Netflix changed the game in 2018. It wasn't with a high-brow Scorsese drama or a massive sci-fi epic, but with a bright, somewhat chaotic teen rom-com called The Kissing Booth movie. Honestly, if you were online when it dropped, you couldn't escape it. The film, based on a Wattpad novel written by Beth Reekles when she was just fifteen, became an overnight juggernaut. It felt like everyone was talking about Elle Evans, her best friend Lee Flynn, and the "dangerously" brooding Noah Flynn.
But let’s be real. The critics hated it.
It currently sits at a pretty brutal 15% on Rotten Tomatoes. Yet, millions of people streamed it. It spawned two sequels, making it one of the most successful trilogies in Netflix history. Why? It’s a weird mix of nostalgia, problematic tropes, and the undeniable chemistry between Joey King and Jacob Elordi, who were actually dating in real life during the first film’s production. That real-world romance definitely fueled the fire.
The Plot That Launched a Thousand Tweets
The premise of The Kissing Booth movie is basically a trope-lover's fever dream. You have Elle and Lee, born on the same day in the same hospital, who are inseparable. To protect their friendship, they have a list of rules. Rule number nine is the big one: relatives of your best friend are strictly off-limits. Enter Noah Flynn. He’s Lee’s older brother, a leather-jacket-wearing "bad boy" with anger issues and a motorcycle.
Naturally, Elle falls for him.
Everything comes to a head at a carnival fundraiser where Elle and Lee set up—you guessed it—a kissing booth. When Elle ends up blindfolded and Noah is the one stepping up to the booth, the secret starts to unravel. It’s dramatic. It’s messy. It’s exactly what 2018-era internet culture craved. People weren't looking for Citizen Kane; they wanted the vicarious thrill of a forbidden high school romance.
The movie leans hard into the "Rule-Breaking" narrative. Elle spends a massive chunk of the runtime lying to her best friend, which created a lot of discourse about whether Lee was being a controlling jerk or if Elle was just a bad friend. Honestly, both sides have points. The friendship rules are objectively stifling, but hiding a whole relationship from your "soulmate" best friend is a recipe for disaster.
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Why the Critics Panned It (and Why They Might Have Been Right)
If you look at the reviews from places like The Guardian or Variety, the consensus was pretty grim. They pointed out the clunky dialogue and the questionable gender dynamics. Noah Flynn isn't just a "bad boy"—he’s frequently shown as possessive and aggressive. He gets into fights constantly. He tries to dictate who Elle can and cannot see.
In a post-John Hughes world, these tropes are starting to age like milk.
- Noah’s "protection" often feels like "control."
- Elle’s agency is frequently sidelined for the sake of the brothers' drama.
- The high school setting feels like a glossy, idealized version of Los Angeles that doesn't actually exist.
Despite this, the "hate-watching" phenomenon was real. You’ve probably seen the memes. People mocked the scene where Elle’s pants rip, or the somewhat cringey dance-off sequences. But even as people joked about it, the watch hours climbed. Netflix reported that one in three viewers re-watched the film. That’s a staggering statistic for a movie that professionals claimed was "unwatchable." It proves there's a massive gap between what critics value and what the general public wants to decompress with on a Friday night.
The Jacob Elordi Factor
You can't talk about The Kissing Booth movie without talking about Jacob Elordi’s meteoric rise. Before he was the prestige-TV darling of Euphoria or playing Elvis in Priscilla, he was the guy in the Flynn jersey. Elordi has been famously vocal about his distaste for these movies in recent years. In a 2023 GQ interview, he admitted he didn't want to make them and called them "ridiculous."
That’s a tough pill for fans to swallow, but it adds a layer of meta-fascination to the viewing experience. Watching him play Noah Flynn now feels like looking at a different person. You can almost see the internal conflict on screen, or maybe that’s just his natural brooding look.
Joey King, on the other hand, has consistently defended the films. She’s pointed out that they brought a lot of joy to people and launched her career into the stratosphere. She isn't wrong. King’s performance is genuinely charming; she carries the movie with a physical comedy energy that keeps it from sinking under its own melodrama. Her ability to make Elle feel like a real (albeit slightly misguided) teenager is what keeps the story grounded.
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Impact on the Rom-Com Renaissance
Before The Kissing Booth movie, the teen rom-com was arguably on life support. Theaters had mostly given up on them in favor of superheroes. Netflix realized there was a massive, underserved audience of Gen Z and Millennial viewers who missed the simple, trope-heavy stories of the 90s and 2000s.
