Line #12 Film/TheKissingBooth


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kissing_booth.jpg]]
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3	A 2018 teen romantic {{dramedy}} film, [[TheFilmOfTheBook based on]] [[Literature/TheKissingBooth the novel]] of the same name by Beth Reekles[[note]]Notable for being one of the few Platform/{{Wattpad}} stories to be published and distributed in print form[[/note]] and directed by Vince Marcello.
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5	It revolves around Elle Evans (Creator/JoeyKing), a teenage girl who develops a crush on older student Noah Flynn (Creator/JacobElordi). However, one of the biggest obstacles to them getting together is Noah's brother Lee (Creator/JoelCourtney), who happens to be Elle's BestFriend with whom she has a set of strict 'friendship rules'. Chief amongst these rules is "No dating your friend's siblings", but will Elle's feelings for Noah trump her friendship with Lee?
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7	It was followed by a sequel, ''Film/TheKissingBooth2'', in 2020. A second sequel, ''Film/TheKissingBooth3'' (secretly filmed in conjunction with ''The Kissing Booth 2''), was released in 2021.
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9	!!''The Kissing Booth'' contains examples of:
10	* AbhorrentAdmirer: The bespectacled nerd member of the student council has an obvious crush on Elle, who doesn't even notice it. Interestingly, aside from the [[AlphaBitch OMG Girls]], the other students (even Noah, surprisingly enough) don't treat him as a laughingstock.
11	* ActorAllusion:
12	** Creator/MollyRingwald plays Mrs. Flynn, Noah and Lee's mother. She is well-known for playing the female lead in teen rom-coms from TheEighties, such as ''Film/SixteenCandles'' and ''Film/PrettyInPink''.
13	** At Lee and Elle's costumed birthday party, Lee dresses up as Batman [[spoiler: with Noah later wearing the costume to surprise Elle]]. One of Creator/JoeyKing's earlier roles was young Talia in ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises''.
14	* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: The PlotMandatedFriendshipFailure plays out differently compared to the novel. In the book, [[spoiler:Lee's beef after the secret relationship is outed is that Elle lied to him. He doesn't particularly care that she hooked up with his brother; he is mad because Elle seems to care for Noah more than being honest with him, even though they are best friends. The conflict lasts less than a day before Elle quietly reconciles with Lee through a phone call, and the rest of the book is spent with Elle mustering up the courage to talk with Noah.]] The film puts a lot more emphasis on Elle's friendship with Lee and Lee's insecurity of being the most popular jock's younger brother, so [[spoiler:Lee is mad at Elle for hooking up with Noah ''period''; he never wanted them to hook up even if they were honest because he wanted to keep Elle for himself. As a result, his beef with her lasts longer and factors into her dilemma whether to stay with Noah or break up with him]].
15	* AdaptationalBackstoryChange: Elle's mother died because of a car accident in the book. Here, she died of cancer.
16	* AdaptationalJerkass: Thanks to being a CompositeCharacter, Warren takes over Patrick's role in the book as the one who forcefully tries to hit on Elle (and unlike Patrick, he is completely sober).
17	* AdaptationDyeJob:
18	** In the book, Elle has black hair and brown eyes, while Creator/JoeyKing is brown-haired and blue-eyed.
19	** The Flynn brothers are black-haired and blue-eyed in the book. Their actors (Joel Courtney and Jacob Elordi) are both brown-haired and brown-eyed.
20	* AdaptationDistillation:
21	** The film changes the party at Warren's house to a gathering at Santa Monica. Rather than going to the Flynn's house, Elle and Noah go to the Hollywood sign after the former storms off.
22	** There is a gap between Lee finding out about Elle's bruise and [[spoiler:her relationship with Noah]] in the book. The film instead merges the two scenes so they happen one after another.
23	** In the book, [[spoiler:Elle reconciles with Noah before the Summer Dance, as a result, they spend the rest of the summer, including the trip to the beach house, as a couple.]] This would have considerably lengthened the film, so instead [[spoiler:the two reconcile right before Noah is about to leave for Boston.]]
24	* AdaptationExpansion: The "best friends' rules" that Elle and Lee envisaged is a film addition, as the book makes no mention of it.
