Film Review: 'The Kissing Booth 3'

This is it: the final pre-college summer Elle Evans (Joey King) has to spend with her best friend Lee Flynn (Joel Courtney) and Noah Flynn (Jacob Elordi)--Lee's brother and Elle's boyfriend. With Lee and Noah's parents planning to sell the beloved family beach house, the trio and Lee's girlfriend Rachel (Meganne Young) take up residence there to make the most of their last summer together before college.

But it quickly becomes clear that this summer will be unforgettable--just not for the reasons Elle thinks. With her decision to go to Harvard with Noah upsetting Lee, Elle promises to join her best friend in completing their old summer bucket list. Elle also has to contend with some relationship friction caused by Marco Peña (Taylor Zakhar Perez) reappearing in her life. Throw in working for college money, dealing with her father's new girlfriend, and worrying about the future, and Elle is feeling the pressure to juggle everything during what's supposed to be "the best summer ever." Will Elle fall apart under the strain? Or will this summer lead the plucky young woman to finally take charge of her life?

Back when I reviewed the first Kissing Booth movie, I was new to Vocal as well as to official movie blogging. I was more in my element by the time the second movie came out, but even now, I will continue to speak in the original movie's defense and say it wasn't nearly as problematic and sexist as many critics claimed it was. Now, with the third and final chapter of the Kissing Booth franchise told, I can now bestow it with a score of 9 out of 10--this time, with more confidence than when I gave the same score to The Kissing Booth 1. Not only does The Kissing Booth 3 provide a worthy ending to the story of Elle Evans and company, but it also confronts a lot of the issues that have gotten the series so much flak.

First off, The Kissing Booth 3 gets off to an appropriately nostalgic start. The tone befits both the film's status as the end of a trilogy and its themes of growing up and letting go of the past. The opening shows a fun little recap of Elle's summer adventures with Noah, Lee, and Rachel now that they've all reconciled after the events of Kissing Booth 2. Fans of the franchise will then get hit right in the feels as Elle, Noah, and Lee explore the soon-to-be-sold beach house and reminisce about their shared childhood. It's all enough to make you wish there wasn't going to be any drama waiting to complicate their last summer of adolescent freedom.

Though I was very happy to see that the whole film doesn't revolve around Elle being unable to choose between Harvard and Berkeley and hiding the truth from Noah and Lee. Instead, she makes her choice earlier on and the resulting aftermath becomes the movie's focus. It makes for a more interesting and less frustrating story and goes a long way to show that Elle has grown up a little over the course of the series. She still makes mistakes, some of them bigger than others. But between Elle being more willing to own up to her flaws and Joey King bringing all the heart to Elle's emotional ups and downs, her more aggravating actions are easier to bear. The same can be said about Jacob Elordi and Joel Courtney. Noah and especially Lee each have their bad moments, but Elordi and Courtney continue to allow you to see the good in them that sometimes gets lost in their stubbornness. The writers deserve special credit for taking Noah Flynn (the most divisive character of the series) and giving him the most consistent character growth of the group. Over three movies, we get to see Noah grow out of his short-fused temper and become a more emotionally stable person.

On the less bearable side of things, there's still a fair amount of annoying melodrama and recycled conflicts to deal with. Chief among them is Elle being uncharacteristically dismissive of Noah's feelings about Marco. You'd think after Elle cheated on Noah with Marco in front of a live audience, she'd understand why he's so uncomfortable with her hanging out with him again. The fact that we as an audience already know that Noah's right about Marco trying to win Elle back makes matters worse, as does Marco employing the same sleazy seduction tactics he used throughout The Kissing Booth 2. Taylor Zakhar Perez is still a good actor and Marco goes through his own character-building arc, but it's not quite enough to wash away the icky aftertaste of Marco's actions.

More significantly irritating, though, is Lee retaining a lot of the selfishness and immaturity that made him hard to like during the first two movies. One of the first things he does is literally pout about Elle choosing to go to Harvard instead of Berkeley, leading Elle to use the bucket list to "make it up" to Lee that her life still can't revolve around him anymore. Even meeting new Berkeley friend Ashton (played by Cameron Scott) can't assuage Lee's sense of entitlement to all of Elle's time. Alleviating the frustration is how The Kissing Booth 3 doubles down on the first two movies' efforts to address Lee's toxicity, culminating in a thoroughly cathartic scene that puts Elle's third-act tell-off to Lee from the first movie to shame. This goes along with the saga ending with all three of its main players learning important lessons that build off all the growth they've experienced throughout the films.

(Oddly enough, though, Ashton abruptly disappears after only a few brief scenes along with the subplot about Elle's conflicted feelings about Ashton and Lee's fast friendship.)

The cast is all at their best for the series' swan song. In addition to the previously mentioned cast members, Maisie Richardson-Sellers returns in stellar form as Noah's Harvard friend Chloe Winthrop. She retains all the charisma she had in The Kissing Booth 2 and effortlessly sells Chloe's brief emotional arc involving her family troubles. After being mostly left in the background for the past two movies, Stephen Jennings gets the chance to shine as Elle's father introduces his girlfriend Linda to his children--earning Elle's chagrin. It's another arc for Elle that King and Jennings bring to poignant life. You'll feel for Mr. Evans as his attempt to find love again estranges him from his daughter and empathize with Elle as her residual grief for her mother causes her to unfairly lash out at her father and Linda. Bianca Amato joins the party with her warm performance as Linda, making you feel for the kind-hearted woman as her attempts to connect with Elle get thrown back in her face.

We also get to see plenty of returning minor characters return for one last hoorah. While most of them don't get any major scenes this time around, they're all just as fun as they were before and it's great getting to see them one last time. Two returning supporting players who do get some major scenes are Molly Ringwald and Meganne Young. Ringwald makes Mrs. Flynn as lovable (and knowledgeable) as she was in the first two movies while Young does the same with Rachel. Young also makes sure to dial up the emotion for Rachel's biggest moment of the film. Outside of the characters and their interactions, The Kissing Booth 3 keeps itself moving at a swift pace. In between the bouts of conflict that emerge from Elle Evans and her friends, her and Lee's bucket list activities make for fun breather scenes. My personal favorite of the bunch would have to be the fancy restaurant flash mob set to Walk the Moon's Shut Up and Dance. We also see a continuation of the series' appealing soundtrack aesthetic of mixing old and new pop tunes. And finally, we wrap everything up with a conclusion that ties all of the characters' stories and relationships together in a satisfyingly bittersweet bow and ends things on a cute callback to where it all began.

For some, The Kissing Booth is the worst thing Netflix has ever added to its catalog. But for me? While the franchise has its problems with story and characterization, its talented stars and infectiously charming vibe make it an entertaining summer romance saga. The Kissing Booth 3 deserves particular credit for addressing many of the series' issues and correcting them in time for the last end credits/blooper reel sequence. Even hardened Kissing Booth haters are sure to appreciate that. So whether you loathe this Netflix trilogy or love it with every bit of your heart, I can give The Kissing Booth 3 my glowing recommendation.

Score: 9 out of 10 80's mini-golf nights.