'The Kissing Booth 3' Review: Elle's decisions cause chaos while future with Noah is undecided
If you're a long-time fan of the 'The Kissing Booth' series, grab some popcorn because 'The Kissing Booth 3' is here.
Elle is back, with Noah and Flynn, ready to make the most of the last summer before they head off to college. The movie sees Joey King, Jacob Elordi, and Joel Courtney reprise their roles for the third instalment.
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The third movie continues with the same premise of the second part -- Elle is still torn between which college she should go to. She can't seem to decide if she if she wants to go to Harvard and be with Noah or go to Berkeley with Lee, like they had planned to as children. She eventually tells Noah that she got off the Harvard waitlist but does not tell the brothers that she got into Berkeley at the start.
With the Flynn family all set to sell their beach house, Elle, Noah, Lee, and Rachel offer to take care of the place before it gets demolished and have one epic summer blowout. However, in classic Elle fashion, we see her try to juggle too many things at a time -- she tries to complete a best friend bucket list with Lee, struggles to make time for Noah and is not there for her family either. Elle is just as indecisive as ever and, in this movie as well continues to complicate things for herself, even though most of her issues can be solved with relative ease.
Teenage romance woes aside, she also treats her father's new girlfriend Linda terribly, seeing that she thinks she is trying to replace her mother. Elle refuses to understand that her father, a grown man who has decided six years of his life after his wife's death to his kids, also deserves a chance to love again. It's painful to watch her fall into their selfish habits when the series keeps trying to portray her as a selfless person who cares too much when in reality, she comes off as terribly immature.
Lee is very similar to her in this aspect, as he continues to pressure her into being his best friend that's always around, no matter what, refusing to understand that his behaviour puts so much strain on his friend's and brother's happiness. In an interesting change of events, Noah is possibly the only character who displays some semblance of emotional maturity. He not only refuses to engage in a fight with Marco, who is back trying to break him and Elle up, but he also ends their relationship seeing that it is for the best. Noah acknowledges that Elle coming to Harvard is what he wants and not what she needs. He encourages her to make a choice in her best interest and not do things to make others happy.
Elle misreads his intentions initially and thinks that he is deciding for her, even though he clearly explains that he is making this though choice so that she has a chance to understand what she wants. Only after a conversation with Lee and Noah's mother and Elle finally realises she has no clue about what she wants to study, and for the first time in the entire movie, she begins to look into what she wants. It turns out that it's neither Harvard or Berkeley, and she applies for USC to get into a video gaming programme.
She also finally realises the consequences of her actions and apologises to her father, encouraging him to pursue love. The movie ends with a time skip six years into the future, where Elle has a job at a video game designing company that she loves. While she and Noah meet again, the ending is ambiguous regarding their romance, but that might be for the best, as it proves that they have finally grown out of their impulsive teenage phase.
'The Kissing Booth 3' premieres on August 11 on Netflix. The streaming platform also has the first two movies that are a part of the franchise.