25	* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: The first guy Elle asks out is the same guy who sexually harassed her in front of the whole school and nearly beat up Lee when he tried to defend her. And she has a huge crush on Noah, a womanizer who constantly gets into fights, threatens other guys into staying away from her without her knowledge or consent, and emotionally manipulates her. It's not just Elle either; practically every girl in school is head over heels for Noah.
26	* AlliterativeName: '''E'''lle '''E'''vans.
27	* AlphaBitch: Mia, with Gwyneth and Olivia as {{Beta Bitch}}es.
28	* AmbiguouslyGay: Miles the head student. He coughs when Elle promises that Noah is going to be at the kissing booth, and during the event itself, queues at the girls' line instead of the boys'. A boy who passes by, noticing this, gives him a flirtatious wink. This becomes a plot point in [[Film/TheKissingBooth2 the sequel]].
29	* ArtisticLicense: At one point, Elle and Noah visit the Hollywood sign and end up [[spoiler: having sex]] right under it...[[https://hollywoodsign.org/frequently-asked-questions/ which isn't actually possible]]. According to hollywoodsign.org, "the closest you can get to the Hollywood Sign is up and above and that location is accessible by several hikes within Griffith Park". Oh, and it also has over 13 cameras including motion sensors, infrared cameras, and loudspeakers protecting it and is monitored 24/7 by the LAPD, for good measure.
30	* BigBrotherInstinct: The first time we see Noah get into a fight, it's to stop Tuppen from hitting Lee. [[spoiler: When Lee attacks Noah after finding out about him and Elle, Noah notably doesn't fight back, but instead pins Lee to the ground until he calms down]].
31	** Lee also becomes enraged when he thinks that Noah hit Elle.
32	* BigDamnKiss: Elle and Noah have one at the kissing booth, complete with the camera spinning around them and the light-up sign behind them exploding with sparks in a not-so-subtle visual metaphor.
33	* BigFancyHouse: The Flynns live in one overlooking the beach; it includes a pool and is large enough to easily accommodate dozens of people from the local high school when the Flynns throw a party.
34	* BiggerIsBetterInBed: Implied with Noah; he's swooned over by just about every girl in school and wears an XL-sized groin guard.
35	* BlandNameProduct: "Dance Dance Mania", with its four directional panels, is clearly a ''VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution'' clone (a closer look at the UI suggests that it's created from Stepmania, a custom engine based on the series). Elle and Lee's favorite song is "Be Together" (an English cover of a J-pop song by [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TM_Network TM Network]]), which is a featured license in one DDR game.
36	* TheCasanova: Noah is somewhat infamous for the number of girlfriends he goes through.
37	* ChildhoodFriend: Elle and Lee. As Elle puts it, the two were literally born at the same time and have been together ever since.
38	* ChildhoodFriendRomance: Elle has known Noah for as long as Lee and has had a crush on him since she was a teen.
39	* CompositeCharacter:
40	** Elle's circle of friends is much larger in the book. The film merges most of her girlfriends into the GirlPosse OMG Girls (Mia is a CanonForeigner and Olivia and Georgia, while exist, do not form a separate group of their own) and switches out or eliminates her boy friends' relationship (Warren is made a JerkJock and takes the role of Patrick, Ollie is reduced to a few cameos, etc.) so it's more evident that Lee is her best friend.
41	** In the book, the jock who grabs Elle's buttocks and the boy who asks her out for a date are different people. The film merges them into a single character, Tuppen.
42	** The film transfers some of Brad's traits to Elle as the former is DemotedToExtra. Elle in the book is OneOfTheBoys but has no particular liking to sports, while Brad is a soccer player. In the film, Elle loves sports and is part of the soccer club.
43	* FriendshipMoment: This happens during Elle's and Lee's reconciliation [[spoiler:after the former's secret relationship is found out]]. At the arcade machine where they frequent, Lee is about to play DDM when he sees Elle sitting not too far away. He considers playing single but eventually inserts one more credit and nods for Elle to join. The two initially act awkward at each other but as the song progresses the tension melts and they begin to dance and laugh as they did before, before dissolving into a hug.
44	* FriendVersusLover: Elle insists on keeping her relationship with Noah secret to avoid this because Lee has made it ''very'' clear he doesn't want them romantically involved, even getting slightly upset they kissed at the kissing booth despite it being for charity. Inevitably, he does find out and things quickly go south. [[spoiler: Elle and Noah effectively break up, while Lee stops talking to her. They eventually reconcile, but Elle then confronts him over how stupid it is she can't date his brother, arguing that it doesn't change their friendship and even suggesting they shouldn't be friends anymore if they would fall out over something like this. Lee concedes and helps her get to Noah in time to proclaim her love]].
