Blockers: American Pie For The Feminist Era

Coming of age sex comedies have been around for several decades. It seems every generation has one. The 70s had Animal House, the 80s had Fast Times at Ridgemont High, the 90s had American Pie, the aughts had Superbad and now our youthful high school millennials have Blockers. The trend, until now, with "sex pact" movies and films whose plots center around high schoolers wanting to lose their virginites is that we've really only gotten the male point of view. When a high school male intends to lose his virginity, we root him on. We desire for him to go through his journey a boy and come out at the end a man. Hell, in American Pie when Jason Biggs' dad finds out about all of his sex fantasies, he has an awkward man-to-man talk with him about it, but never questions the reasons surrounding it. It's just understood-- he's a high school male who wants to have sex. That's normal. That's natural. That's understandable. Yet, there's this stigma still lingering, even in 2018, that it's okay for a boy to want to lose his virginity, even go off on a quest in order to lose it-- but if it's a girl... she's too innocent and delicate to even want to have those thoughts. She's a little flower who needs to be protected because she can't make decisions on her own and if she loses her V-card in high school, for the rest of her life she'll be perceived by others as damaged goods. Blockers takes this stigma and presents it as it really is-- a truly messed up double standard. It's done in a very clever way and for all teenage girls out there right now dealing with these archaic societal issues... this is the movie they need to see. Blockers is the coming of age sex comedy the twenty-teens deserves.

Julie, Kayla, and Sam have been best friends since elementary school. Julie's mother Lisa (Leslie Mann), Kayla's dad Mitchell (John Cena), and Hunter (Ike Barinholtz) have known each other just as long. On prom night, the three girls decide to make a sex pact in order to lose their virginities. Julie is "in love" with her boyfriend. Kayla just wants to get it out of the way, and Sam, who knows she's gay but hasn't been able to come out to anyone, doesn't want to be left out of the group. They're three different reasons to take "the plunge", yet all three are very relatable to nearly every teen dealing with hormones and feelings of their own. After leaving for prom, Lisa, Mitchell and Hunter discover their sex plans and set off to c**k block their daughters because they don't believe they're ready. Lisa, a single mother, doesn't want Julie accidentally falling for the wrong guy, making bad decisions and ending up in the same situation as she. Mitchell considers himself his daughter's hero and doesn't believe any guy is good enough for her. And Hunter, who's always known about his daughter's  "secret", doesn't want his daughter to make it with a dude and ruin the person she's eventually going to be.

Now... most of the movie is following the pratfalls and hi-jinks of the parents trying to put a stop to their daughters night, but as audience members we know their intentions are 100% wrong. What the writers of this film have done well is given us enough about each girl for us to realize, yes, they are naive teen girls (as ALL teenagers are), but they're also not dumb. Each one is strong enough to understand what they're doing and are smart enough to make the decisions they're making. The only ones who don't understand it are the parents. It's presented in a way that if this movie had been about their three sons... there wouldn't be a movie to begin with. Each parent, in their own way, admits that it's different for girls than for boys. The "consequences" of losing one's virginity for a boy isn't even comparable to that of a girl. And this is the fallacy that director Kay Cannon is exposing with Blockers. Most people have sex for the first time at a young and naive age. Most people don't wind up marrying the person they lose their virginity to and most people come away with it unscathed-- boys AND girls. And the stigma around girls losing their virginity needs to come to an end. Blockers is a good start for that.

As far as the movie goes, it's very well done, and pretty funny. It's certainly not laugh-out-loud, roll on the floor, choking on your own laughter funny, but there are some pretty great moments of comedy throughout. Leslie Mann and Ike Barinholtz are made for movies like this because they can play the neurotic parents, but also bring the laughs. The stand-out of the movie, however, is John Cena. I love the fact that ten years ago, Hollywood was trying to make this guy an action star. His hollow, wooden performances and overall bad acting (plus the fact that NO ONE saw his movies) kind of ended that attempt at movie stardom, but those in the Apatow/Fey-Poehler clan saw that this guy had a real knack for comedy. He's making a comeback in comedies playing against his type. He's a mammoth of a human being, but when he's playing at his most vulnerable, it's hilarious. His comedic roles in Trainwreck, Sisters, and now Blockers are doing for his career what 21 Jump Street did for Channing Tatum. Watching Cena as the sensitive father (who has the propensity to cry a lot) along with two other capable comedic actors, elevated the movie's comedy. And yes, the butt-chugging scene is even funnier than the trailers.

I'll be honest-- when I first saw the trailer for this film, I had no desire to see it. A lot of the great comedy in the film was left out of the trailer (thankfully), but its announcement of being from the writer of the Pitch Perfect franchise really made me disinterested. However, after hearing really good word of mouth, and seeing such a high score on rottentomatoes, I had to check it out for myself and I'm really glad it did. While I'm unfortunately a little too old and a little too male to be the intended audience for the film, this is a film I would show all teenage girls and close-minded parents. Even through all the scatological humor, there is a real feminist message shining through. Hollywood, you're on a roll the last few years... lets keep our comedies and our films in general trending in the right direction like Blockers.

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