Let’s get this out of the way first: The Kissing Booth is…not a good movie. There’s some really problematic aspects to the story and some of the acting is downright excruciating. All that said, though, I’ve probably watched it no fewer than 20 times. I might have even read the book. This is what I do when I don’t have the energy to follow a more compelling storyline – watch or read something light and fluffy. Preferably with some fun romance thrown in. But Lee Flynn in The Kissing Booth, well…
In the movie version of The Kissing Booth, Lee is basically the worst dudebro since Xander Harris in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And I am not. here. for. it. This is all the more awful for the fact that Lee in the book is actually a pretty great guy barring a couple scenes, so someone at Netflix made the conscious decision to make him a total jerk. Here are the 10 times Lee finds a way to be the absolute worst.
1. Lee fails to protect drunk Elle
This might be the one place where Lee in the movie and Lee in the book are equally douchey. In the movie, Lee stands with his male friends egging Elle on as she stands on a table, completely smashed, and begins stripping. Apparently it never occurs to him to try and talk his drunk friend out of stripping or to tell the guys around him that hey, this is super not cool. In the book, he leaves her alone with a bunch of drunk guys. Either way, Lee, way to totally not be there for your supposed best friend.
2. Lee deserts Elle part-way through their kissing booth
Just in case you didn’t understand that there is a kissing booth at the center of this movie, I’ll let you in on a little secret: Lee and Elle decide to run a kissing booth at their school carnival to raise money for charity. The key thing here is that they decide to run it together. No one else seems to be helping them coordinate taking money or managing volunteers. And yet. Part way through the night, Lee ends up kissing a girl and decides it’s suddenly more important to go hang out with her than to finish his job at the booth. Let me state that more clearly: he leaves his best friend in a lurch to go hang with a girl he just met. Super cool, Lee.
Side note: In the book, Lee doesn’t desert Elle every time Rachel, the oh-so-important girlfriend, comes around. Awesome decision to make Lee a bigger dick, Netflix.
3. Lee loses his shit when Elle kisses Noah
So Elle and Noah, Lee’s older brother, end up lip-locking in the kissing booth through no fault of Elle’s. In fact, the first time he kisses her, she’s blindfolded (another weird twist in the movie that…has some issues). Granted, she follows up with a second kiss after figuring out who it is, but seriously, have you seen Noah Flynn? Who has that level of self-control as a 16-year-old?
When Elle finds Lee shortly afterwards to make sure he hears it from her first, he basically loses his shit. You would think she’d just told him she was pregnant with Noah’s child, not that they’d kissed. And then he gives this classic response when he finally agrees that, okay, I guess I can be okay with it: “Just don’t end up grinding coochies with my brother or I’ll literally never talk to you again.” Hey Lee, how about not telling Elle who she can be with or making your friendship dependent on you controlling that?
Again, in the book Lee is totally chill about this. In fact, he barely looks up from his phone where he’s texting his new girlfriend Rachel to acknowledge this occurrence that damn near incapacitated movie Lee.
4. Lee forgets Elle when he gets a girlfriend from the kissing booth
After Lee starts dating Rachel in the movie, he essentially disappears. Sure, we’re distracted by the fact that Elle is also hooking up with Noah secretly, but while previously inseparable, he and Elle are almost never seen alone together again until the end of the movie. In fact, the one time they are alone together, Elle comments on the fact that she’s missed hanging out with him. But before she can have a serious conversation with him, of course Rachel shows up.
Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against Rachel. In fact, I think she’s a damn saint for putting up with Lee, obviously. But what the fuck, Lee – you have one friend date with Elle, and you can’t make it through without your girlfriend showing up halfway through? What kind of weak ass best friend are you?
Again, in the book, this plays out way differently. Lee and Elle continue to hang out. Elle even gets some time alone with Rachel because Rachel is so unthreatened by Elle, a somewhat novel character arc in a young adult book.
5. Poor Lee whines about Noah getting everything he wants while sitting in his super expensive car
When Lee finally finds out about Noah and Elle, it’s basically like just after the kissing booth only ten times worse. He throws a huge temper tantrum and tells Noah that he’s clearly treating Elle like a slut, which he apparently discerned from the one kiss he observed. Lee, of course, doesn’t listen to what his best friend is trying to tell him. He instead stomps off like a gigantic baby and jumps in his classic model car, then whines about how Noah always gets everything, and poor Lee gets his leftovers. Just for clarification, this means he considers Elle to be something to be “gotten,” so yet another super cool move on his part.
