Film Review: Blockers

By far the most interesting thing about Blockers is the way the filmmakers managed to craft a very raunchy, R-rated, teen, sex comedy that manages to be surprisingly thoughtful, empathetic, forward thinking, and nonjudgmental. In a genre that takes a mostly male-centric point-of-view, and very testosterone driven, it’s genuinely refreshing to see one of these that is more patient, and treats their characters (especially female) with some humanity.

It’s also explores a very interesting concept. Three best friends, Julie (Kathryn Newton), Kayla (Geraldine Viswanathan), and Sam (Gideon Adlon) decide to lose their virginities on prom night. Meanwhile, Julie’s mom, Lisa (Leslie Mann), Kayla’s dad, Mitchell (John Cena), and Sam’s father, Hunter, (Ike Barinholtz), find out about the plan and try to stop it. The idea of the teenagers as free-thinking individuals, each with their own ideas, and expectations as to how the night will go, while the parents trip over themselves, getting into increasingly ridiculous situations is a smart, and inventive way of framing it.

However, as much as I admire the film for what it’s doing, I wish it didn’t have to constantly pat itself on the back for being as progressive as it is. While it is directed by Kay Cannon, who has written all the Pitch Perfect films, she had no hand in the writing as far as I know. That was handled by Brian and Jim Kehoe, two guys. And there are points where it has that feeling of overcompensation, throwing phrases like “damsel in distress,” “double standards,” and multiple extended monologues basically explaining the themes of the film out loud before the third act even kicks in. I can’t help but feel like some nuance and subtlety might’ve been lost because we’re dealing with a story about female sexual awakening written by men.

But those are just the big ideas, how are the jokes? They’re mostly just serviceable, but occasionally laugh-out-loud funny. The gross out gags left a bit more to be desired, but the moments I found more humorous are the bizarre interactions between certain characters. It’s mostly with the parents, who are doing most of the heavy lifting in terms of humor, which makes sense considering they have all been doing comedy for years, and while John Cena is still relatively new, he stands on his own working alongside Mann and Barinholtz, continuously improving on the comedy chops we first saw from him in Trainwreck.

Though, that’s not to say the girls don’t have much to do. All three are great, and each bring something very distinctive to their characters, and bring them to life in ways you might not expect. Geraldine Viswanathan is the scene stealer for me when it came to her quick, dry delivery. I haven’t seen her in anything prior to this, but she has a star quality to her, and a fantastic screen presence. Don’t be surprised if we see a lot from her in the near future, and expect her name to pop up in every single Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel fan-casting from now on.

Blockers is the kind of film that is more interesting to talk about in terms of what it doesn’t do rather than what it does do. The gender politics are a clever subversion, but the rest of the film is relatively business as usual. There isn’t anything here you won’t see coming, be it the character beats, certain punchlines, or thematic payoffs. Perhaps, that is me asking too much of it. After all, it’s a teen sex comedy, it may not be fair to expect the radicalness of its politics to match the inventiveness of the story and humor, and I absolutely recognize that. It may seem like I’m being down on it, but it’s only because I think it could’ve been better. But for what it is, it totally works. I did have fun with this, and I think most audiences will. My hope is that this will inspire future raunchy, studio comedies to realize they can have their dick jokes while also being smart and progressive.