Film / The Kissing Booth 2

All spoilers for the first film are unmarked

A 2020 teen romantic dramedy film, based on the novel The Kissing Booth 2: Going the Distance by Beth Reekles. It is a sequel to The Kissing Booth. The film was directed by Vince Marcello, and the screenplay was written by Marcello and Jay Arnold.

Following the events of the first film, Elle Evans (Joey King) and Lee Flynn (Joel Courtney) have begun their senior year at high school. Elle's romance with Lee's older brother, Noah (Jacob Elordi) is challenged by the fact he's far away attending Harvard University. To make matters worse, Elle sees social media posts suggesting he's growing close to a girl he met at Harvard (Maisie Richardson-Sellers). Further complicating things, Elle finds herself drawn to Marco (Taylor Zakhar Perez), a charming new boy at her school. Is this the end of Elle and Noah's relationship, or will their love prevail?

Shortly after the film's release, it was announced that a third film, The Kissing Booth 3, had been filmed concurrently and would be released in 2021.

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The Kissing Booth 2 contains examples of:

• Aborted Declaration of Love: Ollie nearly confesses his feelings for Miles during the Halloween party, but chickens out when his friends arrive.
• Accidental Public Confession: After seeing a video of Marco working out, Elle gushes about how hot he is, unaware she'd accidentally turned on the school's announcement system by leaning against a button and everyone, including Marco, can hear her. When Lee realizes what's happening, he makes a valiant attempt to stop it, but he doesn't quite get there in time.
• Adapted Out: Marco's book counterpart, Levi, has a younger sister named Rebecca, whom Elle helps babysit over the course of their relationship. Elle also gets to know his parents. They are not present in the film, though Rebecca is mentioned in passing.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade:
  • Rachel's irritation at Elle being the third wheel in her relationship with Lee is a major plot point in the film. In the book, this is only present in a single chapter, as Rachel becomes more sympathetic at Elle's plight after she broke up with Noah and helped her care for a severely drunk Lee. Neither happens in the film, so the process is drawn out longer.
  • The dilemma Elle faces at the end when she is accepted at both UC Berkeley and Harvard is not present in the book, where she only applies at UC Berkeley and is accepted alongside Lee.
  • Marco's determination to snatch Elle from Noah at the end is also a film addition.
  • Inverted with Elle's rift with Lee. In the book, the two drift apart after Lee enters the football club and starts prioritizing his relationship with Rachel over Elle. These don't happen in the film (in fact, Lee pointedly always chooses Elle over Rachel, which is the reason for the aforementioned angst upgrade with Rachel), though the two do have a brief falling out when Lee discovers that Elle is applying at Harvard.
• Adaptational Sexuality: Oliver is straight in the book but gay in the film (this is because he is merged with Elle's other friend Dixon, who doesn't appear in the films).
• Adaptation Distillation:
  • In the book, Elle breaks up with Noah after she overhears him talking with Amanda about her early on and spends most of the book single. In the film, their breakup happens in the third act after Noah spots Elle kissing Marco, and doesn't last as long.
  • Noah's closeness with his new female friend at Harvard (Amanda in the book, Chloe in the film) is simply because he wanted to have a close friend of the opposite sex like Elle does with Lee. In the book, it's both because he wanted a close friend and Amanda helped him with his grades at college.
• Adaptation Expansion: The film adds a scene of Elle visiting Noah at Boston, where she meets Chloe for the first time (in the book, she meets her counterpart, Amanda, during Thanksgiving).
• Adaptation Name Change:
  • In the book, the new boy Elle forms a connection with is named Levi, while in the film he's called Marco.
  • In the book the girl Noah befriends at Harvard is named Amanda, whose name is changed to Chloe in the film.
• Aesop Amnesia:
  • At the end of the first film, Elle learned that it was important not to hide things from Lee, especially if it personally affected him in some way. In this film she's at it again, this time concealing the fact she's applied to Harvard, as Lee believes she still intends to go to UC Berkeley the same as him. She does this again in the very end when she lies to Lee, Noah, and Rachel that she got waitlisted from both Harvard and Berkeley—when in actuality, she was accepted into both schools and is uncertain of where she will go.
  • Despite having appeared to come around about Elle and Noah's relationship by the end of the first film, Lee more or less accuses Noah during Thanksgiving of pressuring Elle into applying to Harvard, suggesting he still has some resentment for their relationship.
