Netflix's The Kissing Booth 2, derived from Beth Reekles' books of the same name, is a teen rom-com that picks up where the original (2018) leaves off. The plot revolves around the same two main characters, Elle (Joey King) and Lee (Joel Courtney), life-long best friends who are bound by the rules of friendship they established as kids.
The movie follows the duo as they navigate the melodrama of their senior year of high school. Neither the original nor the sequel are winning any awards for their realistic portrayal of the high school experience. Here are ten plot holes from the sequel.
10 Noah Leaves Elle His Motorcycle
As Elle begins her narrated introduction of the film shows an aerial view of her solo riding Noah's beloved motorcycle on empty coastal roads, and ultimately ending up in her own driveway.
Different states have different insurance laws and it is possible that Elle has acquired all the necessary requisites to ride his, but an expensive motorcycle seems a pretty unlikely thing one teenager will gift to another, let alone leave in their care. Plus, Noah's parents could keep it at their house while he is away at college and Elle almost always gets a ride from Lee or runs everywhere anyway.
9 Elle's Podcast Subscribers
Elle also informs the audience that she has started a podcast channel with Lee on video games. She mentions that they already have tons of followers.
Later, when Elle meets with her school advisor about possible college choices, she mentions the podcast to the counselor. Genuinely thrilled that Elle may have a unique application booster, the advisor asks how many followers she has. Elle tells him she has 37 and clarifies, much to his dismay, that she does not mean 37 thousand. Either Elle has a different definition for "a ton of" subscribers or she is a flat-out liar.
8 Elle Forgets All About Rachel
When Lee arrives at Elle's house to pick her up for the first day of school, like clockwork, Elle is clearly confused when Lee makes a pit stop to pick Rachel up, too. She overlooks this detail even though she had mentioned it moments before.
Either Elle is so self-centered that she forgets that her life-long best friend had seemingly met and fallen head over heels with the girl of his dreams, or the plot overlooks that Elle is otherwise attentive to her peers, especially Lee's, love lives.
7 The Inconsistent Dress Code
When Elle starts her junior year of prep school in the original, she has to wear her "back-up back-ups" uniform, which includes a short skirt she has clearly outgrown. After she is assaulted by another student, both are given detention as if their actions warrant the same punitive measures: the guy who grabbed her butt because how else should the school handle sexual assaults to make sure students know they will be taken seriously and Elle because she violated the dress code.
In addition to the school's questionable policies on sexual assault, this raises some questions about the consistency of the school’s dress code policy when, in the sequel, the OMGs (the trio of popular, mean girls) wear short skirts and the one rebel girl in the series, Heather, has multiple facial piercings.
6 Noah Prank Calls Elle At School
Apparently, when Elle is unreachable all day via text, even though she has constant access to her cell phone, the next best thing to do is call her school and pretend to be her dad. This is what Noah decides to do when Elle does not return his texts (in fairness, he is probably worried she has sold his motorcycle).
Of course, when Elle is called to the office to speak to her "Dad," who apparently does not have her cell phone number at all, she realizes that it is actually Noah. Considering Elle’s mother passed away a few years before, it seems the thought of a potential emergency regarding her Dad would cause Elle grave concern.
5 Lee Is MIA At Senior Field Day
For some reason, Lee (and Rachel for that matter) are completely missing from senior field day. One reason for this may be so the story could focus on Marco and his evolving connection to Elle.
Or, maybe, Lee (and Rachel) just skipped school that day. Or had detention. Or were the only two seniors in the entire school who hated field day and decided to stay inside instead. Logically, it just seems unlikely that Lee would miss any opportunity to compete alongside Elle. They are otherwise inseparable.
4 Marco's Vague Backstory
Marco is the newest character in the story and he is there to put a pin in Elle's whole entire life. Marco is given little to no back story, but the viewers quickly learn he has many talents, like singing and dancing.
Wait. He dances!? That is a pretty convenient skill considering Elle will need a replacement partner for her dance competition once Lee pretends to hurt himself so he can finally spend some one on one time with the girlfriend Elle always forgets about. But, seriously, who is Marco, and what is his story?
3 Minors Can Drink In Boston
Okay, sure. People can get fake IDs. Some people also look older than they really are. But, apparently, in Boston, anybody can drink and nobody says anything about it.
When Elle heads out to Boston to visit Noah for a few days, the movie pieces in a montage of her trip that includes the couple at a pub together. Elle does show her (fake) ID to the bartender (because she obviously knew she needed one for the trip), who gives it the once-over before sliding her a pint of beer. Noah apparently does not even need an ID. Either being a Harvard freshman allows him so much free time that he is a bar regular or he gets a pass just for being Noah Flynn.
2 Noah Invites Chloe To Thanksgiving
Chloe is a beautiful British girl who befriends Noah during his first semester at Harvard. Elle is immediately jealous of her and her concerns that Noah is hooking up with Chloe only grow more serious when Elle finds an earring under Noah's bed that matches one Chloe is wearing in a photo.
Like a good boyfriend, Noah tries to quell Elle's concerns. What better way to do that than to invite Chloe to his home in California for Elle and his families' Thanksgiving? What could possibly go wrong? Noah goes to Harvard, though, so he must know better than the average person (unless intelligence and common sense are just two completely different things.)
1 The Kissing Booth Crowd
The kissing booth is an actual thing that Lee and Elle create on a whim for their school's annual charity event (this, in itself, is a huge stretch, even before COVID-19).
What makes the booth so intriguing, though, is that everyone can watch all the high school drama unfold in real-time. During the kissing booth scenes, the students' reactions to relationship and hook up revelations are a big part of the film. That is until Marco steps up to kiss a blindfolded Elle and, instead, they have a serious conversation during which Elle reveals "he is not the one." For some reason, the hookup/breakup between Elle and the most popular kid at school is not interesting to the high school spectators who are all seen dispersing during this interaction.