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Featured: A Review of the Movie “The Kissing Booth”

The Kissing Booth

About the Movie

“The Kissing Booth” was adapted from a novel of the same name; written by Beth Reekles. It is a novel that was first started on the online site Wattpad. The book is a teen romantic comedy that translates well on the screen. The film is 104 minutes long has all the common tropes associated with teen movies. It was released on 11 May 2018 on Netflix.  If you like romantic comedies, check out my list of Most Anticipated Movies of 2018.

Trailer

Uploaded by KinoCheck International

Synopsis

This Synopsis for “The Kissing Booth” was taken from Rotten Tomatoes. (https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_kissing_booth/)

When Elle Evans (Joey King), a pretty, late-bloomer who’s never-been-kissed, decides to run a kissing booth at her high school’s Spring Carnival, she unexpectedly finds herself locking lips with her secret crush- the ultimate bad boy, Noah Flynn (Jacob Elordi). Sparks fly, but there’s one little problem: Noah just happens to be the brother of her best friend, Lee, (Joel Courtney) and is absolutely off limits according to the rules of their friendship pact. Elle’s life is turned upside down when she realizes that she must ultimately make a choice: follow the rules or follow her heart. Based on Beth Reekle’s self-published coming-of-age novel that became an international sensation, THE KISSING BOOTH is a Netflix Film, written and directed by Vince Marcello

The Review

The Kissing Booth

The Kissing Booth: From right to left; Noah Flynn, Elle Evans, Lee Flynn.

 

My Overall Thoughts

I liked “The Kissing Booth” well enough; it was a fun, sappy and kind of nonsensical trashy teen romance. It checked all the tick boxes for what a teen romance should have. However, despite trying really hard to be the optimum of typical teen romances; “The Kissing Booth” was bland and predictable. The only thing that propped the movie up was the relative attractiveness of the lead actor. The entire plot felt forced and the tension manufactured. So despite the fact that I am usually a big fan of romantic comedies, I found this movie mediocre at best.

The Best Parts of the Movie

Despite my disdain for it, “The Kissing Booth” is fun enough to watch. It is one of those low quality flicks one watches when they have nothing better to do. It serves well as a vaguely entertaining; don’t-need-to-think-flick.

The most refreshing parts of “The Kissing Booth” were the charming acting of the lead actress. She was cute as a button and made me want to root for her. Elle fitted into her role well and did a good job of making herself feel like a believable teen. She felt like the most fleshed out character. I was also fun to see her deal with the typical teen problems, such as student council, boys asking her out, sneaking around etc.

The second commendable part of the movie is that it is well shot and visually appealing, from the actors to the costumes to the setting everything looks good. This makes it easier to watch and follow. It is fun to see Elle’s different outfit changes and her interactions in and out of school. The male lead is very attractive and that adds additional appeal to the central romance.

Sad to say, that I spent an hour trying to think of anything else good to say about the movie but I came up with nothing.

Things That Were Meh

All of the side characters (and even most of the main ones) were caricatures. Instead of feeling real they felt like the movie makes had picked a few relatively similar traits and shoved them into each character. Like for example, Noah is the main romantic lead, a hot teenage jock, who gets into Ivy leagues, oh and he’s also promiscuous, jealous, controlling and supportive. It is not all consistent or believable.

The side characters are even worse, like for example the high school queens (an obvious mean girls type crew) are hot and vapid. They are also mean and bitchy. They have no real character, just random traits shoved into a body.

The plot is so forced and cliché that I can’t even begin to take it apart. The tension is completely manufactured and honestly the problems faced by the lead are so cliché and unrealistic that I could not build up any sympathy for her. The character motivations are so unclear we might as well be looking at them through a brick wall.  The characters react however the plot needs them to, not how they are portrayed as.

In fact though I listed the main female lead as one the positive aspects of “The Kissing Booth”, by the end, I thoroughly disliked her. She made such bad, dishonest and disloyal choices that anyone would be hard pressed to cheer for her. She was so selfish and uncaring of anything but what she wanted, going so far as to hurt both her best friend and her boyfriend. Plus the fact that she ultimately faces no serious consequences for her actions make the whole thing even less believable and more frustrating.

My Final Thoughts

This movie is good to watch on girls day in, as a sort of trashy movie that you can enjoy without thinking too much. Because the more you think about it the worse the movie seems. (Trust me this is something I have learnt while trying to review the thing). Overall I give it a 4.5/10.


Disclaimer:

This review is the Author’s opinion, the author does not claim anything stated here as fact. If you disagree with anything written in this article please do not hesitate to sound of in the comments down below. However, please keep in mind that the author is not liable for any information stated in this post. It is purely opinion.

The Movie “The kissing Booth” and all of its materials are owned by Beth Reekles, Komixx Entertainment and Netflix. We are merely using some of them in this post to illustrate a point (fair use). If you wish for your materials to be taken down please contact us and we will remove them immediately.

 

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