Movie Review: The Kissing Booth (2018)

Plot: When Elle Evans (Joey King), a pretty, late-bloomer who’s never-been-kissed, decides to run a kissing booth at her high school’s Spring Carnival, she unexpectedly finds herself locking lips with her secret crush- the ultimate bad boy, Noah Flynn (Jacob Elordi). Sparks fly, but there’s one little problem: Noah just happens to be the brother of her best friend, Lee, (Joel Courtney) and is absolutely off limits according to the rules of their friendship pact. Elle’s life is turned upside down when she realizes that she must ultimately make a choice: follow the rules or follow her heart. Based on Beth Reekle’s self-published coming-of-age novel that became an international sensation, THE KISSING BOOTH is a Netflix Film, written and directed by Vince Marcello.

Wow. So. Bad.

To be fair, I am older than the target population for this movie (like, way). But it took me about three attempts to really get through this movie. I have never heard such a screechy voiced intro like the voice over by Joey King in this film. It started off bad, it ended badly, and it was just all around bad.

This is a movie where a teenager goes from being not kissed to being not a virgin in the space of thirty minutes. It also involves a kissing booth, as you might have cleverly guessed.

Were the writers on crack? From too short skirts to hiding under your boyfriends’ bed while his mom hunts for his rotten socks, the writers spared no level of stupidity and accessed it all.

What could possibly happen in a movie where two best friend’s biggest friendship rule is to not fall in love with the other friends’ sibling? You guessed it. Elle (Joey King) falls in love with Noah Flynn (Jacob Elordi), the absurdly attractive older brother of her best friend Lee Flynn (Joel Courtney). When Lee finds out, he is the world’s biggest little piece of shit you could find. There is also really offbeat parts about Noah’s temper and that he is secretly very smart and just needs the right girl (who, incidentally, is underage).

Can you survive Elle’s really stupid personality and giggling and generally being insufferable? All the giggling and crazy overreactions are likely something teenagers still do, so please just keep me away from them.

I will give kudos to King, Courtney and Elordi – they really did the best with the material they were given.

Shame on you, Netflix.

It gets better – there is a SEQUEL.

Rating: 4/10

August 20, 2019August 20, 2019 by Natasha Categories: 2018, Movies, movies, Review, Reviews, UncategorizedTags: Jacob Elordi, Joel Courtney, Joey King, Lee Flynn, Netflix, Noah flynn, The Kissing Booth, Vince Marcello 2 Comments

Movie Review: To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before (2018)

Plot: A teenage girl’s secret love letters are exposed and wreak havoc on her love life.

So after all that complaints about the immoral Sierra Burgess is a Loser, I thought I could at least let you know about one of the Netflix films I adored. I have seen many good things online about To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, and it was high on my list when I signed on for Netflix earlier in the year. And you all know by now, I seriously love a good romcom and I also feel that the genre has been terribly neglected the last few years, so I was all on board for this.

This is the cutest movie! Lana Condor is the cutest! Noah Centineo is the cutest! Cute! Cute! Cute! Can I say cute again? All you need to know – Lara Jean Covey (Condor) is one super – cute – teenage girl, independent, kind and smart. She’s also full of anxiety and overthinking and is now dealing with her older sister Margot (Janel Parrish, thankfully sane in this role), leaving for university. Lara’s life is turned upside down when the love letters she wrote to all her crushes suddenly reach their hands, with some disastrous and hilarious side effects. The one guy is her sister’s now ex-boyfriend Josh (Israel Broussard), which could naturally mean many unpleasant situations should Margot find out, the other one turned out gay, and then the other one is the beautiful and cute Peter Kavinsky.

Enter Peter, the teenage boyfriend we all deserved. No more toxic suggestions that men should be closed off and sullen, Peter is open, warm, interested and as full of personality as Lara herself. They strike an arrangement that can only take place in romantic comedies, but it is fun to watch. The arrangement? Peter wants to show his ex-girlfriend, for whom he still pines, that he has moved on in the hopes that she will realize her terrible mistakes. It also helps Lara, because not only is Peter famous and will help her social status, he is not Josh, which will save her relationship with her unsuspecting sister. All manners of shenanigans ensue, and this adorable cast really make the situations they find themselves in cute and fun.

