YMMV / The Kissing Booth 2

• Alternate Character Interpretation:
  • Marco. Is he a Jerk with a Heart of Gold who truly cares about and loves Elle? Or is just as much of an arrogant womanizer as Noah was in the first movie who remorselessly pursues Elle, even after learning she has a boyfriend? The latter is supported by Marco never expressing remorse over unknowingly kissing Elle in front of Noah and his smug attempt to spur Noah into a fight at the Homecoming football game.
  • Lee, when he becomes upset at learning Elle is applying to Harvard. Is this a sign of him still being a toxic and controlling friend, or is he merely upset at the fact that Elle was (once again) lying to him?
  • Is Chloe's rather intimate relationship with Noah something she does on purpose or is she genuinely not aware of the implications it can cause? Granted, it can be argued that Chloe is just flirty with everyone, and Noah is no exception, but she was completely aware that Noah had a girlfriend.
• Base-Breaking Character: Rachel. Either she's a Woobie who's the most (or only) sympathetic character in a movie full of Unintentionally Unsympathetic Jerkasses, or an annoying and whiny nuisance who has no right interfering in Lee and Elle's friendship and is just as bad as everyone else. The way she handles Elle butting in on her relationship with Lee is a particular point of contention; some viewers think Rachel had every right to be pissed off at both of them, while others think she should've brought up her issues with Elle herself instead of constantly complaining to Lee about it.
• Contested Sequel: There's some debate over whether the film is better, worse, or on par with the first movie. Some people like that it removes the more problematic elements of the first film, particularly Noah's aggressive and controlling behavior, while others criticize the sequel for having a bloated run-time and Elle coming off as Unintentionally Unsympathetic.
• Designated Villain: It's really hard to view Rachel as a bad guy when she's understandably frustrated that Lee is constantly sidelining her in their relationship because of Elle. Even her anger at Elle, who is oblivious of what's gotten into her, for not allowing her to spend time alone with her boyfriend was totally justified.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Ollie and Miles. Viewers are fond of them because they both seem like nice, unselfish people and they're virtually the only couple in the movie that isn't dysfunctional. Some critics and viewers have expressed a wish that the movie focused on their budding romance rather than the Dysfunction Junction of the main characters' relationships (both romantic and platonic).
• Fan-Preferred Couple: Many viewers would've preferred Elle ending up with Marco instead of Noah due to them having more chemistry and actually sharing something in common (e.g. their skill at the dance machine in the arcade), Marco being much nicer than Noah was, and Elle and Noah's relationship coming off as unhealthy.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Elle denying the rumors at school that she and Noah broke up become this in light of Joey King and Jacob Elordi's breakup before filming for The Kissing Booth 2 began.
  • A film about a high school carnival kissing booth, released in 2020; due to the coronavirus pandemic a lot of public/school-related events were canceled and people were recommended to practice social distancing to reduce infections.
• Heartwarming Moments: For all this film's glaring flaws, Ollie and Miles becoming an Official Couple at the kissing booth near the end of the movie is actually quite sweet, as is everyone cheering when they end up kissing.
• Narm: Elle's terrible college essay, which was mocked by both reviewers and audience members. The film treats it as inspiring and sentimental, but it reads like an example of how not to write a college acceptance essay (she admits she has no real goals or ambitions for the next five years, doesn't mention any of her accomplishments and natters on about the traits she admires in her loved ones, all of whom are strangers to the college admission officers and have nothing to do with her academic career). One wonders how she managed to get accepted into both Berkeley and Harvard for it.
• Padding: A common complaint of the movie is there were many scenes and subplots that could have been shortened or removed, which made the movie too long as a result. At two hours and fourteen minutes, it's over twenty minutes longer than the first movie, but many felt it doesn't have enough plot to justify this.
• Platonic Writing, Romantic Reading: Chloe and Noah are intentionally hinted to have a romantic interest in each other, only for it to be revealed they're really just friends. Trouble is, some viewers think they carried off the "bait" part of the Bait-and-Switch a little too well, as Noah and Chloe come off as rather flirty and touchy-feely for platonic friends (especially compared to Lee and Elle).
