Review – Blockers

Blockers is one of the funniest movies I have seen in a long, long time.  In fact, I’d have to go back to 21 Jump Street back in 2012 to find a comedy that I laughed this hard in.  But what makes Blockers the best comedy of 2017 so far – as well as one of the best movies of the year so far – is the balance of laughs and heart mixed with rounded characters and a relatable subject.

It’s the night every high schooler looks forward to and every parent fears: Prom night.  Julie (Kathryn Newton), Kayla (Geraldine Viswanathan), and Sam (Gideon Adlon) are three best friends who plan on losing their virginity on prom night.  When their parents, Lisa (Leslie Mann), Mitchell (John Cena), and Hunter (Ike Barinholtz), catch wind of this sex pact, they make it their duty to stop them.

This is a movie that could easily have gotten out of hand.  With a sex-focused plot and some big personalities as the stars, the movie could have been an over-the-top sex romp with a lot of unfunny, gross-out jokes.  But that isn’t the case here.  Director Kay Cannon cares about the characters in the film and makes sure we care about them too.  We aren’t necessarily rooting for the parents to stop the kids and we aren’t rooting for the kids to go through with their sex pact, we are rooting for the relationship the daughters have with their parents.  They are all going through issues, like Julie going away to college, Kayla actually dating for the first time, and Sam struggling with her sexuality and then we see the parents and their issues with their relationships with their kids and their insecurities about them growing up.  This is the driving force of the movie.

Mann, Cena, and Barinholtz are sensational, each bringing their own unique comedic talent to the table.  Mann is someone who can really over-act a scene, or take a great comedic scene a couple notches overboard to hurt the overall affect of the scene.  But here, Mann gives her best performance since Knocked Up.  Being a single mother, she is so attached to her daughter that she can’t handle the idea of being alone when her daughter goes away to school.  Her stopping her daughter from losing her virginity isn’t about her daughter having sex, it’s just one step closer to losing her daughter.  She’s wonderful.

Cena continues to prove that he’s a comedy master by playing the over-sized, over-protective, fanny pack-wearing dad.  He’s constantly worried about his daughter and continues to questions whether he did a good enough job raising Kayla.  Mix that with Cena playing against his big, tough guy persona and you get some of the biggest laughs in the movie.

And Barinholtz finally gets his chance to shine after years of being a supporting character in what is the film’s best performance.  Hunter is a screw up father, a hard partying, lonely man who cheated on his wife and neglected Sam for years.  Where as Lisa is trying to not lose her daughter, Hunter has already lost his daughter and wants to get closer to his and become the father he’s never been.  He’s also the most logical of the three parents, understanding that what they are doing is ridiculous and how it would look to their kids and their friends.  His arc is the best and the most emotional.

And I cannot forget to talk about the girls of the film.  Each one brings their own personality to their character, but also having the chemistry to sell us on the idea that they are best friends.  Like their parents, they are all going through different things in life that the audience can relate to.  Each one is funny, sweet, and strong.  I would love to see a sequel of these girls in college.

Blockers is a comedic triumph.  A movie that has just as much heart as it does laughs.  The cast is sensational and carry the movie on it’s shoulders, each bringing their A-game to tell the story about parenting, friendship, and growing up.

Did you see Blockers?  What did you think?  Comment below or hit me up on Twitter and Instagram, @kevflix, or on Facebook by searching Kevflix.