One of my biggest regrets from High School was not attending my prom. At the time I thought prom was for losers , even though I have seen enough movies to know that it can be the time that magic happens for people at that age. So here I am some years later and I see a film like “Blockers” and think to myself, is this what I missed? It seems what I didn’t get to experience was a lot of drinking and that rite of passage of you becoming a man or a woman all while your parents try and stop it.
On the first day of school Julie (Kathryn Newton ) had the same fear we’ve all had, until she meets Kayla (Geralidine Viswanathan) and Sam (Gideon Adlon) and together they would face school together. With their friendship came their parents also becoming acquainted, you had Mitchell (John Cena) the over involved father, Lisa (Leslie Mann) the single mom, and Hunter (Ike Barinholtz) the absent father. While the years have grown their daughters closer, the same can’t be said about the parents, that is until prom night. It is on this unforgettable night that Mitchell, Lisa, and Hunter are brought together for one purpose, to stop their daughters from having sex. Soon they are crashing parties, beer bonging, and flipping cars all in the name of their kids virginity. The question becomes will they get there in time or will the kids decision be the right one after all?
With a name like “Blockers” and a rooster standing above that word there is no hiding what this film is, but its problem is its tries too hard. When you go for an R rated comedy you are often shooting for the extreme and with “Blockers” they go there, but it feels forced when they do. Don’t get me wrong there are some legit funny moments as well, it’s just at those moments when they think something was needed to push the envelope that it loses its appeal. The performances are all fine with Geraldine Viswanathan’s standing out the most because she feels real. When it comes to everyone else no one stands out, except Cena, but only because he lacks any real comedic timing. Instead of having a good time throughout I left thinking what a missed opportunity they had on making a good comedy, especially one where the gender roles were swapped. Instead of a solid take they deliver something that is average that has its moments, just not enough of them. I think too often studios comedies try to aim for the fences that turn into pop outs in the infield , why not go for the triple and let the game take you home instead? You do get some great things to take away from this though, things like kids will often make the right decisions for themselves and never leave your laptop open when you are planning a sex pact with your friends. A movie about parents wanting to block their kids sexual activities should have been easy to do and while they didn’t miss completely, they did end up blocking their own intentions.