elle reconcile and Elle goes to prom with Lee and his girlfriend, Rachel. There, a replica of the kissing booth is brought out with Noah, who tells Elle he loves her. She explains she cannot see him due to hurting those she loves and runs away.
At Elle and Lee's birthday costume party the next day, Elle tells Lee that if he cannot accept her and Noah's relationship, he should not be a part of her life. Lee relents, and agrees to help Elle find Noah, who left for the airport to leave for college. Driving Lee's car, Elle shares her true feelings for Noah with Lee, who reveals himself to be Noah in Lee's costume. Elle admits to Noah that she loves him.
Elle and Noah spend the following weeks together before he leaves for college. Watching him go, she is unsure if the relationship will last, but knows a part of her heart will always belong to him, and rides his motorcycle into the sunset.

Cast

In June 2014, Vince Marcello was hired to write the film adaptation of teenage author Beth Reekles' young adult novel The Kissing Booth, which was originally published on Wattpad. In November 2016, it was announced that Netflix had purchased rights to the film, and Marcello was set to direct as well. In January 2017, Joey King and Molly Ringwald signed on to star.
Filming took place in Los Angeles, California, and in Cape Town, South Africa, with scenes shot at the University of Cape Town between January and April 2017.

Release

The film was released on May 11, 2018 on Netflix. According to Netflix, one in three viewers of the film have re-watched it, "which is 30 percent higher than the average movie re-watch rate on the ." Deeming the film a substantial success for the service, CCO Ted Sarandos called it "one of the most-watched movies in the country, and maybe in the world." Upon the sequel's release in July 2020, the first film was the third-most viewed on Netflix that weekend.

Reception

Critical response

The Kissing Booth was panned by critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 17% based on 12 reviews, with an average rating of 3.59/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "The Kissing Booth deploys every rom-com cliché in the book with little care given to achieving any real sentiment."
IndieWire's Kate Erbland gave the film a "D" grade, adding that "Unfortunately, the high school-set rom-com is a sexist and regressive look at relationships that highlights the worst impulses of the genre." Ani Bundel of NBCNews criticized the film's "problematic stereotyping of masculinity and relationships" and lack of original ideas. "It feels like it was written by someone who simply digested everything she was told 'romance' was supposed to be by the patriarchy, and vomited back at us. Nearly every cliché in the film feels cribbed from another movie, like a song made completely of samples from better-known hits."
Despite being deemed "sexist" and "objectively bad" by several critics, The Kissing Booth was widely consumed among audiences. Netflix's CCO Ted Sarandos affirmed the film's success as a "hugely popular original movie" for the streaming service. Factors that have been cited as reasons for The Kissing Booth's success among audiences include the original novel's popularity on Wattpad, the relative lack of original romantic comedies on the platform, and the publicization of actors King and Elordi's off-screen relationship during the film's production.

Accolades

At the 2019 Kids' Choice Awards, The Kissing Booth was nominated for Favorite Movie and Joey King won Favorite Actress for her role.

Sequels

On February 14, 2019, a sequel, titled The Kissing Booth 2, was announced. It was released on July 24, 2020 on Netflix.
A third film, The Kissing Booth 3, was announced on July 26, 2020 via livestream. It was filmed directly after the second movie, with most of the cast and the crew returning, and is scheduled for a 2021 release.