The Kissing Booth 3 was released on August 11, 2021, following the first two movies in the franchise. In the third movie, we look at the story of Elle, the main character, and her significant other, Noah, and navigate through their summer before everyone goes off to college. Elle spends the whole summer keeping secrets from Noah and her best friend Lee, such as which colleges she is actually accepted to, who she is hanging out with and who she really wants to prioritize her time with (Lee or Noah). Elle is torn between hurting others by telling the truth and saving them from any hard feelings or lying about something that she wants to do with her time or where she wants to go to college. There are many twists and turns throughout the film, which end up in a big mess for Elle and her relationships. Elle then has to navigate through what she actually wants to go to college for and where she wants to go.
The moral of this film is to show the audience what could happen if you lie to your friends and family to protect them. The truth always comes out at some point. You must focus on yourself once in a while and do things that make you happy, not what makes others happy. When it comes to making decisions that may affect the rest of your life, you have to really focus and figure out the best fit for you. Elle avoided this for a long time and waited until she was forced to take a step back and look at her reality. She then realized she was choosing the wrong path for herself.
This film was made for pre-teens or teens who are trying to navigate through life because it prepares them for the real world. The Kissing Booth 3 may not be the most realistic movie ever made, but the whole film series shows the audience that you can overcome just about anything when you have the support of friends and family.
While the movie has strong moral lessons on life and growing up, I wouldn’t say this movie is particularly of the highest quality. We all know that Netflix originals have a tendency to be very cringeworthy and The Kissing Booth 3 is no exception. I’m one of those people who loves a good cringy movie… when you can relate to the main character. However, I feel like The Kissing Booth 3 really missed the mark for me, and the entire trilogy really. The first movie even, while still awkward and cringeworthy at times, had a lot more of a relatability factor that the second and third movies really lacked.
*Spoiler Alert* The next paragraph contains some spoilers, so read at your own risk!
The plot also seemed really all over the place to me. We start with our four main characters getting to stay at the boys’ beach house for the summer so they can get it ready to sell. Then we have Lee working to make sure no one buys it, Elle choosing Harvard, Elle and Lee doing an old summer bucket list, Lee getting a new friend Elle is jealous of, Noah jealous of Marco coming back into Elle’s life, Elle’s dad getting a new girlfriend, the dance machine being removed and Lee and Rachel’s relationship issues. All of these plots and side plots happening simultaneously gets to be super confusing. Not to mention, no matter what situation, Elle always seems to make the worst possible choice.
In conclusion, I’d recommend this movie to teens and middle schoolers, but that’s about it. There’s just not enough character depth and sense to build a connection and the plot is just too chaotic. Additionally, the main character is far more frustrating than relatable when it comes to decision-making. All in all, this movie is simply not worth the hype it received, especially for anyone over the age of seventeen.