BLU-RAY REVIEW:
Street 7/3/18;
Universal;
Comedy;
Box Office $59.84 million;
$29.98 DVD, $34.98 Blu-ray;
Rated ‘R’ for crude and sexual content, and language throughout, drug content, teen partying, and some graphic nudity.
Stars Leslie Mann, John Cena, Ike Barinholtz, Hannibal Buress, June Diane Raphael, Kathryn Newton, Geraldine Viswanathan, Gideon Adlon, Graham Phillips, Miles Robbins, Gary Cole, Gina Gershon, Colton Dunn.
Kay Cannon’s directorial debut Blockers puts a spin on the typical “teenagers trying to lose their virginity” plot by approaching it from the point of view of the parents. And in doing so, the film becomes a coming-of-age story for both sides, as the parents learn to accept that their kids are growing up amid the abundance of storylines involving the children coming to terms with their own identities.
The parents are played by Leslie Mann, John Cena and Ike Barinholtz, who discover what their daughters have planned for prom night through the magic of a randy text-message chain, an open laptop and the magic of iCloud beaming identical content to every portal signed into it. Mann plays a single mother who doesn’t want her daughter’s youthful indiscretions to mirror her own, while Cena is hilarious as the straight-laced dad who never wants to picture his little girl growing up. Barinholtz is more of a wild card, the divorced dad who argues not to get involved in their daughters’ sex lives but ends up going along with the other two more or less for the wacky adventure of it.
And that’s where the film gets to have it both ways, mining gags from both the typical teen plots and the desperation of the parents in chasing after them from one party to the next. The film isn’t afraid to get as raunchy as these types of films can get, but balances it out with moments that are actually kind of sweet. It isn’t shy about debating the morality of what the parents and kids are up to, either.
Thrown in the middle is Colton Dunn, the kids’ limo driver who gets some of the best throwaway lines in one of those minor roles that exists in the margins but provides a good opportunity for a performer to go to town with it.
The Blu-ray backs up the film with a number of funny supplements, starting with a few short deleted scenes running about two-and-a-half minutes total, a gag reel about the same length, and a “Line-O-Rama” of alternate takes running about seven-and-a-half minutes.
There are a couple of fun sketches that each run a little more than two minutes, with Barinholtz describing the history of sex in one, and Cena instructing viewers on how to create a “Prom Survival Kit” in the other (snacks are important).
The making of the film is covered in four topic-specific featurettes. The five-minute “Rescue Mission” covers the film in general, while the six-and-a-half-minute “Prom Night” focuses on how the filmmakers created the prom scenes as they reflect on their own prom experiences. The final featurettes are a bit more off-the-rails, with a three-minute glimpse at Cena’s infamous “butt chugging” scene, and a two-minute examination of creating the perfect fake puke for a projectile vomit scene.
Topping it off is a solo commentary from Cannon, who touches on the film’s key moments with some good behind-the-scenes insights, but leaves a lot of moments of silence as she’s just watching the film along with the rest of us. It’s enough to make you wish they were able to get more of the cast together for a commentary that could have potentially been a lot more fun.