WARNING: This film will be containing spoilers from The Kissing Booth (2018). If you have not yet watched the film, then I would advise you to stop reading this blog post. If you do want to watch the film before reading this post then it is available to watch on Netflix. Hope you enjoy!
Today we are reviewing The Kissing Booth (2018), a comedy romance film that stars Joey King, Joel Courtney and Jacob Elordi as our power trio Elle Evans, Lee Flynn and Noah Flynn. Adapted from the novel of the same name by Beth Reekle, the film garnered audience success from its premiere on Netflix, as well as negative backlash from critics, who describe the film as being sexist and outdated in its portrayal of high school romance. Despite its criticisms we will be discussing whether this film meets up to our expectations of cheesiness so please feel free to comment your opinions below on whether you agree with my cheese rating.
The film begins with a literal first-person narration from our female main character Elle Evans (King) who tells the story from her point of view as a tomboyish, average looking 16-year-old teenage girl struggling with the issues of love, appearance and friendship. Using a speedy montage we see Elle and her best friend Lee Flynn progress from new-born babies to teenagers, who at various stages enforce their love for dancing. The frequent shots of the pair at the arcade set in Santa Monica Pier establish the first bite of cheesiness, with the use of CGI to show the audience their age progression (from age 7 to 16) and their gradual skill at using the dance machine.
As we watch them grow up and develop their own personalities, we learn of their list of friendship rules and how strict the two abide by them. After failing to apologise to Lee via phone and text, Elle attempts to fix their friendship using one last method.
Through the use of a mid-shot of Elle holding an ice-cream cone towards Lee’s face and the repetition of first-person narration, Elle tells the audience of the 7th friendship rule: “No matter how mad you are at your best friend, you have to forgive them if they give you ice-cream.” This scene is particularly cheesy due to the sentimentality of the gesture. In the shot we see Elle’s eyes look up towards Lee, almost as if she’s about to cry for him to forgive her. The furrow of her eyebrow also signifies the stress and desperation attached to the ice-cream offer. Out of context, the significance of ice-cream is nothing but a sweet treat to enjoy on a hot day. However in this case, it is signifying an offering to rebuild their friendship and although quite childish when examining their ages, it also emphasises the closeness of their relationship and how despite everything that’s happened, Elle still wants Lee in her life.
Another example of cheesiness through the representation of Elle and Lee’s close friendship is in the carnival scene. A close-up shot is used of Lee being kissed by Rachel in order to capture the intimacy between the two. The scene is softly lit by the bulbs from the kissing booth sign, emphasising the use of low-key lighting used to establish a romantic tone to the already apparent comedy genre. The mise-en-scene is accompanied by a non-diegetic piano score that although cliché in terms of its conventional use in the romantic-comedy hybrid genre is used to match the developing romance between Lee and Rachel, as they slowly progress on-screen into a romantic relationship.
When examining the close-up shot, we see the big smiles on both of their faces, emphasising the happiness shared between the two and also how we are meant to feel as the audience towards the pair. In the next shot, which is also a close-up we see them lean in for a second kiss, in which the camera cuts to a long shot of Elle watching them from afar, her beaming smile signifying her happiness for her best friend. This scene overall is particularly cheesy because of its use of binary opposites. The representation of Lee, whose character is portrayed as weird and quirky ending up with Rachel, the sweet and soft-spoken pretty girl is often a cliché used in romantic comedies. However as an audience member watching the two on screen, it did make me feel good for the characters and their progression within the story.
Although the scene between Lee and Rachel made the inner teenager inside me squeal, the scene between Noah and Elle was one that fully melted the cheese on top of the toast. Following the failed attempt by the OMG girls to humiliate Elle in front of the entire school population, we open the scene with a blindfolded Elle waiting for a kiss from the next boy in line. To our shocking surprise, we discover the next kisser would in fact, be Noah Flynn, Elle’s life-long crush and Lee’s older brother.
With a mid-shot we see Noah lean in and kiss Elle, with the large ‘kiss’ signs used as props in the background placed to emphasise the desire of both the characters within the scene. After Elle takes off the blindfold and sees Noah’s face, the intimate distance between them is closed as she reciprocates the kiss. An arc shot is used to create dramatic effect to the scene, as well as capture the monument of the occasion for the two characters as they kiss and laugh, emphasising their joy.
The camera cuts sharply to a close-up shot of the kiss sign’s light bulbs bursting, further emphasising dramatic effect and enforcing the cheesiness to the narrative, as this would realistically not occur in real-life but most falls under the classification of the comedy genre, in which realism is not thought about.
This scene was more or less shot in a way to please the teenage audience, who from following the story that was originally published on Wattpad, are now watching their favourite characters come to life. If I was a teenage girl, I probably wouldn’t have any complaints regarding the film and its cheesiness. In fact, what I have looked at so far has matched what I consider to be cheesy. Unfortunately like many films though, this one does draw a fine line between what is cheesy and what is cringy.
The film’s portrayal of high school romance is one that is both cheesy and innocent, but also naïve and problematic, particularly within the script for Noah’s character. Heavily structured towards violent notions of masculinity, Noah uses manipulative tactics in order to be romantically linked with Elle, specifically in the scene at the arcade. The character Tuppen, a stereotypical tall, muscular guy who sexually harassed Elle by groping her butt has stood her up after asking her out on a date. In a mid-shot of Elle and Tuppen at the arcade, we see her questioning his lack of response to their meeting, in which he tells her through diegetic dialogue that “He’s been going around telling all the guys not to ask you out.”, “he” being Noah.
A close-up shot of Elle frowning with her mouth gape signifying her confusion is the same expression I had on my face when I watched this scene for the first time. It is also one of the many scenes which I classify to be both cringy over cheesy, but also concerning due to the message it is sending to young women. Noah’s character further emphasises his possessive nature in the beach scene, in which we see a mid-shot of Noah by the car. Using diegetic sound from both his aggressive command for Elle to “Get in the car”, as well as the visible sound made from him slamming his hand onto the car bonnet, the notion of him both physically violent from the numerous shots of him fighting, as well as emotionally manipulative is hard to ignore.
Of course I will not discount the mentions of cheesiness within this review and when ignoring the exaggerated acting and cliché plot, I did enjoy watching this film. I am interested in seeing where the story will take us, as a sequel has been confirmed. Hopefully we will see more cheesiness next time around.
Cheese Box 