45	* FundraiserCarnival: One of the main plot points is that Elle and Lee need to come up with a fundraising idea for the school carnival and deciding on a kissing booth. Elle ends up being kissed by Noah at the booth, which results in the [[LoveEpiphany realizing they like each other as more than friends]].
46	* GirlPosse: The OMG girls, consisting of AlphaBitch Mia and {{Beta Bitch}}es Olivia and Gwyneth.
47	* GreenEyedMonster: Lee, the scrawny unpopular dork, towards Noah, his muscular, jockish, and ''very'' popular brother. When he and Elle argue after her relationship with Noah is found out, Lee bitterly muses that Noah is able to get anything he wants, so Lee instituted the "relatives of your best friends are totally off-limits" rule because he thought that he could at least keep Elle for himself.
48	* HopelessSuitor: Dorky Lee is this for hot but bitchy and high-maintenance Mia.
49	* HoistByHisOwnPetard: The OMG Girls volunteer at the kissing booth so they can kiss Noah. But when Olivia has to kiss a bespectacled nerd, they force Elle to replace her. Naturally, the nerd ends up being queue-jumped by Noah at the last minute.
50	* HugeGuyTinyGirl: Noah is very tall and muscular, with 5'3" Elle looking very small next to him – she doesn't even come up to his shoulder.
51	* ILoveYouBecauseICantControlYou: Noah claims to Elle that he likes her because she's "the only girl who doesn't fall at [his] feet".
52	* InSeriesNickname: Elle's full name is Rochelle, but she is never called that. Noah sometimes calls her "Shelly" to tease her, while the OMG Girls tend to slip up by calling her "Ellen".
53	* IvyLeagueForEveryone: Noah casually mentions he got accepted into Harvard University. Besides playing football, he isn't mentioned or depicted as having any other skills or talents, nor are his grades mentioned, so it seems pretty bizarre that he'd be able to get into Harvard, one of the top-ranking universities in the world.
54	* JerkJock:
55	** Noah comes across as one; he plays football and is a smug womanizer who constantly gets into fights.
56	** There's also Tuppen, the guy who grabs Elle's ass in front of the whole school and tries to beat up Lee for defending her. He gets better, however, apologizing to Elle by doing her ridiculous request of wearing a skirt in front of an entire class and asking her out for a date.
57	** Warren, the guy who forcefully hits on Elle at Santa Monica and [[SlutShaming slut-shames]] her, causing Noah to fly into a rage and beat him up. This is a case of AdaptationalJerkass as Warren is actually one of Elle's best friends in the book.
58	* LadykillerInLove: Noah with Elle.
59	* LongDistanceRelationship: [[spoiler: Noah and Elle decide to try this at the end of the film after he leaves for Harvard. Elle actually acknowledges that she's not sure if this will work, but that she's happy to wait and see how things turn out]].
60	* LoveObstructingParents: Subverted. [[spoiler:Mr. Evans [[BrutalHonesty flat-out tells Noah]] that he doesn't support him hooking up with his daughter, but he also tells him that Elle is free to be with whoever she likes, so if she chooses Noah, then he will have to respect her decision.]]
61	* MakingLoveInAllTheWrongPlaces: Dear Lord. Noah has apparently been caught making out with girls in a glass house numerous times. When [[spoiler: he and Elle]] have sex for the first time, it's outside next to the Hollywood sign (which in real life has all sorts of cameras, sensors, and the LAPD monitoring it constantly). At one point, they actually go at it on a classroom desk before school starts and subsequently [[spoiler: Elle]] has to find a way to steal the tape recordings from the principal's office when she realizes there are cameras in the room.
62	* MaybeEverAfter: [[spoiler: Although the film ends with Elle and Noah as a couple, she states that she ultimately doesn't know if they'll be together forever, but that either way Noah will always have part of her heart]].
63	* MissingMom: Elle's mother is shown to have died of cancer in the opening montage.
64	* MoodWhiplash: The opening montage alternates between fun and happy memories of Elle growing up with the Flynn brothers and her struggle to see her mother slowly die of cancer.
