The Kissing Booth
Director: Vince Marcello
Writer: Vince Marcello
Based on: Beth Reekles‘ novel
Cast: Joey King, Joel Courtney, Jacob Elordi, Carson White, Stephen Jennings, Chloe Williams, Bianca Bosch, Jessica Sutton
Seen on: 17.8.2019
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Plot:
Elle (Joey King) and Lee (Joel Courtney) have always been best friends and they have grown a lot together. To ensure that their friendship continues, they have established a firm set of rules that they both have to stick to. One of those rules is that neither of them can date the other’s relatives. And so far that has not been an issue. But when Lee’s older brother Noah (Jacob Elordi) kisses Elle in the Kissing Booth at the school fair, things change for Elle. The question is whether changing the rules means losing Lee.

The Kissing Booth is a cute teenie romance that I found rather enjoyable and that will probably scratch your itch if you’re looking for one. That being said, it didn’t blow me away.

What I definitely liked about the film was that Lee and Elle have been friends since birth and that their friendship was never the focus of the romance. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely like friends-to-lovers as a trope, but I also like that we get a story here where a boy and a girl can be friends and that friendship is more important to them than any romance.

What I didn’t like was the fact that there was a certain touch of “the girl’s love will make the boy better” here in Elle and Noah. I mean, I guess that it was acknowledged that Noah’s impule control issues are actually issues and not something to brush off, and they didn’t go all the way to “and now Elle loves him, so everything is a-ok” country, but there was a bit of a sour note for me there.

So, there is a certain charm to the film. And it is definitely entertaining and makes the time pass quickly. It’s definitely not a hardship to watch the film, or very annoying or anything like that. But the film didn’t quite take off for me. The leads weren’t particularly memorable, nor was the film in its entirety. At least it was fun while it lasted, though.

Summarizing: cute enough.