Success like this paved the way for To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and The Summer I Turned Pretty. It proved that you don't need a $200 million budget to dominate the cultural conversation. You just need a relatable conflict, a "will-they-won't-they" dynamic, and a cast that looks good on a poster.
The movie also highlighted the power of "Platform to Screen" adaptations. Beth Reekles' success story—writing on a free app and seeing it become a global film franchise—is the ultimate modern Cinderella story for writers. It changed how studios scout for content. Now, they aren't just looking at scripts; they're looking at hit counts on Wattpad and Kindle Direct Publishing.
The Problematic Parts We Can't Ignore
We have to talk about the toxic elements. Modern audiences are much more aware of "Red Flag" behavior than they were even six or seven years ago. Noah’s tendency to get into fistfights to "defend" Elle’s honor is seen today as a major warning sign rather than a romantic gesture.
There's a specific scene where Noah tells Elle, "You’re not allowed to go on a date with anyone else," and the movie frames it as a passionate moment of love. Today, TikTok creators would have a field day breaking down that level of toxicity. The "Oh, he's just misunderstood" trope is being replaced by "Oh, he needs therapy."
Acknowledging these flaws doesn't mean you can't enjoy the movie. It just means the way we consume it has changed. It's become a time capsule of 2018's specific brand of "Relatable Content" and the lingering influence of early 2010s "Bad Boy" fanfiction culture.
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Real-World Locations You Can Actually Visit
Most of the movie looks like it takes place in Southern California. The flashy cars, the Hollywood sign in the background, the beach. But here’s a fun fact: it was mostly filmed in Cape Town, South Africa.
The University of Cape Town served as the high school. If you go there, you won't find the Flynn mansion, but you will recognize the architecture of the "California" campus. This is a common tactic in film—using South Africa or Vancouver to stand in for expensive US cities. It works, but it contributes to that slightly "uncanny valley" feeling the movie has, where everything looks just a little too perfect and sun-drenched to be real.
Navigating the Trilogy
If you're planning a marathon, be prepared for the shift in tone.
- The First Movie: Pure wish fulfillment. The focus is entirely on the secret romance and the fallout with Lee.
- The Second Movie: Introduces Marco (Taylor Zakhar Perez). This is where the fan base truly split. Suddenly, Noah is at Harvard and Elle is struggling with a long-distance relationship. Marco is, arguably, the better choice. He's kind, shares her interests, and doesn't have a history of punching people.
- The Third Movie: This one is a bit of a fever dream. It’s set during the summer before college. It tries to wrap up every single plot point—Elle’s future, the brothers' relationship, the parents' lives—and it ends on a surprisingly ambiguous note.
The ending of the third film was a massive point of contention. Without giving away too many spoilers, it refuses to give the audience the easy "happily ever after" they expected from the first film. It suggests that maybe, just maybe, your high school boyfriend shouldn't dictate where you go to college or what your entire life looks like. It’s a surprisingly mature turn for a franchise that started with a kissing booth.
What to Do if You Actually Liked It
If you finished the trilogy and found yourself wanting more, you aren't alone. The "Teen Romance" genre is booming. But instead of just re-watching the same three movies, look for stories that subvert these tropes.
- Read the books: Beth Reekles has written several spin-offs and novellas that flesh out the characters more than the movies do. You get a better sense of Noah’s internal struggle and Lee’s insecurities.
- Watch the "Better" Alternatives: If you liked the "Best Friend’s Brother" trope but want something a bit more grounded, check out The Edge of Seventeen. It deals with similar themes but with a much sharper, more realistic edge.
- Analyze the Chemistry: Watch the behind-the-scenes footage. Much of the movie's success relied on the real-life sparks between the leads. Seeing how they navigated the breakup while filming the sequels is a lesson in professional acting.
The legacy of The Kissing Booth movie isn't that it was a masterpiece. It’s that it was a moment. It was a catalyst for Netflix's obsession with teen content and a launchpad for actors who would go on to do much bigger (and arguably better) things. It’s a movie that reminds us that sometimes, we just want to watch something that feels like a summer vacation—messy, loud, and a little bit ridiculous.
Take the movies for what they are: a snapshot of a specific era of internet storytelling. Don't take the relationship advice literally, don't build your life around "Rule Number Nine," and definitely don't let your boyfriend ride a motorcycle without a helmet. Beyond that, it's perfectly fine to enjoy the ride.