Blockers (2018)
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Blockers Movie Review
Blockers is a 2018 sex comedy film directed by Kay Cannon and starring Leslie Mann, John Cena and Ike Barinholtz. It’s a pretty solid, fun flick.
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“I’m tripping so hard.
I just had a vision my dad was chugging beer through his asshole“
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It is about three parents who set out to stop their daughters from losing their virginity on prom night. So it’s a tale as old as time and overall the film is pretty familiar in its story and characters. But what sets it apart is its very progressive view of adolescents’ sexualities and particularly female sexuality. It pinpoints the double standards when it comes to sex quite well, though admittedly too on-the-nose in certain scenes.
Leslie Mann is one of the acting highlights here. She delivered a very good performance and I particularly loved that scene where she witnesses the romantic setup to her daughter’s first sex. That was very well done and refreshingly different than your usual sex comedy scene.
Ike Barinholtz is also really good as Hunter. Though admittedly a bit too typical of a comedy dude at first, he eventually got some pretty solid development and ended up being fleshed out. His scene near the end with his daughter is wonderful.
John Cena is the weakest of the bunch. I found the ass chugging scene surprisingly ineffective in generating laughs and his performance is so-so. However, he’s still very good for an amateur actor and overall pretty likable, though the least developed of the three.
Speaking of less developed, I found the kids underutilized way too much which was a problem as they should be important. Kayla is particularly underdeveloped and Julie has her moments, but is overall forgettable. The highlight is of course Sam who’s an interesting lesbian character and her realization and coming out process are so sweetly realized here.
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Blockers overall is quite an entertaining little flick, but most definitely lacking in the comedy department. Its humor is solid at times, but far from great and I rarely laughed out loud which is the major problem when it comes to this genre. Sometimes the dialogue was also too forced and film-like, but still I liked how modern it is, I liked its characters and overall it’s a charming, endearing flick and a sex comedy that has much more to offer than just easy R-rated laughs.
Though Blockers should have been funnier and some of the characters are underutilized, it’s still a fun, charming comedy flick with particularly likable three main characters and solid performances. Although on-the-nose in its dialogue at times, the film is still refreshingly progressive when it comes to its stance on female sexuality.