65	* [[MySisterIsOffLimits My Brother is Off Limits!]]: One of the mains sources of drama in the story is that Elle has a crush on Lee's brother, but he wouldn't approve of a relationship between them. The same 'rule' applies to Elle's sibling too...only her brother is still in elementary school so it's kind of a moot point.
66	* MurderIsTheBestSolution: While not murder, Noah always elects to solve problems by getting into a fight. This is a minor plot point, as this causes him trouble all the time. While they are dating, Elle also teaches him to control his anger issues, which seem to be working by the end.
67	* PacManFever: When playing the ''Dance Dance Mania'' arcade game, Elle and Lee clearly don't abide by the rules of real-life ''VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution'' that it's based on. The two switch sides, step wherever and whenever they like, and ''do extended U-turns'' at some point, which are definite no-nos for supposed veterans of the game.[[note]]A few accomplished DDR players do spin to hit notes that form a bridge (e.g. up, right, down, left, up), but these are performed briefly. Those who face backward for an extended period of time are either insane or have memorized the stepchart perfectly.[[/note]]
68	* ParentalSubstitute: Mrs. Flynn to Elle. Elle comments that she couldn't have gone through it all after her mother's death without her.
69	* PlatonicLifePartners: Elle and Lee start out like this until Elle’s crush on Noah starts to take more precedence.
70	* PlotMandatedFriendshipFailure: Lee finds out that Elle and Noah are dating and reacts [[ThisIsUnforgivable as well as you'd expect]]. Also doubles as a SecondActBreakup, as Noah stays away from Elle to figure out how they go from there. Elle laments that the next few weeks are "lonely", until the inevitable reconciliation.
71	* RaceForYourLove: [[spoiler: At the end of the film, Elle and a masked Lee leave their costume-themed birthday party to catch Noah before he leaves for Harvard...only for it to turn out it was Noah under the mask the whole time]].
72	* RelationshipSabotage: Tuppen, the jock whom Elle tries to date, tells her that it's not that other guys haven't tried to ask her out all this time, but they were all threatened from doing it by Noah, who is in love with her himself.
73	* ReluctantFanserviceGirl: Elle. The universe seems to conspire to get her half-naked. First, her pants rip, forcing her to wear a ''very'' short skirt to school. Then she gets extremely drunk at a party and begins table-dancing and stripping down to her underwear in front of everyone. And ''then'' she accidentally walks into the boys' locker room as she gets getting undressed due to being covered in paint. When Noah gets mad at her for "messing around" even though it was an accident and tries to drag her out, she [[ShamelessFanserviceGirl embraces it]] [[TakeThat to stick it to him]] and begins dancing in front of all the guys in her bra.
74	* RomanticRideSharing: In the movie Elle rides on the back of Noah's bike, which marks the beginning of their forbidden romance, as her best friend Lee absolutely hates the idea of her dating his older brother. Later, it shows a montage of Elle sneaking into his room, riding on the back of his bike again, and screaming in delight.
75	* SatelliteLoveInterest: Rachel for Lee. Her very first scene about halfway through the movie involves her popping up to kiss Lee at the kissing booth after he is rejected by Mia. Afterward, they begin a relationship.
76	* SecretRelationship: Elle and Noah have one in the second half of the movie.
77	* SexyShirtSwitch: After she wakes up from binge drinking at the house party, Elle wakes up wearing Noah's shirt in his room. Naturally, she freaks out at the [[WhatDidIDoLastNight implication]], but is reassured by Noah that they didn't do anything funny the night before.
78	* SexySurfacingShot: Elle realized she has a crush on Noah when she sees him running out of the ocean, wet and shirtless.
79	* ShirtlessScene: Both Lee and Noah at the beginning pool party. Noah has a couple more of these, later on, cementing his status as a MrFanservice.
80	* SuddenlyShouting: Courtesy of Noah, when he is asking for Elle to come home with him after the fight at the beach.
81	-->'''Noah''': Just get in the car, Elle, just get in the car. GET IN THE CAR, ELLE!
82	* TimePassesMontage: The opening has this, showing how Elle and Lee grew up as siblings in all but name.
83	* VideoArcade: Elle and Lee's favorite hangout spot since they were kids is a video arcade that has a ''Dance Dance Mania'' machine in it.
84	* WildTeenParty: Elle gets drunk at one early in the film and starts publicly stripping until Noah carries her out.

Context Film / TheKissingBooth