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    ‘Uglies’ Review: Beauty Is a Beast

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    Joey King plays a teenager in a dystopian world where cosmetic surgery seems to be the cure for inequality.“Uglies,” based on the young adult book series by Scott Westerfeld, presents a cheekily vapid solution to world peace: At age 16, everyone is surgically enhanced to be pretty, thus eradicating inequality and conflict.Here, pretty has a template — imagine the uncanny valley of Instagram face with shiny eyes and full cheeks. Pre-operation, the teenager Tally Youngblood (Joey King) initially can’t wait to be made over. As she chirps, “Becoming moldy and crinkly? That goes against everything we’ve been taught!”The original book in the series was first optioned in 2006, at the dawn of the dystopian young adult craze, but the genre has mildewed in the years since — and the book’s early fans are now old enough to bemoan their own wrinkles.Still, one might counter that in the years in between, cosmetic transformations became an openly acknowledged right of passage for a class of celebutante influencers — a reality that may have occurred to the screenwriters Jacob Forman, Vanessa Taylor and Whit Anderson and the director Joseph McGinty Nichol, known as McG. (One could easily imagine Kris Jenner as an adviser to Laverne Cox’s imperious Dr. Cable, the leader of the lovelies.) To help woo the current generation of 11-year-olds, McG has concocted a fantastical, glossily repellent digital landscape that glows with neon and constant fireworks, causing the film to feel at once too sincere and too artificial.King plays Tally with more conviction than the movie deserves, alongside Keith Powers and Chase Stokes as her crushes and Brianne Tju as a punkish hoverboarder who yearns to join an anti-surgery agrarian conclave whose members reach self-actualization by reading Thoreau’s “Walden.” Though viewers can’t help but notice that the rebels are also naturally telegenic.UgliesRated PG-13 for some violence and action, and brief strong language. Running time: 1 hour 40 minutes. Watch on Netflix. More

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      ‘A Family Affair’ Review: A Rom-Com With a Third Wheel

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      When Zara (Joey King) realizes that her mom (Nicole Kidman) is dating her boss (Zac Efron), she tries to split them up.Joey King is a bit of a unicorn: a genuine movie star brought into being by Netflix. As far as movies are concerned, the streamer does make a lot of them, but often seems at a loss to promote them or the actors. But in 2018, King starred in the Netflix-produced “The Kissing Booth” and made enough of an impression to power two sequels.“A Family Affair,” King’s newest film on the streaming service, may appear to be a kind of lab experiment — how does the buoyant actress react when thrown into a pool with Hollywood luminaries? King is not exactly outclassed by Nicole Kidman, Kathy Bates and Zac Efron. But the movie’s script, by Carrie Solomon, puts her at a disadvantage.Set in Los Angeles, “A Family Affair” finds King’s character, Zara, stuck in a personal assistant loop with Chris Cole (Efron), an action movie hunk who seems even more shallow and self-absorbed than the average caricature of such types. As is often the case in such arrangements, their relationship is creepily close; in the opening scene, Zara is late delivering the expensive but insincere gift Chris is about to bestow on a girlfriend he’s dumping.The movie serves up a light critique of Hollywood. Discussing Chris’s latest project, Zara repeats the log line, “It’s like ‘Die Hard’ meets ‘Miracle on 34th Street,’” to which her pal replies, “So it’s not about anything.”The beacons of integrity here are Zara’s mom, Brooke (Kidman), described by Zara in one of her frequent outbursts as a “Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award whatever,” and Zara’s paternal grandmother, Leila (Bates). Important plot point: Brooke is a widow who hasn’t been on a date in a long time. One afternoon, while dusting the house, Brooke is interrupted by Chris (semi-repentant, he’s looking for Zara, whom he’s just fired for the umpteenth time); they hit the tequila together and erotic attraction flares up. Awkward.But there’s “something real” between them, they insist to Zara, whose reaction to this development is vehemently off the charts. Until her grandmother gives her a good talking to, King’s character has three modes: peeved, indignant and grossed out. You could almost call the movie “The Longest Eye Roll.” (By contrast, Kidman, once a consistently expressive actress, performs with an inertia that could be read as a form of serenity.)King gets to show a little charm in the final third of the movie, and it’s refreshing. But every now and then you wonder whether “A Family Affair,” directed by Richard LaGravenese in a mode that vaguely recalls the work of Nancy Meyers, might have been more compelling as, instead of a rom-com, a drama about an entitled, manipulative daughter who almost ruins the lives of those around her.A Family AffairRated PG-13 for adult themes and language. Running time: 1 hour 51 minutes. Watch on Netflix. More

