I usually want to body-slam myself out of the theatre half-way through a John Cena flick, but Blockers is a surprisingly good film that understands how to utilise the WWE superstar. Though John Cena (Mitchell) is a charismatic performer with a gift for comedy, the muscle-man is best taken like Panadol — in small doses. Here, he is cast in a supporting role as the father of high school teenager Kayla (Geraldine Viswanathan) who, alongside Julie Decker (Kathryn Newton) and Sam (Gideon Adlon), is the star of Blockers — a moving teen sex comedy for a new generation.

On the morning of their prom night, Kayla who happens to be half-Indian, Julie who is the only one of the trio in a serious relationship, and Sam who is coming to terms with her homosexuality, all make a pact to lose their virginity that evening spurred by Julie’s decision. Later, they meet at a pre-party hosted by Julie’s clingy mother Lisa Decker (Leslie Mann) at their house, where Sam’s trying-too-hard estranged father Hunter (played by the sometimes hilarious Ike Barinholtz of The Mindy Project fame) makes an appearance with the gift of a limo he can barely afford to rent. Here, the girls take off with their dates, but not before Mitchell gives Kayla’s stoner escort Connor (Miles Robbins) a stern talking to. Later, the three paranoids … err … parents are at Lisa’s home when she notices that the smart phone messages her daughter is exchanging with the two other girls in the limo are also showing up on the desktop.

When she shows the texts to the other parents, amusingly enough they initially fail to understand the sexual connotations of the eggplant emojis. When Mitchell and Julie figure out what the three young women are up to, they decide to stop them. The easygoing Hunter tries to reason with the two initially, but worries that his lesbian daughter will make a mistake to prove her heterosexuality, and joins them.

Blockers is smart film with a message that should enlighten its target audience

There are two or three side-splitting, laugh-out-loud scenes in Blockers. Without giving too much away, one involves John Cena’s butt, while the other involves Ike Barinholtz’s testicles. These and a few other gross moments come out of the blue in a film that’s rather woke and about female empowerment. 

Blockers understands the importance of parental guidance, and it also knows that ultimately young women should be in charge of decisions about their bodies. It also is aware of the double standards when it comes to the subject of sex. When Marcie (Sarayu Blue) realises that her husband is trying to get in the way of their daughter having sex, she delivers a powerful speech about how Mitchell and the rest of society would be more congratulatory if Kayla had been a boy.

While we are on the subject of Marcie, my biggest disappointment was that the Indian character didn’t have a larger role in the film, even though she is the wife and mother of two of the main characters. What’s more, Mitchell and Lisa seemed to have a friendlier relationship — to the point where I thought the duo were siblings — than Mitchell and Marcie. Another issue is that while the young girls are multi-layered and well-written, their boyfriends come across as paper thin. For instance, Sam used her plump date Chad (Jimmy Bellinger) as a stepping stone to understanding herself, which is fine, but it was mystifying that he wasn’t emotionally dented by this in the least.

These grievances aside, Blockers is smart film with a message that should enlighten its target audience. Certainly, the genre has come a long way from 1999 when the lead character tried to make love to a warm American apple pie. Now we come for the pie, but stay for the insight.

Rated R for crude and sexual content, and language throughout, drug content, teen partying and some graphic nudity

Published in Dawn, ICON, April 15th, 2018