There is also the appearance of John Corbett, himself a leading love interest once upon a time. He plays Lara’s dad, Dr. Covey, who handles raising three girls alone like a pro. His age reminded me of MY age, but it was nice to see him in something.

Hmm, what else? This movie goes in exactly the direction you would expect it to go – no surprises or sudden twists. It carries a whole different message than the other nonsense, and for that I can only be thankful. There is also just a teensy drop of help in there about cyber-bullying, and I hope if any girl has a video leaked of herself in a compromising position she knows what to do.

Can I also just say that I really enjoy the diversity in many of these movies lately? It seems a much better representation to have Asian people, black people, white people and all the other peoples’ being treated as main characters. It’s refreshing and so much better to see this than purely whitewashed movies.

I am giving this an 8/10, because although I have seen better movies, the rating is primarily for the cuteness of the cast and the whole feel good feeling around this movie.

August 15, 2019August 13, 2019 by Natasha Categories: 2018, Movies, movies, Review, ReviewsTags: Andrew Bachelor, Anna Cathcar, Cute, fun, Janel Parrish, Lana Condor, Lara Jean Covey, Netflix, Noah Centineo, Peter Kavinsky, Romantic Comedies, To All The Boys I've Loved Before, Young Adult Leave a comment

Movie Review: Sierra Burgess is a Loser (2018)

Plot: A case of mistaken identity results in unexpected romance when the most popular girl in high school and the biggest loser must come together to win over their crushes.

I swear there are a couple of films from Netflix that I adored like crazy, but right now I can only write about the ones I infinitely despised. There was the truly horrific The Kissing Booth, which was just plain awful, and a review you shall be getting, but then there is this movie, which isn’t bad acting per se and contains the adorable Noah Centineo (always a plus), but the damn message they portray for impressionable young teenagers is so terrible I was in the mood to smash things.

Dear teenage girls – CATFISHING IS WRONG. It is wrong if you are traditionally attractive and it is wrong if you are traditionally unattractive. It is wrong if you are insecure and it is wrong if you have all the issues. It is never right.

In a nutshell – Veronica (Kristine Froseth) is a little pain in the ass who passes out the phone number of Sierra Burgess (Shannon Purser) as a cruel joke to boys who ask for her number. Veronica is the typical terrible pretty girl you just know will rear her head in this type of movie. Sierra starts talking to Jamey (Centineo), a handsome guy from another school who also seems like a decent enough person. It escalates and eventually Jamey wants a date. At this time Sierra has roped in Veronica to play along, because naturally veronica is insecure about her intelligence and needs tutoring and blah blah blah, we’ve seen all of this before. Said date happens, and when Jamey tries to kiss Veronica, Sierra jumps in and kisses the boy.

Let’s just be clear on what assault it – it is any situation where something is done to another person without their consent, and yep, this is assault. I hate to play this game, but if the roles were reversed and Jamey kissed Sierra without her consent, there would have been hell to pay in the media.

RAGE. FURY. DEATH.

Also, it is only Hollywood that will cast Shannon Purser in roles for the “more unattractive” – I find her quite gorgeous and natural and it irritates me to no end that Hollywood has such warped ideas about feminine beauty. She has had some roles (#JusticeForBarb) which highlights her talent and gives her a place to deservedly shine. She really shouldn’t have done this, because it takes away from her talent and plays into the hands of creepy old men who think they can dictate the messages we send to teenagers. Anyway.

Then there is Centineo, who is the cutest thing to rear his head in a long time. Just, again, someone isn’t automatically a good person because they have someone with a disability in their family (his deaf brother), but let’s also move on from that. A way this movie should have ended is Jamey getting a restraining order against both female nutcases in this.

Last of the unholy trio of terrible messages to portray on young girls, is Kristine Froseth as Veronica, the cute preppy girl everyone hated in school. She has issues as well, she’s insecure about her intelligence and about the older douchebag she had the misfortune to date. So much stereotyping!

Finally, again, this movie is a terrible message to girls and please correct them if they ever think it is okay to misuse boys just because the media told them to.

Rating: 5/10

August 13, 2019 by Natasha Categories: 2018, Movies, movies, Review, Reviews, RomanceTags: Catfishing, Kristine Froseth, Movies, Netflix, Noah Centineo, RJ Cyler, Shannon Purser, Sierra Burgess, Sierra Burgess is a Loser, teenager 2 Comments