The Kiss Quotient
Genre: Drama/Romance
Director: Lulu Wang
Writer: Rosie JoLove
Based on the novel by Helen Hoang
Cast: Cristin Milioti, Steven Yeun, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, David Lim, Anh Duong, Awkwafina, Elisabeth Shue
Plot: 30-year-old Stella Lane (Cristin Milioti) is out having lunch with her parents. Her mother told her she wants grandchildren. Stella gets anxious at dating and sex. To distract her parents, she said to them she got a promotion but didn't take it since it involved more client interaction. As someone with Asperger’s syndrome, Stella preferred working solely with data in her position as an econometrician. Her mother told her it's necessary to challenge herself. After lunch, Stella goes to her office and encounters a colleague, Philip James (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), that her mother had suggested she go out with her. He's picking up a box of condoms from his desk telling Stella that it's essential to be good at sex for men to like her. After he left, she looked for escorts online, believing she needed someone to teach her how to be good at sex.
Michael (Steven Yeun) works as an escort on Friday nights to pay his bills. He was surprised when he saw Stella, thinking she was too young and pretty hiring him. Over dinner, Stella proposed that she be his only client for a few months to teach her how to be good at sex. Michael skirted around the issue, not usually taking repeat clients due to previous clients stalking him.
Michael and Stella are in her hotel room. Stella was nervous and thought she should not have chosen a handsome escort as it made it harder for her to relax. Stella noted Michael’s tattoo peeking out from his shirt and wanted to touch it and see more of it. Stella was drawn to Michael’s scent and told him so. He tells her she was very good at the talking part of sex. They started kissing, and Stella was enjoying it until Michael began French kissing her. She tensed up and told him she did not like it, and Michael told her to give it another chance. He tried again, and Stella enjoyed it.
They moved to the bed and continued kissing, but Stella became tense when Michael undid her shirt's top button. He told her he could not have sex with her while she was like this, and she started crying. She said to him that during her previous sexual experiences, men had had sex with her when she was in this state, and Michael became angry that anyone would have sex with somebody that was so afraid. Michael suggested they cuddle instead and watch a movie while in their underwear. Stella was embarrassed by her beige, practical underwear, but it was all she wore. Perspiring next to Michael, she believed he must find her disgusting. She asked him about the callouses on his hands, and he told her that he did a type of sword fighting.
Stella woke up the next day, horrified that she had skipped her nighttime routine. Worried about her nudity, she put Michael’s shirt on and hurried to brush her teeth. Michael told her he could not accept her proposal and told her not to hire someone else as it was dangerous. She showed him she had a taser and could take care of herself. He left her room but returned a moment later, telling her he would give her three “lessons.” She agreed to his terms, and her mother called as they were saying goodbye. Her mother asked her who she was talking to and Stella told her it was Michael and that they had just spent the night kissing.
Michael talks to his cousin, Quan (David Lim), after his sword-fighting class. Quan invites him out to the club on Friday. Michael says he couldn't go. Quan asked why he's always busy Fridays and asked if he had a secret girlfriend or gay. Michael said he didn't, and Quan told him he didn't care if he's gay. Michael said neither was correct, that he's casually dating on Fridays. Quan advises him to tell his family as they'd been asking. Michael felt guilty. They used to know everything about each other. He apologized to Quan for being a lousy bud. Quan told him he understood due to what Michael had been through with his dad and his mother’s health problems.
Stella and Michael met for their second appointment. She told Michael her mother thought he was her boyfriend after they had called during their last time together and thought this was a good thing and that she would stop setting her up on dates. Michael said his mother also did this, setting him up with doctors. Stella showed Michael a lesson plan for their appointments, and Michael was insulted but hid it. Stella said they should not kiss anymore as she had learned how to do it in their last session. Michael told her about the importance of foreplay, but Stella questioned him, believing her needs weren't significant.
