Blockers (2018)

“Blockers” stars Leslie Mann, Ike Barinholtz, John Cena, Kathryn Newton, Hannibal Buress, and Sarayu Blue.  Released on April 6, 2018, the film has three parents attempting to prevent their daughters from losing their virginities on prom night.

The film features the directorial debut of Kay Cannon, who is known for writing the Pitch Perfect trilogy.  Parents can be a pain to handle during our teenage years, especially when they treat us like we’re young kids, but in the end, we still love them for their support.  Just as much as they love us.  This latest adult comedy explores that type of love by expressing the term “cock blocking”, in which a person prevents someone from having sex, and no one does the cock blocking better than the parents.  Like “A Quiet Place”, this film premiered at the South by Southwest film festival last month and received some healthy reviews, which is a pretty solid accomplishment for a first-time director like Kay Cannon.  As of right now, it’s still getting some positive word-of-mouth, which is pretty surprising considering the fact that the trailers made it look like an average raunchy comedy filled with foul language and sexual humor.  Based on my experience with the film, it does resemble a typical raunchy comedy, but it’s far from average.

Similar to most teen sex comedies, the film has a simple premise: three teenage girls attempting to lose their virginities to their dates during prom night.  To spice things up a little bit, it tells the story from the perspective of the teenagers’ parents: single mother Lisa Decker (Mann), divorced father Hunter (Barinholtz), and overprotective, yet emotional, father Mitchell (Cena).  This is a nice change of pace for people who are looking for a somewhat fresh take on the genre.  It gives the filmmakers a chance to play around with this concept while also attempting to provide a relatable viewpoint of the parents’ concerns over their daughters exploring their sexuality.  It definitely has its share of simplicity and predictability in terms of the plot, so there’s nothing too groundbreaking about this unique take on the sex comedy genre.  However, if you’re going into it expecting a laugh-out-loud comedy with a tolerable story, chances are you’re going to get exactly what you want.  Yes, my fellow readers, I’m happy to say that 2018 has earned itself another comedy hit.  Mann, Cena, and Barinholtz delivered some very entertaining chemistry together onscreen, with my personal highlight being Cena himself.  Let’s just say that when you have a former wrestler portray an emotional father, there’s a good chance that you will laugh harder than a hyena.  Barinholtz also had a few laughable moments as well.  I was a little concerned that his character is going to be the annoying part of the film for some people, but he managed to keep himself limited without going a bit too far with his role.  Its blend of comedy and story was handled very well by Kay Cannon.  The jokes in the film were both raunchy and hilarious, obviously, but they don’t overshadow its smart portrayal of what it really means to have sex with someone.  Most of the raunchy comedies I’ve seen treated sex like it’s an OK thing to do, so seeing how this film handled it was pleasantly effective.  Cannon’s understanding of the subject alone made the film more relatable to both parents and teenagers who went through that phase themselves.  Add in the fact that the humor hits almost all of the marks, and you’ve got yourself a good old-fashioned, heartwarming piece of comedy gold.

Overall, “Blockers” can be a bit too simplistic for its own good, but it serves as an impressive debut from “Pitch Perfect” writer, Kay Cannon.  Thanks to its irresistible performances from the main cast, its great use of humor, and its viewpoint of its relatable subject matter, the film is another comedy winner.  It’s safe for me to say that the adult comedy genre is getting off to a great start this year, so here’s hoping that the other ones will follow suit.  If you like R-rated comedies that made you laugh and have a story that you can relate to, then I believe that this one is for you.

B+