This raucous film features hilarious moments from the trio of Leslie Mann, John Cena, and Ike Barinholtz.
Since being best friends as kids, Julie, Sam, and Kayla have always bonded. When Julie tells her friends she plans to lose her virginity to her boyfriend Austin on prom night, Kayla agrees to join Julie and lost her virginity to lab partner Connor. Sam, who has feelings for another female, decides out of respect to lose her virginity to her prom date Chad. However, for Julie, she is more excited as she has been accepted to her dream school, UCLA.
However, the problem lies within the girls’ parents. Julie’s mother Lisa has issues letting go of her only baby girl. Hunter, Sam’s father, has been estranged from her since his divorce from his ex-wife. Mitchell, Kayla’s father, has a major issue with overprotecting her, much to the chagrin of his wife Marcie. When the former friends, who have lost touch with each other over the years, learn of the girls’ intentions at prom night, they decide to track them down and put a stop to it. Will the parents be successful in their “mission” or will they learn a thing or two about letting go of their daughters?
From director Kay Cannon comes this film that had a bit of a different title before one specific word was taken out and replaced by an image of a rooster. By now, you can figure that out. The film is not as raunchy as some of today’s other comedies, but does a good job of splitting the screen time between parents and kids in the film. This proves to be a positive as we get to see both sides of the spectrum in the story of a pact between the three best friends and their parents who intend to stop it.
What proves to be more interesting is the characterization of the parents, as they already have their own issues when it comes to their daughters. Leslie Mann’s Lisa is convinced that her daughter is going to remain close to her even when her daughter’s dream is to head miles away. John Cena, who is coming on his own following in the footsteps of both Dwayne Johnson and Dave Bautista in terms of going from the WWE ring to A-list Hollywood, gets to continue his comic streak as the overprotective Mitchell, who is reluctant to let his daughter go and brings a more sensitive side to the role. As for Ike Barinholtz’s Hunter, he’s truly one wacky character. At first, he is against the other two’s attempt to stop the pact and even guesses something along the lines of his daughter and her preference, but in a case of not seeing things clearly, joins the other two in the wacky misadventure, which provides some funny gags including Cena in a new kind of “chugging” contest and a funny car chase that ends very badly.
Kathryn Newton, Geraldine Viswanathan, and Gideon Adlon play the daughters who make the pact and like their parents, they each have a different reason. For Newton’s Julie, she is perhaps the one who has romance on her mind when it comes to her boyfriend of six months. In the case of Viswanathan’s Kayla, she is more interested in “experimenting” and figures, she will do the deed with druggie and lab partner Connor. The most conflicted is Adlon’s Sam, who clearly proves to be LGBTQ, but is afraid that if she doesn’t go along with the pact, she will lose her two besties. Of course, the power of friendship is expected for this trio and it proves to show their solid bond.
Blockers is actually a fun comedy that takes both sides of the spectrum from the viewpoints of both parents and teens in a wild and wacky misadventure with funny performances by Mann, Cena, and Barinholtz.
WFG RATING: B+
Universal Pictures presents a Good Universe production in association with DMG Entertainment, Point Grey Pictures and Hurwitz & Schlossberg Productions. Director: Kay Cannon. Producers: Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen, James Weaver, Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg, and Chris Fenton. Writers: Brian Kehoe and Jim Kehoe. Cinematography: Russ T. Alsobrook. Editing: Stacey Schroeder.
Cast: Leslie Mann, John Cena. Ike Barinholtz, Kathryn Newton, Geraldine Viswanathan, Gideon Adlon, Graham Phillips, Miles Robbins, Jimmy Bellinger, June Diana Raphael, Jake Picking, Hannibal Buress, Saraya Blue, Gary Cole, Gina Gershon.
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