  • Averted with Noah in regards to his anger issues, as shown when Noah resists hitting Marco when he tries to goad him into a fight at the Homecoming football game.
• Artistic License:
  • Artistic License – Law: While Elle is visiting Noah in Boston, they both order alcohol at a bar. Elle is asked for ID, though strangely Noah is not asked. Even with her ID though, Elle shouldn't legally be allowed to buy alcohol because the drinking age in Massachusetts is 21, and both Elle and Noah are around 18.
  • One major plot thread involves Elle entering a dance competition with a $50,000 cash prize so she can afford to attend Harvard University. However, this runs into some problems because a simple internet search will inform you that $50,000 would barely cover tuition at Harvard; if you also factor in board/rent, room, and other fees, it costs over $70,000 unless you have financial aid. And that's just for one academic year. Not to mention Elle would have to split the prize money with her dance partner and would probably get taxed on it; overall, ~$50,000 wouldn't be nearly enough to cover her attendance.
• Ascended Extra:
  • Ollie actually appeared in the first film, but only in a small role. Here, he has his own subplot revolving around his romantic feelings for classmate Miles.
  • Rachel has her own subplot and more presence in general, compared to the first film where she is mostly Lee's Satellite Love Interest.
• Bittersweet Ending: Heavier on the sweet, but still. Elle and Noah reconcile, as do Lee and Rachel. Elle and Lee's friendship is salvaged after their own brief falling-out, and Lee gets accepted into Berkeley. On the lower side, Marco is shown to still have feelings for Elle and is implied to be intent on winning her back, and Elle lies to Noah and Lee about being waitlisted from Berkeley and Harvard when she was actually accepted into both schools—a lie that is sure to have consequences and a decision that might cause more friction between the trio.
• Break-Up/Make-Up Scenario: Lee and Rachel hit a rough patch due to Elle constantly hanging out with them and Lee prioritizing Elle over Rachel. She eventually dumps him, but they later reconcile.
• Character Development: Between the events of the first movie and this movie, Noah has mellowed out a lot. He has much better control of his temper, even resisting attacking someone who is actively goading him (whereas before he would beat up people with minimal provocation). And while he once had a reputation as The Casanova, he remains faithful to Elle despite the difficulty of their relationship.
• Composite Character: Elle's friend Dixon is Adapted Out and his insecurities of being gay are given to her other friend Oliver.
• Dinner and a Show: A really awkward Thanksgiving dinner at Flynn's house forms the climax, with the tension between Elle, Noah, Lee and Rachel boiling over at the dinner table; Noah recently saw Elle kissing Marco, Elle thinks Noah cheated with Chloe (who he invited to Thanksgiving), Lee has found out Elle applied to a different university without telling him, and Rachel is mad at both Lee and Elle for excluding her.
• Foreign Fanservice: Chloe, Noah's British friend at Harvard, has a lot of fancy stories regarding her trips around the world to share. Elle, who spends most of her life in Los Angeles, becomes jealous when she seems to be getting closer to Noah.
• From Bad to Worse: Just before the Thanksgiving dinner, Elle has to face Rachel, Lee, and Noah one after another, all three of whom are presently mad at her.
• Fun with Acronyms: When Elle and Lee see the leaderboards for the Dance Dance Mania game, they see that their record was beaten by "MVP". Elle assumes that it's short for "Most Valuable Player". It's actually Marco Valentin Peña.
• Graduate from the Story: The film takes place during Elle's senior year. The ending has her graduate and getting accepted at both Harvard and Berkeley.
• Grand Romantic Gesture: Lee professes his love for Rachel using the school's intercom. He gets detention, but his confession is reciprocated.
• Imaginary Love Triangle: It's revealed that Elle was in one of these with Chloe and Noah for the whole film; she had mistakenly thought they were attracted to each other, but they both confirm they're just friends and Noah only has eyes for Elle.
• Innocently Insensitive: Elle inadvertently alienates and humiliates Rachel due to her constantly taking up Lee's attention, but she is clueless as to what she's doing and is shocked when Rachel gives her a "Reason You Suck" Speech over it.
• Irony:
  • Elle spends a lot of the film worrying that Noah will cheat on her, especially given his past reputation with girls. Noah and Chloe really are just friends, while Elle ends up being unfaithful to Noah by impulsively kissing Marco.
  • Lee, meanwhile, spends much of the movie in a Friend Versus Lover situation regarding Elle and Rachel, similar to the position he put Elle in during the first movie. It's ultimately lampshaded by Elle herself.
