Maybe it was a bad sign that I remembered almost nothing about the original The Kissing Booth movie. I was about two-thirds of the way into The Kissing Booth 2 before I even remembered the main plot of the original, the lead falling in love with her best friend’s brother. Hey, I have an open mind. The fact that I couldn’t remember the original shouldn’t matter. I’m watching The Kissing Booth 2 ready to give this high school rom-com a fair shake.
To catch you up, Elle (Joey King) and her best friend Lee (Joel Courtney) are ready to tackle their senior year of high school. Elle’s boyfriend Noah (Jacob Elordi) is now a freshman at Harvard, and the long-distance relationship is causing Elle to doubt his fidelity. Lee’s girlfriend Rachel (Meganne Young) is annoyed by all of the time and attention Lee gives to Elle. Oh, and there’s a new kid in town, Marco (Taylor Zakhar Perez), who is super hot and gets under Elle’s skin for some reason.
I think in most movies you need to root for someone to really enjoy it. It might be the heroine, it might be the villain, but you need to have that person who gets you invested in the whole thing. Ostensibly you should be rooting for Elle in The Kissing Booth 2. She is the main character in this mess, after all. I struggled to care about her story. Maybe it’s Elle’s “should I go to college at Berkley to hang out with my best friend or go to Harvard to hang out with my boyfriend?” conflict. You know, instead of going to the college that best meets her educational and professional goals. Maybe it’s Elle’s jealousy that her boyfriend has a pretty female friend, even though Elle is heavy-duty flirting with the hot new guy at school. Maybe it’s her being rude to said new guy for no actual reason. Whatever it is, I just couldn’t root for Elle.
The movie isn’t just about Elle, though. The other characters aren’t that great, either. Some of them are downright annoying. No one came off as particularly nice or genuine or root-worthy. Lee is a terrible boyfriend. Rachel is whiny and uncommunicative. Noah could do a better job of understanding Elle’s insecurities. Even the tertiary characters are one-dimensional and not engaging. I will give a pass to Marco. He was fairly root-worthy. I’m still not sure why he was interested in Elle, though. I’m also disappointed that the one person I was invested in didn’t get much in the way of character development. Marco was there to serve Elle and that was it.
It’s worth noting that The Kissing Booth 2 isn’t particularly kid-friendly. It’s not as racy as the John Hughes films I was raised on, but it does have language and mature content. The rating of TV-14 seems appropriate. Unfortunately, those much older than 14 won’t find a lot to enjoy in the film beyond a group of attractive 20-somethings playing teenagers in this predictable high school rom-com.
The Kissing Booth 2 is streaming now on Netflix.
About The Kissing Booth 2
The Kissing Booth is open for business again! High school senior Elle juggles a long-distance relationship with her dreamy boyfriend, college applications with her best friend, and a new friendship with a handsome classmate that could change everything.