Their social media followings exploded (it didn’t hurt that King and Elordi were also dating in real life at the time), and people kept watching the film despite the fact that it carried a decidedly rotten Rotten Tomatoes score. And, ultimately, it’s the kind of organic, enthusiastic audience that money can’t buy and boardrooms can’t replicate — although that doesn’t stop anyone from trying.

Thus the sequel, directed and co-written again by Vince Marcello, doesn’t stray too far from the formula of the first, putting well-worn high school movie tropes in glossy, expensive packaging. Marcello has gathered up much of the original cast, including poor Molly Ringwald as Noah and Lee’s mother, to take us through Elle’s senior year in which she navigates college applications, a long-distance relationship with Noah (now a freshman at Harvard), a new crush and the big Dance Dance Revolution contest that she has to win for tuition money. (Why not throw a “Dirty Dancing” side plot in with the kitchen sink?)

Like the first, this movie does not exist in any sort of reality: financial, emotional or physical. It’s the kind of world where Lee and Noah, who the movie otherwise treat as normal upper middle-class suburban kids, casually live in what is probably a $25 million Hollywood Hills house. Where it’s possible to enter a national dance competition, having only arcade experience, in a city full of professional dancers and performers, and not be totally embarrassed. And where all that’s standing between you and a shot at getting into Harvard and Berkeley is a few Audrey Hepburn quotes and a heartfelt essay about where you see yourself in five years. The joy is forced, the revelations trite and the characters are unmemorable.