Blockers

First Hit: There are some very funny scenes although at times they felt too staged.

Anyone that has been a parent to a teenager and any teenager, can and will appreciate, laugh, and smile at many of the setups and scenes in this film.

Lisa (Leslie Mann), Mitchell (John Cena), and Hunter (Ike Barinholtz) have daughters who meet up in grade school.  They are going to be lifelong friends.

Julie (Kathryn Newton) is Lisa’s daughter and doesn’t have a father. She and Lisa are very close and it is obvious that when Julie leaves for college, Lisa will be alone. Oddly we have no idea how Lisa financially survives so well. The only hint is that Julie is the product of a famous rocker.

Mitchell’s daughter is Kayla (Geraldine Viswanathan). Her mother Marcie (Sarayu Blue) is a strong feminist who runs the show in their house. However, Mitchell has a close relationship with his daughter and guided her to become physically strong and confident, like him. Sam (Gideon Adlon) is Hunter’s daughter. Her parents are divorced and Hunter has been less active in Sam’s life recently.

Together the three girls decide to lose their virginity on Prom night as a way to do something momentous together prior to leaving high school and going off to college. The parents learn about this plan and decide to stop the girls from making, what they think, will be the biggest mistake of their lives.

The film takes you on this journey of them trying to find their daughters, how they confront their daughter’s choice in men, and what they ultimately learn. Conversely the movie also shows how the daughters find what makes them strong fine human beings and their honesty with each other.

The upside is that there are numerous out-loud funny scenes and situations. The downside is that there are moments that seem overly set up. It is almost like they looked at the script and said, the next scene we’ll do this, then they did the scene. It felt blockish at times.

Mann is always interesting because she can be very funny in a very straight sort of way. She’s quirky, goofy, and funny. Cena was funny and his physical size and presence was put to good use in this film. That he wore his phone in a hip holster added to his goofiness. Barinholtz was good and his final scene with his daughter was wonderful. Newton was excellent as Mann’s daughter. Viswanathan was wonderful as a young girl ready to try anything while mindfully figuring out what is appropriate for her. Adlon was perfect as the young girl finally acknowledging her sexuality to herself, friends, and father. Ramona Young was very good as the young girl who entices Sam to come into her own. Blue is wonderful as the strong mother. Miles Robbins (as Connor, Kayla’s boy choice) was excellent. Graham Phillips (as Austin, Julie’s boy choice) was very good. Jimmy Bellinger (as Chad, Sam’s original choice) was hilarious. Brian Kehoe and Jim Kehoe wrote a good script, it just felt too set up at times. Kay Cannon directed. Her strength was making funny scenes funny but some scenes were too pre-setup.

Overall:  If you want to laugh at some silliness, this movie will provide the laughs.

Pitch Perfect 2

First Hit:  The upside was the music the downside was the comedy, which was sophomoric, staged, and unnecessary.

I’m not much for musical films but when done right as part of the plot it can be good. The singing here was very strong and some of the representations of current and older songs were fun to hear. Unfortunately the part of the plot that didn’t work was the staged comedy scenes.

Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson) rowing across the lake, Fat Amy hanging from the middle of the stage and her costume rips. Yes the screenwriters and director used this to push the plot in a particular direction but the women in the film are too old and too smart for this sort of plot.

The only actress that seemed to fit age wise for college was Emily (Hailee Steinfeld). Beca (Anna Kendrick) sang well but I couldn’t help but think she wasn’t really interested in the role. The silly scenes of her being pulled up into a tree on the retreat or her unintelligent comebacks to Chloe (competitor lead singer) weren’t in-line with her, the depth of her character or the film.

Kendrick is a very strong singer and it is unfortunate that the screenplay had her underplay her skills. Wilson is hard to watch. Her voice is mediocre compared to the rest of the cast (occasionally flat or sharp) and having her be the brunt of the humor because of her size is type casting and unfortunate. Steinfeld was good and seemed to be the only person who was age appropriate for the part. Kay Cannon and Mickey Rapkin wrote a very poor script and the story they created to put the Bella team into a situation where they had to sing well to get their reputation back, was lame. Director Elizabeth Banks didn’t make this film stand out but she wasn’t given much of a script to work with.

Overall:  This film probably didn’t need to be made and there better not be another.