While in the hotel room, Michael commented about the lesson plans and realized Stella did not understand sarcasm. He thought she must be a book smart person with limited social skills. Michael and Stella got undressed, and Michael thought Stella was magnificent. Michael moved slowly, knowing this was about getting Stella to relax. During their foreplay, they broke the kissing rule, and Stella told him she had been thinking about kissing him all week. Michael was relieved as he had also been thinking about it. Michael worried he was losing control over his feelings for Stella. Stella stopped him from making her orgasm with his fingers, telling him she was not ready. Michael invited her out to a club for their next date, and Stella agreed.
Michael and Stella went out for ice cream before the club. Michael had decided he needed to seduce Stella for her to relax. He wanted her to enjoy their time together. Michael felt that he was not good enough for Stella, believing he had inherited his father’s bad genes.
Stella and Michael went to the club and run into Quan. Michael left Stella with Quan to talk to a lady, Aliza (Elisabeth Shue), that he knew. Stella saw them kiss and went outside, overwhelmed by the music and the crowd. Quan followed her and recognized the signs of autism as his brother suffered from it. He asked her if she was autistic, and she nodded, being unable to lie. Michael came outside, and Quan told him Stella was trying to leave without saying goodbye. Michael asked her if she wanted to go back in, and she told him to take her home.
Michael drove Stella home, and he noticed a repetitive tapping of her fingers. He asked her if she plays piano, and she told him she could play before learning how to talk, clarifying that she's a late talker. Stella wonders if he enjoyed kissing the woman at the bar, and he told her he hadn't kissed her, that she had forced herself on him, and she was a “crazy ex-client.” At Stella’s house, Michael noticed how empty it was, and Stella told him she had the necessities spending most of her time at the office. Stella told Michael she didn't want sex lessons anymore, but relationship lessons instead. She'd pay him fifty thousand dollars for the first month. He needs to think about it.
Quan came over to Michael’s apartment while he was punching his punching bag. Michael told Quan he had had a bad day. He had panicked when he had come across his mother sleeping, thinking she was dead. After this, he had dealt with someone looking for his dad, trying to serve him, and then listened to his mother repeat bad stories about his father. Quan asked Michael about Stella, pointing out her similarity to his brother, Khai. Michael agreed there were some similarities. Stella was woken up from a sex dream about Michael by a phone call. Stella decided on waking that she's obsessed with Michael. Stella takes her clothes to get dry cleaned, choosing one with high reviews. Inside, she saw that Michael was tailoring a woman’s pants. He noticed her and told him that it's an accident and wasn't stalking him. She asked if he would make clothes for her, realizing he had made the beautiful suit he had worn to the club. Michael told her that he would be her pretend boyfriend and kissed her as his mother walked in. Michael’s mother, Me (Anh Duong), invited Stella to dinner. She agreed when Michael also extended the invitation.
Stella went to Michael’s house with chocolate and flowers, having read that it was custom to bring a gift in Vietnamese culture. I offered her food in plastic containers, and Stella refused to eat it, telling her it was poisonous and contained BPA. She became overwhelmed by the noise, with Michael’s sisters fighting and his grandmother turning the television up louder. When Michael’s dad gets mentioned, Stella repeatedly asked where he was, and I told her he had run off to be with another woman. She retreated to her room, crying. Stella apologized and left. Michael went to comfort his mother and thought that the words used to describe his father could describe him. He felt he was using Stella and decided he had to break it off.
Stella was upset about her behavior and wondered whether she should tell Michael about her diagnosis. She worried she would be less in his eyes if he knew. She went to the dry cleaners with chocolates and flowers and apologized to Me. He told her they had a lot of food leftover and that she should come over again. At his sword-fighting gym, Michael looked at Khai and started drawing more similarities between him and Stella. He asked Quan about the night at the club and if Stella was autistic. He realized her diagnosis didn't matter to him and went to her office. He took her back to his mother’s place, making sure that it was quieter. He told her that he realized loud sounds were too much for her but did not tell her he knew about her autism. He introduced her to his sisters, and the night went smoothly, with his family liking her. Michael was touched by Stella, caring about his family. In the car to Stella’s place, they decided to move together to make the relationship illusion complete.
