[yasr_overall_rating]
Three parents try to stop their daughters from having sex on Prom night.
John Cena, like Dwayne Johnson before him, seems to be making the transition from the world of wrestling and bodybuilding into the world of filmmaking and is doing so with great ease. With every passing movie, he appears to be more comfortable in front of the camera and as of right now, while he may not be the world’s greatest thespian, he can most certainly hold his own with his celluloid co-stars, whether it be Robert Patrick in “The Marine,” Amy Schumer in “Trainwreck,” or Leslie Mann and Ike Barinholtz in “Blockers,” he has enough onscreen charisma and magnetism to go around.
In “Blockers,” he plays Mitchell, a loving husband to his wife Marcie (Sarayu Blue) and overprotective father to his teenage daughter Kayla (Geraldine Viswanathan). Leslie Mann plays Lisa, a single mother to her only daughter Julie (Kathryn Newton), and Ike Barinholtz plays Hunter, who is now divorced from his ex-wife but the proud father of his only daughter Sam (Gideon Adlon). The three teenage girls have been best friends since they were small and the three parents became friends on their kids’ very first day of school, all those years ago. With graduation fast approaching, the three teenagers make a pact to lose their virginity on prom night. On the day of the prom, Julie has her cell phone synced up with her laptop and just as she is leaving to meet Kayla and Sam, she forgets to close her laptop and her mother finds the text messages between her and her friends. With Mitchell and Hunter at the house to see all the girls off, Lisa informs them of the girls’ intentions and the trio head off after them, determined to stop them from their dastardly plan.
“Blockers” works because it gives you both sides of the story, from the teenagers’ perspective but also that of the parents. Typically in a movie of this ilk, it would lean towards one or the other but director Kay Cannon, the writer of the “Pitch Perfect” series, in her directorial debut, infuses the story with enough real-life situations and experiences, both humorous and dramatic, that we can all relate to them. As teenagers, we remember how our hormones kicked our asses and as adults, and parents, we know what it is like to want to protect our kids for the rest of their lives and the film successfully throws these two wildly divergent scenarios in each other’s faces. I have to give kudos to director Kay Cannon, usually in a movie about prom night and losing one’s virginity, the story normally centers on male teenage characters but making them all female, was a welcome approach. The teens are at that age where they are ready to experiment but the adults want to protect them instead, obviously forgetting that they were once that age too.
Naturally, throughout the course of the movie, both the adults and the teenagers experience moments of happiness, and embarrassment, thanks to each side but the situations, and the story overall, never feels forced, and for a narrative like this, that is vital to its success. Hunter is the only adult who is against the idea of trying to stop the teens from “ruining their lives,” as Mitchell and Lisa claim, he states that if they interfere, especially on prom night, their kids will never forgive them. He tells Mitchell and Lisa to just leave them alone and let them figure out their own lives but this is a comedy so he ends up being dragged into the situation against his will, and Ike Barinholtz as Hunter, steals the show. Estranged from his daughter since the divorce from her mother years earlier, he desperately wants to get back into her life but every time he tries, Sam informs him that he is an embarrassment so him not wanting to ruin the night, has multiple levels. The performances all around are believable and by the end of the show, while everything is pretty much wrapped up nice and neatly, it at least has the balls to address issues that many teens face today and handles them with great aplomb.
In theaters Friday, April 6th