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      ‘The Princess’ Review: Holding His Heart in Her Hands

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      Joey King is credible and compelling as a vengeful would-be princess bride in this over-the-top action fantasy tale.Le-Van Kiet’s fantasy “The Princess” opens in a traditional manner, with the trill of Celtic-inspired flutes, a pink sunrise and a slow climb to the top of a spindly tower, where an unnamed princess-bride-to-be (Joey King) lies on a bed strewn with rose petals. But here, the royal beauty feigns sleep. Five minutes into this slender yet vigorous blood-spattered fable, two enemy guards enter to drag our heroine to the chapel — and she brutally kills them. Clearly, the classic genre that galvanizes Kiet and the screenwriters Ben Lustig and Jake Thornton doesn’t hark back to ye olde European fairy tales but rather to the feminist revenge thrillers of the 1970s: works of exploitation and wuxia cinema where warrior women stuck it to the man. With knives.The plot proceeds like an arcade game. Her highness must fight her way downstairs to defeat her naysayer, including a tyrannical fiancé (Dominic Cooper), his cruel consort (Olga Kurylenko) and the princess’s own father (Ed Stoppard), a hapless weakling who believes he can combat fascism with calm and sensible reason. Using scant dialogue, the film makes a counterpoint: It takes physical violence to control the throne. That’s one opinion on which the princess and her villainous betrothed can agree.Long takes highlight both King’s gumption (as when she somersaults back and forth over a card table to dispatch a trio of goons) and the admirably creative fight choreography by Stanimir Stamatov and Samuel Kefi Abrikh, which emphasizes quick-thinking defensive moves that make use of found objects — hairpins, pearls, heads of lettuce — to parry swords, axes, chains, whips and helmets with sharp horns. The high-aggro guitar score is a misstep, but a panting, battered King is credible and compelling as she kicks, stabs and screams for the right to choose her own destiny.The PrincessRated R for rapacious bloodshed. Running time: 1 hour 34 minutes. Watch on Hulu. More

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      ‘The In Between’ Review: Love Never Dies

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      A teenage girl thinks that her dead boyfriend’s spirit is reaching out from the Great Beyond.Like its foremother, “Twilight,” “The In Between” depicts a pedantic girl in a supernatural world who’s willing to die for her boyfriend. But where the “Twilight” films at least culminated in a decapitation or two, this feature, from the director Arie Posin and the “Serendipity” screenwriter Marc Klein, focuses solely on its fatal romance.The lead in question is Tessa (Joey King), who wakes up in the hospital after a car crash damages her heart and kills her boyfriend, Skylar (Kyle Allen). As Tessa starts to suspect that Skylar’s spirit is reaching out from the Great Beyond, we see their whirlwind summer romance through a series of flashbacks.This mawkish plot might be tolerable if its characters were more likable; instead, they are pretension personified. Tessa meets Skylar at a screening of Jean-Jacques Beineix’s 1986 psychological drama “Betty Blue,” where he offers to translate the French for her. He describes them both as “analog,” because they like film photography and ’80s pop hits and don’t post on social media.Spoiler alert: As Skylar’s spirit contacts Tessa through phones and computers (not very analog of him), she embarks on a suicide mission to see him one last time. The film unambiguously romanticizes this self-sacrifice, joining a parade of sexist schlock where girls choose love over life. These depictions are harmful and beyond tired, especially after other entrants in the teen genre, like Ry Russo-Young’s “Before I Fall,” have already managed to explore death and girlhood through the eyes of relatable, independent young women.The film’s tagline, “love never dies,” sums up its treacly climax. Maybe not, but teenage girls still can.The In BetweenRated PG-13 for teenage lovemaking and near death experiences. Running time: 2 hours 10 minutes. Watch on Paramount+. More

