Blockers (2018)

Prom night is here, and a group of friends make a sex pact to have sex with their dates on that night. Parents Lisa (Leslie Mann), Mitchell (John Cena), and Hunter (Ike Barinholtz) learn of this pact and come up with a plan to try and stop it.

Director: Kay Cannon

Cast: Leslie Mann, John Cena, Ike Barinholtz, Kathryn Newton, Geraldine Viswanathan, Gideon Adlon

MPAA Rating: R for crude and sexual content, and language throughout, drug content, teen partying, and some graphic nudity

Fun Fact: The original script was known as Cherries and featured three fathers in the leads. One was changed to be a mother which was Leslie Mann’s character.

Blockers was a film that had sparked my interest after seeing the trailer before a film I saw with my wife. I can’t remember which film we were seeing but, I remember telling her that I was interested in seeing Blockers when it was going to come out. Well I had forgotten about it and waited till it came out on the home market and checked it out the other night.

To say Blockers is an original film would be a lie but, it has some original elements to it. Yes, American Pie and Superbad both had the teenage sex comedy to it but, Blockers focuses on the parents more than the teens. It’s the parents that are the focus in the script and to me it’s something that this certain genre needed. You could always put the focus on the teens as the lead characters but, it would just become a boring rehash of other movies that we’ve seen before.

The parents all have a great chemistry to them. They all have a certain trait to them: its hard for them to accept that their children are growing up. It’s a relatable message to some people if you think about it. You also see different types of people, a mother that doesn’t want her daughter to move far away, a father that’s protective, and a father that really isn’t around much. While it’s a comedy film, someone can also take a step back and view the characters as everyday people and seeing the changes that they make. You also see the teenage friends make a decision that will alter their lives. The character Sam has depth to her as she has feelings for someone but, is scared to explain it which many people have gone through. Either being a parent or a teen, at some point in your life you may have something like the characters had happen to you.

When speaking of chemistry, it really shines when Leslie Mann and John Cena are on screen together. They play off each other so well that I enjoyed seeing them on screen together. Leslie Mann delivers funny lines well and John Cena has started to come on his own of being a comedic actor. I’m a wrestling fan and it was great to see him in another role on screen and having fun with it. You could tell the filmmakers wanted to really focus on Cena, as his character had lots of screen time and major moments. While the WWE tried to make him the next big action star, his strong suit is in productions like this one. I’m looking forward to seeing more works with him in it. Ike Barinholtz delivers another solid performance that I’ve seen him in. I liked him in Snatched and I thought he was even better in Blockers. He had some great lines and you wanted to see his character to change the most, not to spoil anything. The three actresses that played the girls in the pact had all great chemistry as well. It felt like you were watching your group of friends together.

Overall, Blockers is a solid film. What makes the film work like is done is because of a perfect blend of comedy and realism. It focuses on the realism of the situation that has comedy peppered in that works. For something like this film, you can’t just have a straight comedy film. You need something o bring in a dramatic element for a story. I’m starting to really like these types of comedies and thanks to Blockers I want to see more.

Verdict: Hit