Stella is waking next to Michael; Stella's anxious about missing her bedtime routine again. Michael stopped her from cleaning her teeth and asked if he'd perform oral sex. Stella worries about not being good at receiving it. She became tense, saying she'd prefer if they showered and got dressed. After the shower, Michael pulled Stella’s robe off and performed oral sex, making her orgasm. They have sex, and Stella's able to enjoy it. She thought that this might mean nothing to Michael, who slept with many women and worried she was living in a fantasy.
After they had sex, Michael worried about his feelings for her. Trying to put some distance, he got dressed and told her they're going shopping. To Stella’s surprise, she found she liked yoga pants and the feeling against her skin. After buying bags full of clothes for herself, she offered to buy Michael something. She said she would like to buy him a car to replace the one he had, asking him if it had been from the client she had seen at the club. Stella wished Michael could be her boyfriend for real and wondered if maybe he could.
Stella left work early to meet Michael for dinner. Walking out, she noticed everyone in the office look at her. In the elevator, Philip asked her about her plans, noting her hair was down. Stella realized that this was why people had looked at her as she always wore it up. Stella told Philip she had a date, and Philip appeared interested in her. At the restaurant, Michael said to Stella that his mother had stage IV lung cancer. Stella asked Michael if he would go to her mother’s fundraiser with her in a month and if he would also make her dress. He agreed to both but appeared a bit tense. Stella and Michael go back to his apartment to pick up some of his clothes.
Stella sat on Michael’s bed while he packed. Exiting his closet, he saw her lying in his bed, smelling his sheets. He usually had a rule about clients not being allowed in his apartment but knew these rules did not apply to Stella. He became aroused and joined her in the bed. During their foreplay, he started talking dirty to her, and she told him to stop, saying it was embarrassing. However, he noticed she was more aroused when he did. She begged him to be inside her, but he realized he left his condoms and went to get them.
Stella looked around Michael’s apartment while he was gone. She saw some bills and realized Michael had given her a fake last name. She saw the hospital bill for his mother, realizing that this was why he was an escort. She started crying, and Michael returned, asking her what was wrong. She told him she was becoming obsessed with him and that she would not be able to let him go. Michael stopped her from speaking by forcefully kissing her, and they have sex. Michael asked her if she wanted to spend the night, and she told him she did.
Michael realized he's in love with Stella, but told himself it wasn't real and temporary. He wondered what Stella'd do if she found out about his past and “shaky” ethics. The following week, Stella felt sad, coming home to an empty house. She distracts herself by playing the piano. Michael returned and asked if she knew anything happier to play. They play “Heart and Soul” together, and Stella's tempted to ask Michael if he enjoyed the time they spent together. She knew she did not just enjoy the sex part of their relationship, loving all the time they spent together. She thought she needed to seduce him to keep him but did not know-how.
Stella went to Michael’s mother’s house for dinner. She wanted to ask his family about him to figure out a seduction technique; however, he was too nervous about going through with it. After dinner, Me showed Stella pictures of Michael in their family album. She saw Michael’s father at his college graduation. She saw a photo with him with his real last name written over his jersey and noted that he quickly skipped over that page, making her feel less secure. Michael’s sister Janie (Awkwafina) asked Stella for help with getting an internship. She studied economics but had a low GPA due to doing poorly in her first year when her mother got diagnosed, and her dad had just left.
Stella left work to meet Michael for lunch. She ran into Philip, who asked her if the guy she was attending was her boyfriend and told her he had had a crush on her for years. He forcibly kissed her, and when she arrived at Michael’s work, she washed her mouth. Michael catches her, and she told him about the kiss. He was angry and threatened to hurt whoever had done this. They have sex in the bathroom with Michael wanting to claim her. Stella tried on the dress he had made her, loving it. After lunch, Stella thought about something Michael had said about women buying men underwear, that they like taking care of the people they love. This helped her with data she had been working on buying trends. She bought Michael underwear deciding that if he stopped buying his own, he loved her too.