Lee then disappears from Elle’s life for the next several weeks, as does Noah, because clearly it’s more important to recover your hurt pride than to be there for the person who is supposed to be your friend. As opposed to the book, where Lee sucks it up and picks Elle up the very next morning, still hurting, but working on it because that’s what friends do.
6. Lee and his stupid rules
Just for clarification, there are no rules in the book. That’s right, all those stupid rules that keep flashing on the screen to try and explain Lee’s horrible behavior don’t even exist in the book. But in the movie, rule #9 – relatives of your best friend are totally off-limits – is apparently the most important thing in the whole world to Lee. More important than #2 – never share our secrets with anyone (Lee has no problem explaining Elle’s summertime breast development) or #7 – no matter how mad you are at your best friend, you have to forgive them if they give you ice cream (Lee dumps Elle’s ice cream gift in the trash when she tries to make up with him).
Possibly the one that pisses me off the most, however, is his clear need to ignore #18 – always be happy for your bestie’s successes – which Elle had no problem following when he dumped her for his new girlfriend.
Any dude who runs his friendship into the ground because of a bunch of rules he and his best friend made up when they were 6 – or more accurately, one rule – doesn’t deserve to keep that friend.
7. Lee just watches Elle be miserable when Noah clearly loves her
Supposedly one of Lee’s main objections to Elle and Noah as a couple is that Noah won’t treat Elle with the respect and care she deserves. But that excuse doesn’t hold nearly as much weight when Noah embarrasses himself in front of both the junior and senior classes to apologize to Elle and tell her he loves her. Elle is very clearly torn, obviously in love with Noah but not ready to risk her tentatively mended friendship with Lee. What would a good friend do here? Tell her to follow her heart, Lee, you gigantic asswipe. Instead, Lee doesn’t reassure her or intervene in any way, so Elle believes he’ll end their friendship if she chooses Noah.
Meanwhile, book Lee is kind of amazing – telling Elle that while he may not think it’s the best idea, he’ll be there to pick up the pieces if it goes wrong. In fact, he reassures her of this multiple times.
8. Rachel chases Elle from the kissing booth at prom to make sure she’s okay, not Lee
That’s right – after Elle tells Noah that they can’t be together when he surprises her at the prom kissing booth, it will upset too many people, then runs away because she’s clearly miserable, Lee doesn’t go after her. Instead, his girlfriend Rachel, who in the movie has barely spent any time with Elle, chases her to make sure she’s okay. Apparently Lee is more concerned about being pissy with his brother for ruining his prom or something. Not, as one would expect, worried about the fact that his best friend just ran from the room crying. Cool, cool, Lee.
9. Lee is an ass to Elle about Noah when she is CLEARLY miserable at their birthday party
Elle is all but crying throughout their entire birthday party prep while getting ready, and then again during the party. When they blow out their candles, Elle tells Lee she didn’t wish for anything. It’s obvious from Lee’s glance at her that he knows all is not right. He does nothing. Instead, when she finally breaks and decides he’s a giant jerk for holding her to their 6-year-old rules, he’s still pissy with her. And he tries to hold her to a standard that he could never live up to himself, nor would he even attempt it.
When she finally tells him that she’s going to be with Noah whether he stays her friend or not, he finally says he thinks it’s a bad idea, but fine. Not, I will be here for you no matter what – like the book – but fine, I guess, if I don’t have any other choice.
10. Lee is missing when Noah leaves for college
To be fair, it’s more than a little weird that when Noah leaves for college all the way across the entire country, none of his family showed up to see him off in the movie. In the book his entire family is there with him and Elle. I guess Netflix thought it would feel weird for Elle and Noah to make out in front of his parents or something. No, you’re right, Netflix – it’s far less weird for his family to not see their 18-year-old son off to college for the first time. Anyways, the other big issue with this is the fact that Lee also is nowhere to be found to comfort Elle, who would obviously be upset after saying goodbye to the first love of her life.
I realize that Elle was by no means a model best friend, but who can really forgive her with the complete fuckwit Lee Flynn on the other side of things?
