Blockers- Review

There aren't many reviews of this film currently posted yet as this film hasn't officially been released yet. That's what makes the beauty of advanced preview screenings so exciting. Australia will also be the first country to see this film in cinemas too.

In hilarious fashion, Blockers leaves nothing to the imagination and strips down to one racy idea concocted between three teenaged girls and how their dream night will unfold.

This film managed to do a lot with what appeared as such a generic concept. A lot of teen comedy characters can come across as basic, dry or with little to no character journey, but you can see how hard they've tried in terms of using what they have and by the end of the film it is clear that all that work has paid off. I know that a lot of people will probably be disheartened by the casting of John Cena but let's face it, the man acted in WWE and everyone found that hyper-realistic so what's stopping him here? He played the role of Mitchell, the father of Kayla. Despite being an intimidating and brawny looking man, he manages to shift the stereotype fitting to his appearance and instead comes forth as more gentle natured and emotional. I actually liked his role very much in this film. Countless times I laughed and in one particular scene, he had me in pieces to the point of tears with no air left to make a single sound.

Leslie Mann as Lisa, Julie's mother allowed for some comedic elements but I found her to be more effective in scenes that required a seriousness. She wasn't anything particularly special but she did embody herself as that mother who believes she has a telepathic or invisible cord tying her to her daughter.

Ike Barenholtz as Hunter, the father of Sam was another hilarious role but like the ending point of every character within this film, proved to have a moral to his story and seriousness underneath his over-friendly and 'hip' attitude. I think balance is what made his role so important. With strong personalities like Mitchell and Lisa, he appears to be pushed out a lot and ignored. However, this film makes perfect use of this and actually acknowledges that he will be ignored and isolated.

I didn't find anything particularly out of this world with the daughters: Kayla (Geraldine Viswanathan), Julie (Kathryn Newton) or Sam (Gideon Adlon) but they were all very important in mirroring their parents under different circumstances. The general idea of this film would seemingly be all about them, but instead seemed to draw more attention to their parents and shape their lives. I thought that was pretty creative and should definitely allow for a larger adult audience.

I didn't at all have high expectations for this film. Like anyone else that I spoke to, I believed it would be another teen film like the ones being pumped out effortlessly or a trashy comedy at best, but it really proved to be something else. They made excellent use of comedic elements and provided a lot of laughs (and I mean a LOT considering that the entire audience roared).

Blockers is a brilliant comedy film that creatively uses a generic idea and turns it into a story filled with themes of friendship, love and acceptance and explores parenthood under hilarious detail.

Score: 9/10.