The Kissing Booth trilogy was a massive hit for Netflix, amassing millions of viewership numbers across the globe. According to Netflix, the first kissing booth movie was dubbed a commercial success, with one of the three viewers rewatching it, which was 30% higher than any other movie that has been rewatched on the platform.
However, critics with generally unfavourable reviews panned and heavily criticized the movies. This is usually not an issue because we are sure there is one time you’ve watched a movie, really loved it, only to find the critics trashing it on social media. Although that might be normal, the Kissing Booth saw many negative reviews from many, many people.
According to Rotten tomatoes the ratings for The Kissing Booth Part One, Two, and Three were 55, 39, and 17, respectively. Shocking right? It makes you wonder, were the movies not everyone’s cup of tea? And why? In this blog, we will look at some of the reasons.
Cliché Story
The boy meets girl high school story is not exactly a giant breath of fresh air for everyone. There are many cliché plotlines, such as the OMG girls who are super popular and obsessed with Noah, the hottest guy in school, and Ella wishes she could be like them. Others include the Cliché airport goodbye scene, students skipping school for weeks, and hot guys who are always shirtless. Also, a girl makes pros and cons list because she can’t decide if she should give a guy a chance; characters go to the most generic prom party and declare their love in front of everyone.
Sexism
Kate Erbland from Indiewire views the films as sexist and outdated. While her sentiments might be a little harsh, they are not exactly far from the truth. The movie fails to understand gender dynamics and what makes a healthy relationship. Ella’s main character is frequently slut-shamed and her love interest, a romanticized ‘bad boy’ who’s mainly interested in picking fights and justifying his possessive character. We get a boy will be boys’ moment where male students catcall her for wearing a short dress that’s not exactly too far from the dress code. The movie tries to show that boys have nothing to do other than scream at a pretty girl they have known for years for simply wearing something short. The movie does backflips to make sure the main character is undressed.
Some scenes don’t make sense
You might end up asking yourself a lot of questions because some moments in The Kissing Booth don’t make sense. Ella decides to go on a date with a guy who grabbed her butt after slipping a lame apology in her short skirt. Why? Another instance is Noah and Lee live in a fantastic house, but we have no idea what their parents do. Ella strips in front of everyone after Noah tells her to leave.
The movie never explains if this is her typical behaviour or she’s doing that to get Noah’s attention. Much of Noah’s behaviour is not explained, like why he gets angry and lashes out of nowhere. The revelation that he has been accepted to Harvard comes from nowhere. The movie doesn’t hint that he’s smart. Noah pretends he’s Lee, his brother, and Ella pours her heart to him. It doesn’t make sense that she wouldn’t notice the difference when the brothers are reasonably different in size. The movie can be seen as dumb and cheesy by cinephiles.
Parents don’t like it.
According to a poll made by common sense media, many parents were disappointed by the movie and Netflix for advertising it as a pre-teen movie. Most parents rated the movie suitable for teenagers above the age of fifteen. Many concerns stemmed from the rampant toxic masculinity, lack of parental supervision, normalized predatory behaviour, and sexual harassment portrayed in the movie. According to the reviews on the platform, the movie gives the impression that it’s okay if a guy obsessively controls you to the extent of stalking you and shows his violent tendencies. It means he loves you, and you should ignore everyone in your life who tries to tell you that he is terrible for you.
The Kissing Booth is a teen movie
The movie might not suit everyone because it’s essentially a teen movie made for young people. According to common sense media, many kids rated it 13+, calling it the best movie by far. Surprising right? While some suggestive items were shown (condom, lube), many reviews thought it was okay because there were no private parts shown. According to them, there might be inappropriate scenes for younger children, but overall, it’s an amazing movie with the true meaning of friendship, and it’s worth watching.
While The Kissing Booth was not for everyone, we agree that it was a hit, especially for young viewers. Joey King became popular among young ladies for setting up fashion trends for gen Z. Many articles on “how to dress up like Joey King” are available online.
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