Stella and Michael got ready for the charity event. Stella revealed she knew Michael’s real last name, and Michael worried she would soon find out about his past and the bad things he had done. At the event, Michael met Stella’s parents and felt her father judging him when he told them he was a fashion designer but was not working. He realized that Philip was the guy that had kissed Stella and became jealous over their interaction at the table, realizing they had a lot in common and that he was Stella’s intellectual equal. Another woman came to sit at their table, and Michael saw that it was the same obsessed client that had kissed him at the bar, Aliza.
Aliza told the table that she and Michael used to see each other. Stella noticed her stroking near Michael’s crotch under the table. Michael told the table he needed air and Stella followed him. Outside, Michael told her his father’s name, saying he had conned multiple women out of their money and stolen everything from his mother. He told Stella that he was not good enough that he was like his father. He broke up with her telling her she needed to be with someone for more than sex. He told her he knew she was autistic but that that should not matter. Stella went back to the table and told everyone that they had broken up. Michael collected his things from Stella’s house, noting the underwear she had brought him. He left a piece of paper on her nightstand.
Stella sees her cheque that Michael had left. She became angry, thinking he'd been with her because he pitied her. She altered her morning routine, feeling reckless. She plays her piano, ending up hitting the keys so hard breaking a string.
Meanwhile, Michael went to a dry cleaning shop and drew a picture of Stella. He tears it up and destroys all the design projects he'd been working on.
Michael took Me to the hospital for a checkup. Her mother asked him what'd happened between him and Stella, telling him to work it out. At the hospital, the receptionist explains he no longer had to pay for treatment, being the benefactor of a scheme to help low-income families. Me’s doctor told Michael that his mother was doing well. Michael couldn't tell his mother about her bills getting paid for having previously lied to her about having insurance that covered her treatment. At work, Stella thought about resigning to address her tendency to obsession. Constructing her resignation letter, she was interrupted by Janie, who had come for her internship interview. Janie asked what had happened with Michael and that they needed to talk as they were both miserable. After Janie’s meeting, Stella realized she was being ridiculous and was fine the way she was.
Janie told Michael and Me that she had gotten an internship at Stella’s work. Michael asked Quan if he wanted to go into business with him to start his fashion line. Stella asked Philip out to dinner, during which he talked mostly about himself. After dinner, Philip went to kiss her and Stella turned away. Michael and Quan witnessed this from across the street, and Michael punched Philip's eye, seeing that he was about to try and kiss Stella again. Stella walked off, and he ran after her. She told Michael she did not need his pity and that she was trying to get over him. Michael realized that she must love him and decided he would devise a plan to get her back.
Stella received flowers from Michael, not understanding what it meant. Although Phil looked jealous, it was apparent he had already started something with the secretary. Michael rang and asked if she had received the flowers. He asked her out for dinner, and she refused. He called every day of the week and sent more flowers. One night, Stella left, he was waiting outside the building for her. He told her he missed her and kissed her. He said he had not been with her out of pity and that he loved her. Stella asked if he was wearing the boxers she had bought him. Seeing that he was, she believed his love for her. Stella told him she had created the assistance program helping pay his mother’s bills with her 15 million dollar trust fund. He told her he would ask her to marry him in three months, warning her as he knew she did not like surprises.
Four months later, Stella went to visit Michael at his fashion studio. She appreciated the ring he had bought her and told him he should not have gone into debt. He told her he was now debt-free as Quan had gotten venture backing to open three new stores. Stella told him she had accepted a new promotion and that she was buying him a new car. He told her if she wanted to buy him a new car or boxers, he tried to use them as he loved her.
