When I first saw the trailer for Blockers, I had the assumption that it was just another silly teen movie, a story that we have all seen before about a bunch of youths wanting to get lucky during prom. In fact, the truth is I wasn’t even excited to see it. The film however follows more the antics of the pedantic parents that are trying to stop their children from having sex. The parents being the ones ‘out of control’ is a refreshing take on an otherwise tired premise.
The film stars John Cena, Leslie Mann and Ike Barinholtz as parents of three teenage girls who decide to make a ‘sex pact’ to lose their virginity on prom night. John Cena plays Mitchell, the strong but soft and emotional father of Geraldine Viswanathan’s character Kayla. Kayla is much like her father, tough on the outside but sweet on the inside. Mitchell feels very protective of his daughter and decides to join Lisa on her quest to stop the sex pact.
Leslie Mann plays Lisa, a mother who is lovingly very close with her daughter Julie played by Katheryn Newton. Lisa and Julie do everything together and are practically best friends. As Julie’s life is edging closer to college, Lisa fears her daughter leaving her and feels that she needs to stop her daughter from making any more wrong decisions.
Ike Barinholtz plays Hunter, the father of Gideon Adlon’s character Sam. Hunter had distanced himself from his ex-wife and daughter Sam ever since the divorce and is trying to win his way back into his daughter’s life and heart. Hunter is seen as the crazy and wacky irresponsible father out of the three parents but is surprisingly the voice of reason when Mitchell and Lisa decide to chase their children out of their ‘sex mission’.
Although each member of the cast is solid and consistent in their roles with Leslie Mann being the queen of comedy and John Cena‘s portrayal of Mitchell having me in stitches, I was most impressed with Ike Barinholtz‘s portrayal of Hunter. I’m used to seeing him in comedy roles, but it was nice to see him pull back to a more serious tone, showing off his versatility and talents. I’m sure this is just the tip of the iceberg and Barinholtz has more to offer, so I’m going to keep my eyes peeled for any future movies of his.
While there are some scenes that are fun, ridiculous and may make you cringe, all the humour in Blockers flows naturally together with the detailed storyline. There is ‘cheese’, but not too much to make the film cheesy. Many comedies fish for cheap laughs with very little depth and context, but what I love about Blockers is that it not only has the depth I’ve always desired from modern comedies, but it has morals and heart. Blockers is surprisingly impressive and hilariously endearing. I had thought that this was just another silly teen comedy, but I was wrong. Blockers is in fact one of the best comedies that I have seen this year. I loved it and I can’t wait to go again and bring my mum with me.
A few cringy scenes…Agree on Ikes comment, did love Leslie Mann in it aswell and would love to see her in a non comedy role too.