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      With ‘The Kissing Booth 3,’ Joey King Closes a Chapter of Her Life

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      The actress started on the Netflix movies when she was 17 and grew along with her high school character, Elle: “I went through a lot of important life moments in her shoes.”In hindsight, it’s somewhat of a miracle that “The Kissing Booth 3” got made in the first place.Not because the 2018 “The Kissing Booth” was initially a stand-alone film — before the summery rom-com, about a high schooler who falls for her best friend’s brother, became an unexpected hit on Netflix. And not because of the pandemic; this final chapter was shot earlier, in 2019, at the same time as “The Kissing Booth 2.”With workdays that included wrestling in massive inflatable sumo suits, shooting a montage at a water park and racing go-karts in Mario Kart-like costumes, it’s remarkable that Joey King and her colleagues, who had a ball in the process, were able to focus enough to get the job done.“If you put us in a room and you expect us to get much done that’s productive, it’s going to be hard,” King, the franchise’s 22-year-old star, said in a video call. “We’re like 12-year-old boys.”The trilogy’s final film, which begins streaming Wednesday, follows Elle, King’s character, through her last summer before college as she juggles dating her boyfriend, Noah (Jacob Elordi), and checking off the aforementioned antics with her friend Lee (Joel Courtney) in a last-ditch effort to complete their childhood bucket list.One of her next projects has a different vibe: King described “The Princess,” which she’s shooting this summer in Bulgaria, as an action movie, “‘The Raid: Redemption’ meets Rapunzel.” She sat down for a video interview (energetic as ever, it’s worth noting, at 6 a.m. local time) to discuss the end of the series that has defined this phase of her career and how Elle’s coming of age has mirrored her own. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.What was it like shooting the last two films back to back?Actually, we shot them at the same time — meaning in one day, we’d be shooting scenes from both movies. It was so confusing.How did you keep everything straight?I can’t give myself that kind of credit, because I didn’t. I knew exactly what I was doing every day, but when I was on set and my director [Vince Marcello] would come over and say a note or something, I was like, “Wait, are we in Movie 3 right now?” He’s like, “No, we’re still in Movie 2.” It’s not like they were very similar, because their story lines do take crazy different turns. But it was kind of fun to marry them together.King filmed “The Kissing Booth 3,” above, and the previous film in the trilogy at the same time. “It was so confusing,” she said.Marcos Cruz/NetflixWas this film — along with “The Kissing Booth 2” — the first project you executive produced?It is, which was lovely. I’ve been putting my hand more into producing lately; I’m actually producing “The Princess” as well. But it was really special for me to start on those movies since I’ve been with them for such a long time.I’m a bit of a sponge. On set, it was more of me absorbing stuff from Vince and being like, “So why did we make that decision?” Just asking more questions. He was so willing to be even more collaborative with me and ask my opinion. I felt like I had a voice on set, but my voice really did come in on the back half of filming. I had a lot of say on what the final product was, and I also am very heavily involved in the marketing process. I’m very passionate about both of those things, and I feel like I am one of the target audiences. It’s fun to be able to have a say in something that I would want to watch at the end of the day.At the heart of these movies is a coming-of-age story. Did you find similarities to your own experiences at this stage of your life?I’ve always felt very connected to Elle. I remember receiving the script for the first movie. I called my team, and I said, “When can I audition for this? I want this so bad.” And they were like, “You don’t have to audition for it; it’s an offer.” If I had had to audition for it, I would have done anything to get that job.So when I started playing Elle, I felt like [she] and I were very, very similar. Her vibe, her sense of humor; I felt very in tune with it. And same thing goes for the second and third movie, if not more so — I went through a lot of important life moments in her shoes.King with Jacob Elordi in the final film in the series. King said, “I went through a lot of important life moments in her shoes.”Marcos Cruz/NetflixHow do you feel you’ve changed since then?I have changed so much. It’s actually quite unbelievable to me. I never thought I was going to change as a person, and I was so wrong. That’s the beauty of being young. My perspective on life changed — my perspective on family, on relationships, on career. So that’s why, when I feel like I’ve really gone through so much with Elle, it’s because I have changed so much as a person and learned so much.In what ways?I became a little bit more present. I started meditating. I found a very incredible relationship [the director and producer Steven Piet]. Obviously I’ve always loved my family, but I have found a deeper appreciation for them. And career stuff, too: I started becoming more zeroed in on exactly what I wanted to do and how much I didn’t want to do certain things. And that was really interesting, just to feel a little more empowered in my own abilities to make decisions. I’m actually quite an indecisive person. If you take me to a restaurant, I have no idea what I want. And that’s even if we decide where we should go. But when it comes to my career, my brain switches over to a decisive mode. That’s a new development for me.You’ve had such a range of roles at this point — “The Kissing Booth” is very different from “The Act.” [King was nominated for an Emmy for her performance in the Hulu true-crime drama, as a young woman convicted of killing her mother.] When you talk about narrowing down what you want to do, do you hope to keep that sort of variety? Or do you prefer certain roles?I personally love to keep a wider range, and I never really have a specific “this is what I want to do next.” I want to keep excited about it. I love the fact that they [“The Kissing Booth” and “The Act”] were polar opposites. And I’m hoping that people are excited to see me in different kinds of roles, because I very carefully decided that this is what I want to do.This was, as far as we know for now, the final “Kissing Booth.” But if the opportunity arose, can you see yourself returning to Elle and this story in the future?I started these movies when I was 17. We were just like, we hope people like it — if anyone even sees it. Little did we know what a big impact this would have. I’ve never tired of playing Elle. It’s so fun. Watching this story be wrapped up so nicely in like a beautiful bow, I think it would be a little hard to come back after that. We made this ending exactly what I think it needed to be. Selfishly, do I want to play Elle again? Absolutely. But I think that the story is on its final chapter. More

