Stars: 1/5

Netflix strikes again with yet another cheesy, teen romance movie with a predictable plot and a happy ending for all. Not that we needed it, a sequel to the streaming service’s original film “The Kissing Booth” came out last month. Although it may be popular at tween slumber parties, “The Kissing Booth 2” did not live up to the hype of other Netflix originals. 

Elle (Joey King) is starting senior year and is dealing with big problems. Along with doing long-distance with her boyfriend Noah (Jacob Elordi) while he’s attending Harvard University, Elle also has to decide where she will attend college. She could choose to attend Berkley and stay in California with her best friend Lee (Joel Courtney) or she could follow her heart and Noah to Boston and apply to Harvard.

This film, in my opinion, portrays a lot of toxic behavior in a relationship. From Elle not trusting Noah to have a friend that’s also a girl, to Noah trying to convince Elle to go to school in Boston even though he knows she wants to go to Berkely, the two don’t handle long-distance well.

I also took off major points over how unrealistic the plot is. I’m not really sure if this movie is meant to be serious or if it was written intentionally for people to make fun of. For example, Elle doesn’t look into scholarships or a student loan when her dad tells her that college will be a financial struggle, but instead, she earns college money buy winning a dance video game competition. 

To make Elle and Noah’s relationship even more complicated, the new stud at school, Marco (Taylor Zakhar Perez), begins to fall for Elle after becoming her partner for the competition. They win the whole contest and share a kiss that Noah sees from the crowd which makes things all kinds of awkward. 

The film ends with Noah and Elle making up after a whole school year of petty arguments and misunderstandings, but unfortunately, we are left with another cliff hanger which could only mean that we’re not done with “The Kissing Booth” movies. In the final scene, Elle stares at acceptance letters to both Berkley and Harvard before the movie cuts to the credits without telling us about her decision. We also see that Marco still has feelings for Elle despite seeing her happy with Noah.

All in all, I would give this film 5/5 stars if it was a satirical comedy about teen romance, but it’s not. This film is so cringe-worthy that I could not for one second take it seriously. Don’t get me wrong, I found it incredibly funny and easy to make fun of, but I’m not sure that was the audience reaction that the director was hoping for. I’m sorry, Netflix, but two is not better than one in this case, and we most certainly don’t need three.