Blockers - A Brilliant Teen Comedy For The Millennal Generation

Certificate – 15

Directed By – Kay Cannon

Starring – Kathryn Newton; John Cena; Leslie Mann; Geraldine Viswanathan; Ike Barinholtz; Gideon Adlon.

Running Time – 102 Minutes (1 Hour 42 Minutes)

★★★★✩

Late 80s/early 90s kids had American Pie, 90s kids had Superbad, now Kay Cannon has brought the teen sex comedy to the millennial generation in the form of Blockers.

When three parents, Mitchell (Cena), Lisa (Mann) & Hunter (Barinholtz), discover their daughters', Julie (Newton), Kayla (Viswanathan) & Sam (Adlon), pact to lose their virginity at prom, they launch a covert one-night operation to stop the teens from sealing the deal.

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To be honest, Blockers wasn’t a comedy, or film for the matter, that was on my radar but this isn’t only the most surprisingly laugh out funny comedy, it could also become the best comedy of 2018.

It beggars belief that despite the heights of American Pie, Superbad, Project X and Bridesmaids that it took until 2018 for us to get a teen sex comedy from the female point of view and Cannon has done a great job of making a basic and repeated idea feel fresh and brilliant.

A lot of the laughs come from John Cena, who is becoming a decent actor, has an overly protective and sensitive father with highlights include a chugging match and some adventurous parents (that’s all I say). However, it has come to the point I’ve seen enough of the WWE superstar’s incredibly muscular and tight bottom.

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Meanwhile, I saw a lot of my own mother in Leslie Mann’s Lisa and I’m not sure if that’s a good thing and Ike Barinholtz was able to be that up with kids dad that knows what emojis mean, but there’s a sadness there too.

The three young actresses were brilliant and had great chemistry together and all three will have great careers, especially Geraldine Viswanathan who was the standout as the tomboy Kayla.

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The most impressive thing about Brian and Jim Kehoe’s story is it made this genre feel fresh from the comedy aspect not using old-fashioned dick jokes and it has plenty of heart from a parents point of view seeing their children fully grown up and having to let them go and the girls owning their sexuality in a grown-up way.

This is a great start to Cannon’s directing career and we should hopefully see more stories from this talented director as Blockers is perfect for everyone but maybe adults and teens should see separately. Additionally, even though I don’t think there’s any need for a sequel, I wouldn’t say no if it means getting everyone back together.

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Verdict

Blockers is a brilliant teen comedy for millennials with star performances from Cena and Viswanathan. It brings a modern and heartfelt feel to this genre.