The Kissing Booth 2 review: A sexualised teenage drama

The Kissing Booth 2 (Netflix)
Written and directed: Vince Marcello
Cast: Joey King, Joel Courtney, Jacob Elordi
Rating: 3/5

The belief that genres are only supposed to cater only to a select group of people who want a specific set of things is what results in its demise. The dumb and highly sexualised ‘Kissing Booth 2’ is just that.

Continuing from the first season, the KB2 starts a month after Noah Flynn has left for Harvard University. Elle misses him very badly and starts imagining him cheating on her, and slowly Elle is convinced that what she believes is the reality. She starts having feelings for another guy, and kisses him while still dating Noah, and somehow makes herself the victim.

Teenage romance movies always portray love as the driving factor of teenage life, while in reality millions of American teens are all having a hard time finishing their studies and getting into college while also worrying about the cost of tuition. But it’s okay, it’s supposed to be light-hearted and that is fine. However, you can make it light-hearted in a million other ways too. This is just an overly used storyline with nothing creative or interesting about it or the characters.

There have been a lot of good movies in this genre which are disparagingly referred to as “chick flicks” but this movie really sets the bar really low. At a time when even superhero movies make good teenage romance stories, it is not a matter of the genre lacking room for experiments or possibilities, it is just plain lack of creativity.