The Kissing Booth, produced by Vince Marcello, has been popular among young teenagers for quite a while. The romantic-comedy film was re-watched by 1 in 3 viewers and called “one of the most watched movies in the country.” The story revolves around three high school students: Elle (Joey King), her best friend Lee (Joel Courtney), and his brother, Noah (Jacob Elordi). Because of all the positive reactions I’d seen online, I decided to check it out and see if it really deserves all the love it was given.

By now you’re probably wondering, “Is The Kissing Booth really worth the hype?” In short, no. The plot is a bland, cliche “my best friend’s brother is off limits but I’m so in love with him” type of story that has been recycled countless times instead of thrown in the trash, which honestly should’ve happened years ago. It’s full of moments that give me second-hand embarrassment rather than a laugh, but I don’t know if that’s what people consider comedy.

For example, Elle’s school pants split at the beginning of the movie. Instead of grabbing another pair of pants like a normal person, she decides to wear her old school skirt since she would rather stay in uniform than preserve her reputation. This results in the entire school population laughing at her because yes, it’s entirely realistic! Since high school boys are so animalistic, she finds herself the victim of harassment until her shining knight in armor, Noah, oh-so heroically tackles the boy to the ground and fights him since no high school romance movie is complete without a fist fight over the main character. At this point, I already hated the movie. When I thought it couldn’t get any dumber, Elle proceeds to go out with the boy who harassed her and gets stood up. Just why would she do that? I’ve never been so fascinated by the stupidity of high school characters.

The movie progresses fairly quickly and gets to the real kissing booth around the 20-30 minute mark. I don’t know how I managed to watch the entire movie after this scene, but I did. To start off this high-quality moment, poor Elle is pranked by the OMGs (yes, they’re called that), who plan to make her kiss a nerd. It backfires when she ends up kissing Noah in front of a huge crowd while the camera spins around them for what feels like ten hours. I’m pretty sure they would’ve added fireworks if it had been able to fit into such a low budget. The next quarter of the movie is just them being lovey-dovey until Lee finds out, beats up his brother, and drives off in an expensive car. Of course, they make up at the end and everything is hearts and flowers again.

Until Noah leaves for college and probably never contacts Elle again because, you know, college.

Overall, this movie was something I would never watch or even want to hear about again. It was unoriginal and had some sexist elements and underage drinking, despite being targeted at a middle to high school age group. If you want to save your sanity and time, don’t watch The Kissing Booth.