‘Blockers’ review — A surprisingly progressive teen sex comedy

Blockers is an uneven, but hilarious, profound, and progressive take on the American sex comedy

The teen sex comedy has been a staple in American cinema for decades with massive hits like American Pie and The 40-Year-Old Virgin anchoring the contemporary era. However, these raunchy gross-out comedies have been due for a refresh for some time. Especially now as Hollywood is being held more accountable for the way it portrays marginalized groups that are usually forced into stereotypes in this kind of movie. That's what makes Blockers such an interesting movie. The movie, which is the Pitch Perfect screenwriter Kay Cannon's directorial debut, explores progressive themes despite its raunchy sex comedy exterior.

The plot itself doesn't sound very innovative. Three friends, Julie (Kathryn Newton), Kayla (Geraldine Viswanathan), and Sam (Gideon Adlon, a standout), are looking forward to their senior prom and specifically the night following it. They create a pact that all of them will lose their virginity, a pact that their parents discover hilariously by decoding the girls' emoji messages to each other. However, each of the girls is losing their virginities for a different reason. Julie plans to lose her virginity to her boyfriend Austin (Graham Phillips). Kayle plans on losing it to her date and lab partner Connor (Miles Robbins), even though she doesn't know him well. Sam is questioning her sexuality and thinks she may be a lesbian, however, she joins the pact to feel closer to her friends and to help her truly realize whether she is gay or not.

That is one half of the story. The other half lies with their parents. Lisa (Leslie Mann), Julie's mother, feels connected to her daughter and often refers to her as her best friend. Though it's only hinted at, we can deduce that Lisa had Julie at a young age and raised her as a single mother, which explains her attachment to her. Mitchell (a fantastic and perfectly dressed as a dad John Cena), Kayla's dad, championed her as an athlete and is overly protective of her. While Sam has a good relationship with her mother Brenda (June Diane Raphael) and stepfather Frank (Hannibal Buress), it's her estranged father Hunter (Ike Barinholtz) that joins Lisa and Mitchell on their adventure to chase down their daughters and stop them from following through with the pact.

What elevates Blockers past most teen sex comedies is that it's clear that Cannon specifically was empathetic to both sides of the narrative: the parents and the kids. On the kid's side, the movie explores both the incredible invincibility and confusion of being a teen. All three girls are so sure and unsure of their actions as they bounce from party to party before ending up at a hotel where their pact will potentially be fulfilled.

On the parents' side, Lisa is desperately trying to keep her relationship to Julie alive as she considers what college to attend in the fall. Mitchell's overprotective nature turns into mistrust of anyone around Kayla. And Hunter tries to salvage what small relationship he has with Sam.

And while all this deep emotional exploration is great, it doesn't mean that Blockers doesn't have fun. If anything, part of the issue is that it veers too far into raunchy teen comedy in some scenes. Mainly, there's a chain reaction of throw up in a limo, an awkward walk in on a sexual encounter (not involving the teens), and, of course, butt chugging. However, there are also moments where the comedy is smarter. The scene where the parents try to decode the emoji messages is so smart and perfectly timed and a scene where they fight over control of a car is physical comedy at its best. The balance with the emotional elements of the story is sometimes off, but it's never dull.

Progressive is not often a term you can apply to a movie produced by Seth Rogen and written by four men, however, Blockers is pointedly progressive. In one scene, Kayla's mom Marcie (Sarayu Blue)—Kayla is mixed, which is refreshingly not a main plot point—chastises the other parents for not allowing their daughters to explore their sexualities in a safe way. She touches on feminism and sex positivity without being preachy. And even racist, homophobic, and misogynistic humor that often laces similar movies are pointed out and dismantled hilariously.

Blockers is a huge step in the right direction for studio broad comedy the same way that Game Night was earlier in the year. There are some issues like the pacing and the way that the emotional elements work in and sometimes the jokes don't always land, but the good parts are really good. In particular, Barinholtz has a couple monologues that catch you off guard considering his character's deadbeat dad stereotype feels so on the nose. However, his storyline is more profound than that. The ending is also near-perfect and brings closure to every character in one way or another. If anything, the best thing that Blockers does is that it proves that being funny and being progressive and being profound aren't mutually exclusive things. They can live together. Even if it doesn't get it perfectly right, it comes close.

★★★½ out of five

Blockers is available on Blu-ray and Digital HD on Amazon ➤