I recently discovered the joys of Netflix rom-coms thanks to one of my best friends. She was determined that I watch the newest one, "To All The Boys I've Loved Before," with her. Obviously, I did and upon finishing that movie, we had to watch "The Kissing Booth" purely because I still hadn't seen it yet.
Now, I know "The Kissing Booth" got a ton of hype. Twitter was all over it, Buzzfeed, even people like my parents loved the movie. That being said, I don't quite subscribe to that hype myself. I didn't like it as much as I thought I would from seeing everyone else's hype.
So, I've come to one conclusion: "To All The Boys I've Loved Before" is the better of the two movies and deserves all of "The Kissing Booth"'s hype and more. Here's why:
1. It's a bit more realistic
Okay, I know it's still a rom-com and those movies aren't necessarily known for being realistic. I can accept that, to a certain degree. However, "To All The Boys I've Loved Before" felt more like something that could actually happen and could happen to more people. Not all of us have a guy best friend with an older brother, but most of us will have a crush sometime in our lives and won't want that person to know about it. Sometimes you just gotta take drastic measures.
2. The story isn't overly cheesy
Again, I know that cheesiness is part of the rom-com package and I'm not hating on that part. I love some good cheese every once in a while. However, what I can't get behind is something being so cheesy that I fake throw up. I didn't find any of the lines in "To All The Boys I've Loved Before" soaked in cheese. "The Kissing Booth," on the other hand, made me roll my eyes several times.
3. You can't help but root for the main characters to get together
Without spoiling too much of what happens in the movie, the two main characters end up in a fake relationship. Yet, the entire time, you're sitting there going, "Just get together for real! Please!"
I didn't feel that way with "The Kissing Booth." It seemed too obvious what was going to happen basically from the beginning and it felt somewhat forced to me.
4. The themes of family
I love how the themes of family and sisterhood are tied so closely to the story. Both of the main characters have holes in their families and they actually get the chance to talk about that with each other. I also heavily related to the sisterhood aspect because I have two sisters of my own who I'm close with, and it was nice to see that reflected so strongly in the movie. "The Kissing Booth" has some of the family themes, but it doesn't impact the characters in the same way.
I honestly could keep talking on and on about "To All The Boys I've Loved Before." I genuinely liked it that much, so props to you Netflix. But I don't want to spoil too much for you, so if you haven't seen it yet, go watch "To All The Boys I've Loved Before" right now! I'm off to read the book it's based on (and it's two counterparts).
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