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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Salisbury chapter.

Over summer break, I made it a goal to watch as many Netflix Original movies and TV shows as I could. Some of them I thought were good and others, I can’t see myself watching ever again.

 

Without further adieu, I present to you, the four Netflix Original films I thought were bad (in no chronological order).

1. The Kissing Booth

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The Kissing Booth is a 2018 Netflix Original film based on a Wattpad book by Beth Reekles starring Joey King, Molly Ringwald, and Joel Courtney.

This movie tells the story of Elle Evans, played by King who’s best friends with this guy named Lee Flynn, played by Courtney who have a set of rules they made as kids to keep their friendship in check.

One of the rules Elle ends up breaking is rule number nine: Relatives totally off limits. She ends up falling in love with Lee’s older brother, Noah who seems to have anger issues and a problem with the guys at their school liking her.

This film like other high school romantic comedies was predictable, cliche, and depicted unrealistic high school situations that probably wouldn’t happen in real life. Not only that, but the dialogue was awkward and the film didn’t add anything new to its genre.

Personally, I wouldn’t waste my time with this movie. But if you like cliche romantic movies then you’ll probably like this one.

 

2. How it Ends

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How it Ends is another 2018 Netflix Original film that stars Theo James, Kat Graham, and Forest Whitaker. It tells the story of Will played by James who travels out west with his father-in-law, Tom played by Whitaker to save his pregnant wife, Sam played by Graham from a mysterious apocalyptic disaster.

I was looking forward to seeing this movie because Theo James, Kat Graham, and Forest Whitaker were all starring in and it seemed to have a pretty interesting storyline to follow it’s solid cast.

However, I was left disappointed and confused by the end of this movie because it didn’t bother to answer any pressing questions audiences might have while watching this movie.

For example, the film never explains what exactly the apocalypse is or why it is happening. At the end of the movie, Will and Sam are driving away from the cloud of dust from the apocalypse. The movie ends with that scene leaving you on an unneeded cliffhanger.

Now, I’m all for mystery and suspenseful films, but this movie left me with too many unanswered questions that it took away from the film.

 

3. Dude

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Dude stars Lucy Hale, Alexandra Shipp, Kathryn Prescott, and Awkwafina as four best friends who deal with the ups and downs of teenage life during their last two weeks of high school.

Like How it Ends, I was looking forward to watching this movie because Hale was starring in it and I enjoy watching coming of age movies. Unfortunately, I found the movie in some ways unrealistic, predictable, and cliché like The Kissing Booth.

The movie at times seems to throw the coming of age concept in your face many times by having the main characters smoke, drink, and make a lot of sexual jokes. 

As a former high school student, I am aware that things like the ones I mentioned can happen in high school. However, not all high school movies need to glamorize the party side of high school life to be entertaining.

Also, there is one scene where one character gets raped, but by the end of the film, it feels almost as if it never happened to begin with. In the wake of the #metoo and Time’s Up movements, I think this subplot could have been taken more seriously than it was.

 

4. IBIZA

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What makes IBIZA different from the other films I mentioned before is the positive/mixed reception it has received from both critics and audiences.

I don’t know why that surprised me so much considering movies such as 2017’s hit comedy-drama Girls Trip was in some ways like this movie and received positive reviews from both critics and audiences.

However, I love Girls Trip but didn’t care for this film. But why? Before I get into my thoughts on the film, I’ll explain the plot first. So, the film is about a woman named Harper who lives in New York who gets to travel to Barcelona with her two best friends on a business trip and ends up falling for a famous DJ there.

Now, the plot sounded interesting to me, so I was willing to give the movie a try. But, the end result wasn’t as great as I thought it would be. I think my biggest problem with IBIZA was the humor. Some of the jokes in the film such as the scene where one of the main characters accidentally gets suntanned weren’t funny to me.

I’m not saying movies today should ditch humor we’ve seen before. However, it can get annoying after a while when the only jokes filmmakers want you to laugh at are sexual ones.

 

 

All in all, I’m not saying you shouldn’t watch these movies. In fact, you might like them more than I did. This list was just intended to explain my least favorite Netflix original movies.

 

 

Micaela Shirley is a junior at Salisbury University who is majoring in Communication Arts and minoring in English and Film. Her goal in life is to inspire and uplift readers and moviegoers with her stories.
Nadia Williams is a senior studying Political Science, Communications and French at Salisbury University. She enjoys writing about policy, media and culture. She hopes to use journalism as a tool to empower others to play an active role in their communities.