• Ivy League for Everyone: Downplayed. At the end, Elle gets accepted into Harvard, one of the most prestigious universities in the world. It's offhandedly mentioned early in the film that she has great scores and takes part in two extracurricular clubs (soccer and dance club), but her only other notable activities are setting up the kissing booth and being a small-time video game streamer with a couple of dozen followers. Elle's university interview paper mostly consists of praising her family and friends while downplaying her own achievements. Ironically, despite the cost being Elle's greatest barrier to attending Harvard, in real life, it would have been the least of her problems, as the Evanses are middle class and would be granted a hefty amount of aid from the Harvard endowment (in fact, she would probably have to pay less in Harvard than she would at UC Berkeley).
• Latin Lover: Marco, the super-hot Latino transfer student who does a part-time job as a street singer and is a good dancer.
• Long-Distance Relationship: The main source of conflict this time around is that Noah is on the other side of the country from Elle, attending Harvard University in Massachusetts, while she's finishing high school in California. They rarely get to see each other, which puts a lot of strain on their relationship.
• Lovable Alpha Bitch: The OMG Girls end up helping Elle in her plot to reconcile Lee with Rachel.
• Love Triangle: Elle finds herself torn between Noah and Marco. While Elle is fond of Marco and knows he likes her a lot, in the end, she says she's still in love with Noah.
• Mistaken for Cheating: Elle believes that Noah may have slept with Chloe, especially when she finds one of her earrings under Noah's bed, but he insists he hasn't cheated. Chloe later confirms that nothing happened between them; she spent the night in Noah's room while he was out and accidentally left her earring behind.
• New Transfer Student: Marco has transferred to Elle and Lee's school for senior year and ends up becoming a romantic rival to Noah for Elle's affections.
• Pac Man Fever: Elle is briefly shown playing a beat-em-up in a way that suggests it has motion controls (moving around while holding the controller in order to make her character move). Not only were motion controls a largely outdated feature in 2020, but beat-em-ups are particularly ill-suited to them, since gameplay generally involves precise button combos and not replicating actual movement.
• Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure: In the third act, Elle nearly burns bridges with almost everyone; Rachel is mad at her for getting in the way between her relationship with Lee, Lee is mad at her for lying about her college application, Noah is mad at her for kissing Marco, and Marco is disappointed that Elle is quick to brush off their kiss as something impulsive.
• Race for Your Love: In the climax, after turning down Marco, Elle proceeds to the airport to see off Noah. His plane is already boarding and he is nowhere to be seen. However, she meets Chloe, who sorts out their misunderstanding and tells her that Noah himself is searching for her. The two end up reuniting in the garden where they confessed their feelings for the first time.
• Race Lift: In the book, Levi and Amanda are both white. Their film counterparts, Marco and Chloe, respectively, are Latino and black.
• Sequel: It's a follow-up to the 2018 film The Kissing Booth.
• Sequel Hook: The film ends with Elle discovering she's been accepted into both Harvard, where Noah is studying, and Berkeley, where Lee will be studying, and it's unclear which one she will choose. It's also made clear that Marco still has romantic feelings for Elle despite her rejection and isn't ready to give up on her yet.
• Shipper on Deck:
  • Elle is the first person to know Ollie's attraction towards Miles and advises him to act on it. Later, after Lee and Rachel break up, she suggests that the latter gives him a second chance. In both cases, they do.
  • In the ending, Chloe is one for Elle and Noah, after the three have cleared up their misunderstanding.
• Ship Sinking: Noah and Chloe are firmly sunk in the third act; they both reiterate to Elle and each other in private that they're only friends, Chloe describes herself as "one of the few women on the planet immune to the charms of Noah Flynn" and encourages him to reconcile with Elle, and Noah tells Elle he feels his friendship with Chloe is like her friendship with Lee.
• Third Wheel: Elle becomes this for Lee and Rachel, constantly spending time with them because Noah is away at university. In this scenario, it actually makes things awkward for Rachel, because Lee tends to prioritize Elle while inadvertently neglecting his girlfriend and Elle is initially oblivious to the fact Rachel wants to spend time with Lee without her.
• Time Skip: There is one near the end, between the prom and the graduation.
• Workout Fanservice:
  • A girl shows Elle a video of Marco working out, including close-ups of his muscled chest. She begins talking at length about his attractiveness, not realizing she's broadcasting this to the entire school.
  • Noah is seen working out at a gym when Elle calls him at one time.

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