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      ‘The Kissing Booth 3’ Review: Last in the Pecking Order

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      In this Netflix trilogy’s bland finale, teenagers tick off elaborate bucket-list items during their summer before college.Like a scoop of vanilla ice cream atop scoops of chocolate and strawberry, “The Kissing Booth 3” rounds out the sugary teen trilogy with a fitting, if bland, finale. The story picks up after high school graduation, as Elle (Joey King) and her bestie, Lee (Joel Courtney), gear up for college. In “The Kissing Booth” extended universe, this means moving into an oceanfront mansion and spending days ticking items off an elaborate summer bucket list. (If Elle and Lee were on TikTok, Hype House would have some competition.)As Elle’s ever-dreamy beau, Noah (Jacob Elordi), watches from the sidelines, she and Lee initiate a flash mob, splash down a waterslide and, in the movie’s most cartoonish set piece, organize a real-life Mario Kart-like competition with go-karts speeding around a racetrack. A medley of scheduling stresses, family angst and relationship triangles ignite minor growing pains. But among lengthy montages of fun in the sun, worries are brief.As in the first two movies, wish fulfillment characterizes “The Kissing Booth 3,” which displays the ultimate aspirational teen lifestyle: adoring hunks, luxury pool parties, white-sand “California” beaches (all three movies were filmed in South Africa). But when it comes to gender dynamics, the director Vince Marcello makes significant strides. By the story’s conclusion, Elle breaks away from the surrounding men. She develops a sense of self and some career ambitions. Nobody would call it a seminal moment for feminism. But at least there’s not another kissing booth.The Kissing Booth 3Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 52 minutes. Watch on Netflix. More