Raunch-com with a fresh spin
It would be unfair to hold the eye-rollingly irritating Pitch Perfect series against writer Kay Cannon, who deftly steps behind the camera for her directorial debut, the teens-on-the-prowl comedy Blockers. Blockers is actually a more fitting companion piece to the recent Love, Simon than the teen sex comedies it’s being compared to (Losin’ It, Superbad) for its modern spin on an old story.
When the virginity-loss pact for prom night made between lifelong girlfriends Julie (Kathryn Newton), Kayla (Geraldine Viswanathan) and Sam (Gideon Adlon) is discovered by neurotic single mom Lisa (Leslie Mann), jock pop Mitchell (John Cena) and “cool” dad Hunter (Ike Barinholtz), the parents set out to sabotage the plan. Cue shenanigans but this time wrapped in a story that incorporates women’s agency, their views on sex (in direct opposition to those of their parents), and the gutting parental realization that it’s time to let go and trust they did their jobs right. Making the girls active participants in their emerging sexuality rather than objects to be conquered is a refreshing change of pace, and one that brings a level of nuance otherwise alien to the subgenre.
Which isn’t to say that there’s so much messaging Blockers forgets to be funny. This is a raunch-com, so there’s plenty of crudity alongside motherdaughter bonding. Kay Cannon and writers Brian and Jim Kehoe have wisely balanced gross with genuine wit. Gary Cole and Gina Gershon as a date’s parents are particularly riotous.
The old-fashioned, tragic romance Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool is the antithesis of Blockers in almost every sense of the word: classy where Blockers is crude; mature rather than juvenile and rooted in emotional gratification rather than visceral thrills. The fact that the emotional punch of Film Stars relies on the trope (long overdue for retirement) of two adults resolutely not having a 20-minute conversation that would resolve their issues (and alas, end the movie) is only one of the flaws that unfortunately plunge two excellent performances from Annette Bening and Jamie Bell so far into the shadows they nearly vanish.