)? If you’re Netflix — the content factory that milked “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” for its full trilogy potential — then the answer is three, obviously. Except the makers of “The Kissing Booth” didn’t have a solid book series to fall back on , nor a compelling romantic rivalry to stretch across multiple movies.
Last time we saw Elle, she had been accepted to two universities: UC Berkeley, which she and Lee had always planned to attend, or Harvard, where Noah suggests they get an apartment together. You don’t have to be a geography major to recognize that these two schools are on opposite sides of the country. And speaking of majors, what is it that Elle wants to do with her life anyway? She’s vaguely described as “brilliant” in the series .
After doing the single-dad thing for half a dozen years, Mr. Evans — who was barely a character in the previous movies — is trying to start another relationship of his own, but Elle is too self-absorbed to give the woman a chance. Then again, she has her hands full, having to get a summer job, take care of her younger brother , etc. It’s the summer before she and Lee are supposed to head off to college, and Mrs. Flynn has decided to sell the beach house.
Before the brothers go their separate ways, the close-knit trio is determined to make this the most memorable summer ever — which is a recipe for “The Kissing Booth 3” to cram in everything from skydiving to sumo wrestling . The flash mob and cosplay racing scenes are memorable, but the rest is reduced to montage as the movie essentially acknowledges that these recent grads are peaking before their lives have even begun.