I’m a bit skeptical about comedies these days, to be honest with you. Most of the time or half the time, the trailers make them look stupid. Half the time, they’re bad, and half the time, they surprise me.

Then “Blockers,” the directorial debut of Kay Cannon (the writer of the “Pitch Perfect” movies), got a lot of positive feedback from the SXSW Film Festival, and I was thinking: “Maybe it might be good.” But as I watched it, I admit it has some funny and tender moments, but I’ve seen better movies of its kind like “American Graffiti,” “American Pie,” or “Superbad.”

“Blockers” is filled with too many random words and jokes for it to be a classic. The story involves three parents (Leslie Mann, Ike Barinholtz, and John Cena) finding out that their daughters intend to lose their virginity on Prom Night, and according to the poster and trailers, you know what the title means.

Lisa (Mann) feels like she will die along, when her daughter Julie (Kathryn Newton) gets accepted to UCLA. Hunter (Barinholtz) is divorced, hates his wife’s (June Diane Raphael) friendly boyfriend (Hannibal Buress), and knows his daughter Sam (Gideon Adlon) is a Lesbian. And Mitchell (Cena) is more upset about his daughter Kayla (Geraldine Viswanathan) planning to go all the way than his wife (Sarayu Rao) is.

The tender moments involve the the parents and kids’ feelings towards the end; about growing up, and moving on with their lives. I also liked how Sam’s Lesbian side was nice and considerate, instead of insensitive jokes tainting it; and how the girls are nicer than most kids are portrayed these days. And the funny moments include Mitchell butt chugging and squirting beer in Hunter’s mouth with him gagging: “Ass beer!” That actually was pretty funny.

The rest of the film, however, has too many emotions from the otherwise adorable Leslie Mann, and too many random jokes. For example: did we really need a joke involving the main teens vomiting in a limo with the driver joining in? Probably not. At times, Mann, Barinholtz, and Cena work, but most times, they don’t do anything special or funny.

And back to the SXSW thing, I’m sorry I can’t go with the flow.

⭐️⭐️

Categories: comedy