Interestingly, the film Blockers reminds me the most of is Caddyshack. Not because of its plot or setting, however, but because its characters types share similar positive and negative traits. The adults in Blockers are hilarious and highly entertaining to watch. John Cena is an absolute riot, Ike Barinholtz is hysterical, and even Leslie Mann—who I’ve regularly found unfunny and annoying in the past—is a surprising ton of fun. The three main adults share great chemistry together and—something unexpected that I always love to see in comedies—possess genuinely compassionate plights even when they’re in the wrong.
The teen leads, however, are irritating. Blockers progressive aims here are admirable—reconstructing the usual teen sex-comedy formula with three crude and raunchy females trying to get laid instead of males. The problem is the film pushes such reverse a bit too forcibly and doesn’t give the teens enough screen time to develop into compassionate characters like their parents. In its quest to break traditional gender roles, Blockers highlights the girls’s crude and raunchy side to obnoxious levels. The girls’s character arcs feel rushed and second fiddle to the adults, with their problems being wrapped up way too neatly.
Blockers succeeds in crafting three funny, likable adult leads, yet blunders its progressive attempts with its three annoying and unfunny teen leads. As with Caddyshack, however, Blockers adult pros outweigh its teen cons, making the film an entertainingly good time.
I Feel Pretty:
I Feel Pretty means well, but it’s stifled by a predictable, generic plot and really lackluster comedy. I chuckled around four to five times throughout its near two-hour run, and I mean chuckled—there was never a moment of outright laughter. The film is harmless and delivers a message about beauty everyone should follow (though its debatable whether the film actually follows its own message), but as both a comedy and story I Feel Pretty brings nothing new or refreshing to make its underwhelming gimmick effective.
