Blockers (2018)

The 2018 release Blockers arrives with a premise that inverts the standard teen sex comedy: three parents, rather than three teens, spend prom night attempting to thwart a pact. Director Kay Cannon, making her debut, assembles a cast that reflects the demographics of a modern American high school without making a spectacle of it. Geraldine Viswanathan, Sarayu Blue, and Ramona Young appear alongside Hannibal Buress, and the film does not pause to congratulate itself for this. The ensemble simply exists, which is its own quiet statement.

The emotional core, however, belongs to Gideon Adlon's Sam, a closeted lesbian whose journey toward coming out to her father and friends provides the film with its most genuine moments. This thread earned the production a GLAAD Media Award nomination, and it is not difficult to see why: the screenplay treats Sam's self-discovery with a tenderness that the broader comedy might have undercut. Meanwhile, the film's feminist credentials are worn on its sleeve. A pointed speech from Marcie (Sarayu Blue) about the sexual double standards applied to girls and boys lands with the subtlety of a sledgehammer. The film repeatedly returns to themes of consent, trust, and the perils of parental surveillance. These are worthy messages, delivered with the earnestness of a guidance counselor.

What Blockers does not do is engage with race as a lived experience, critique capitalism, advocate for climate action, celebrate body positivity, explore neurodivergence, or revise history. Its social consciousness is narrowly focused on gender and sexuality, and it executes that focus with a certain mechanical efficiency. The result is a comedy that is often funny, occasionally preachy, and ultimately a product of its time. We have seen this film before, in various forms, and we will likely see it again. The classification proceeds.