Blockers (2018)

Blockers is surprising.

I didn’t expect most of the things I got from this seemingly conventional comedy. It has a surprising amount of heart and great cast chemistry, though not between who you might think. This is a type of film that for me rarely rises above mediocre, but upon leaving the theater I was quite entertained.

The thing that sold me throughout Blockers was the three girls. They aren’t the central characters, but every scene they are in stole the show. I don’t know whether it was the writing or the acting, but either way these girls had incredible chemistry on screen that made me believe every word of dialogue they said. Kathryn Newton, Geraldine Viswanathan, and Gideon Adlon do so much to ensure that I only see their characters on screen, and for actresses this young and this new to the game, that is quite an impressive feat.

The rest of the cast is fine, but the lead adults can at times overstay their welcome. John Cena is the one that proves his worth the most, but Leslie Mann and Ike Barinholtz aren’t consistently funny. This might be a result of the writing and comedic situations getting more and more ridiculous as the film goes on, but one other thing I noticed often was how abrupt the editing was. Sometimes a quick cut after a sharp joke can work, but Blockers doesn’t seem to know when this is appropriate; more than a handful of times I was caught off-guard by these transitions which didn’t allow me to laugh at the joke as long as I wanted to.

What redeems some of the missed shots of comedy is the film’s surprising empathy and heart. Blockers subverts a lot of typical sex comedy expectations in its third act. Most of this comes through its parental characters; their perspectives end up changing a lot from the beginning of the film’s conflict and shows an amount of progressivism in their minds that impressed me – not because of the progressivism itself but because of how it makes the parents not appear stupid. That is something I have seen time and time again with teen-centered comedy in both film and television, and the fact that such a mainstream comedy as this can go against the grain in this way is quite significant. These parents are well-intentioned and generally sensible, if a little over-protective at times (which is not out of touch at all). Those traits lead the characters to the film’s finale in as unforced of a way as possible with a lot (and I mean a lot) of heart and emotion.

Blockers surprised me with its full-bodied characters and heartfelt moments. Even though some of its jokes aren’t framed properly and fall flat, its emotional core and cast chemistry makes it a surprisingly entertaining and fleshed-out comedy, especially for the teen sex comedy it is. It can’t quite transcend that mold, but I give it props for getting as close as it does.

My recommendation: If you’re into comedies, it wouldn’t be a bad one to see.

My grade: 71/100