• The Scrappy: None of the main characters (except for Rachel, Marco, and perhaps Chloe) are liked, due to them being unsympathetic jerks with dysfunctional relationships and a complete inability to properly communicate with each other.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Given that Lee witnesses Elle and Marco's kiss during the dance competition, you might think part of his anger against Elle in the third act—on top of finding out she applied to Harvard without telling him—would be about her betraying his brother, given how he came to accept her and Noah's relationship in the first movie. In addition to giving Lee some maturing character growth, it would've been the perfect opportunity to explore the brotherly relationship between Noah and Lee. Sadly, this doesn't happen, and Noah and Lee's relationship remains in the distant background.
• Trapped by Mountain Lions: The gay romance subplot has next to no relevance to the main plot - save for Elle acting as a matchmaker for Ollie and Miles - and could easily have been cut out. It actually received criticism for this, with some viewers feeling the subplot's lack of development and irrelevance to the story comes off as tokenism. Ironically, it also ended up being one of the most warmly-received parts of the film.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
  • Elle is intended to be a flawed character who makes mistakes, but some viewers felt her actions in this film made her difficult to sympathize with at all.
    • She comes off as a complete hypocrite in this film, as she begins getting suspicious of Noah cheating on her as she's forming a relationship with Marco and actually ends up cheating on Noah with Marco in front of thousands of people, including Noah himself, and yet still has the gall to be angry at Noah afterwards. She immediately becomes jealous and paranoid when she sees one of Noah's new friends is a woman, despite knowing nothing about their relationship. Upon finding an earring under Noah's bed, she's understandably suspicious, but instead of asking Noah about it she assumes he cheated and storms off back to California without explaining anything until much later.
    • Then there's her constantly hanging around with Lee and Rachel, and excluding the latter; she isn't being willfully malicious, but considering how intrusive she was being while knowing they were in a relationship, she can come off as very self-absorbed and lacking in awareness to be that oblivious to the feelings of others.
    • Finally, she considers switching her choice of university from Berkeley to Harvard, but intentionally keeps this a secret from Lee even though she knows it will hurt him, as he's under the impression they'll be going to university together. Not only is this selfish and cowardly, but it also makes it seem Elle learned nothing from her mistakes in the first film around keeping secrets.
  • Lee comes off as unsympathetic considering he constantly sidelines his girlfriend in favor of Elle even when Rachel confronts him about it and is still incredibly controlling about his friendship with Elle; he seems to seriously believe Elle not going to the same school is a betrayal even though they're nearly adults. He even fakes an injury to avoid spending time with Elle at dance practice instead of just telling her he and Rachel want space, which subsequently causes problems between Elle and Rachel. There's also the implication that even after the events of the first movie, he still resents Noah and Elle's relationship (what with him implying during the Thanksgiving confrontation that he believes Noah pressured Elle to apply to Harvard).
• Why Would Anyone Take Him Back?:
  • Lee spends most of the film sidelining Rachel in favor of Elle, including bailing on their date and leaving her outside the cinema for 40 minutes in the dark. His idea of apologizing (the first time) is to publicly air their relationship problems at school, after which he continues to neglect her and fails to tell Elle they want space even when Rachel gives him an ultimatum. It's unsurprising that Rachel dumps him, only for them to get back together after Elle sets them up to smooch at the kissing booth...even though this addresses none of the problems they've been having.
  • A lot of viewers felt that Elle and Noah's attempt at a Long-Distance Relationship just proved they were a toxic couple and would be better off apart; Elle is both deeply insecure about Noah cheating on her and hypocritically unfaithful to him with Marco, while Noah doesn't confide in Elle about the problems he was having at Harvard and hides that he's hanging out with Chloe due to her jealousy, which makes her assume the worst. They repeatedly demonstrate they both lie to each other, fail to communicate, and can't trust each other, on top of living thousands of miles apart, but the end of the movie has them happily reconciled.

---