‘The Kissing Booth’: Netflix’s Teen Comedy Sensation Isn’t Just Bad, It’s Dangerous

By Khaleeda Dawood

May 1, 2022

The Netflix original movie, The Kissing Booth, is one worth noting. However, I suggest you take that note, tear it up, burn it, or toss it in a lake. Do not be mistaken, although the title may have “kiss” in it, this film was about as romantic as Toy Story. If the romance factor is one that intrigued you, you'd have better luck finding it in the NYC subway than in this movie. Trust me when I say the only sparks I felt were the ones in my head- telling me to cancel my Netflix subscription.

The Kissing Booth is a teen romantic comedy. The film follows a quirky late-blooming character Elle Evans (Joey King) as well as her friend, Lee Flynn (Joel Courtney). These two characters are inseparable best friends, who were born at the same time, same day in the same hospital. The two are practically raised like twins due to their mothers growing up together. They have a list of rules they made as kids and for whatever reason, they still the rules as teenagers.. One of the rules is that they can’t date each other's relatives.

When Elle is 11, her mother becomes terminally ill and, three years later, passes away. Because of how close Lee and her mother were, Elle is practically raised by Lee’s mother, Sara (Molly Ringwald). Elle starts to realize she's developed a crush on the “bad boy” in school, Noah (Jacob Elordi), who just so happened to be her best friend's brother.

The Netflix original is filled with casual slut-shaming and sexual rhetoric. The main character, Elle, notices she runs out of skirts and the only one she finds is a skirt that has outgrown her. Later in school, Elle ends up in detention for breaking the dress code, which is the same punishment handed out to the guy who assaulted her and touched her butt. Neither the principal nor the movie as a whole seems to take the incident seriously. The school missed an opportunity to educate on the topic of sexual harassment and its effect on the self-esteem of young women.

In fact, the whole situation appears to be played for laughs when Elle tells the principal, "I am upset. Dude touched my lady bump." The film shows that sexual harassment is normal and insignificant. Noah (Lee’s brother) says “wearing a skirt like that is asking for it” when he sees Elle at the principal's office.

The entire scene is a terrible message to the many young girls who have watched this. It leaves impressionable young viewers with perverted and convoluted perceptions of what love does and should look like.

While I hate to bring down a fellow woman, Elle is not a strong female character. Her only goal in the film is to get in bed with her best friend's brother. She rarey sticks up for herself and is repetitively taken advantage of by boys, whether it be Noah’s sexist remarks or Lee treating her like she is incapable of making her own decisions. This is not the type of character any young girl should look up to.

In simplest terms, the Netflix original film, “The Kissing Booth” is an atrocious movie. It's a waste of one's time and sanity-- a complete cinematic joke. The film is a clear message to young women that abusive men should be not only tolerated but actively sought out. It gives a subliminal message that can’t help but leave one with a bad taste in their mouth. Running time: 105 minutes. One star out of four.