There’s a lot of like about Blockers, the latest campus comedy about a tight trio of girls, Julie (Kathryn Newton), Kayla (Geraldine Viswanathan) and Sam (Gideon Adlon), dealing with usual teenage issues. And amongst these adolescent blues is the one thing that all American teenagers care a lot about- Prom Night. And for girls who are attached, the biggest dilemma is always if they should lose their virginity on this special night. And that’s the basis of Blockers, about three fast friends who want to have their cherries popped on Prom Night.
Except their plan is found out by their parents, who accidentally see the girls’ ongoing chat onscreen about losing their virginity. The three distressed parents, played by Leslie Mann , wrestler-turned-actor John Cena, and Ike Barinholtz, are determined to “block” their daughters from a raunchy night out, hence the title.
As expected, this leads to some hilarious circumstances and funny lines filled with sexual innuendos, like “Your ship is going into my harbour.” Blockers is comedy filled with light-hearted humour and while it’s not the first of its kind, it’s relatable to both parents and their kids. This also brings to mind four other raunchy campus comedies.
American Pie (1999)
This may be the most successful racy campus comedy of them all. Released almost 20 years ago, the movie focuses on four teenage boys hell-bent on losing their virginity before high school graduation, and there’s no better occasion than Prom Night. Doused with a generous amount of slapstick humour and a telegenic cast, American Pie sends us on a wild ride of teenage frolicking, awkward come-ons and disastrous attempts at practising the sexual act.
The movie isn’t named American Pie because of the Don McLean song, but rather based on one of the character’s (Jason Biggs) attempt at practising how to make love while using a pie as the object of his desire. That one scene became the most talked-about movie scene among teenagers of that period. The movie was so successful that it became a pop-culture fixture and spawned three sequels.
Superbad (2007)
Superbad brought us Jonah Hill, Emma Stone, and the endearing “McLovin” (Christopher Mintz-Plasse). Socially inept buddies Evan (Michael Cera) and Seth (Hill) are on a quest to be better acquainted with the fairer sex, but it’s not going very well for them so far.
They came up with the conclusion that throwing a booze-filled party will bring them one step closer to this long-standing mission and set out to do so. Naturally, things don’t quite go according to plan, including attracting the attention of the cops when their friend Fogel tried to buy alcohol with a fake I.D. using the name, McLovin.
On the surface, Superbad is a movie about boozing, partying and getting the girl, but at the end of it all, there’s a lesson to be learned here. And that is self-discovery, a lesson on friendship and the purity of teenage innocence.
The Inbetweeners (2011)
The Inbetweeners takes us across the pond to Great Britain. While the locale has shifted, the antics are the same. Four nerdy high school friends go on a party and alcohol filled vacation to Malia in this coming-of-age comedy that runs along the same vein as American Pie, but with English accents. Upon reaching their Mediterranean holiday destination, the quartet of friends can’t seem to catch a break to achieve the aim for this holiday- to get laid. And this puts them in one weird, disastrous and funny situation after another, drawing laughs and sympathy at the same time.
The Inbetweeners is based on a British sitcom surrounding a group of schoolboys and their stifled school life, friendship and that same problem facing American schoolboys- failed sexual encounters.
Project X (2012)
It’s quite clear by now that any successful teenage comedy revolves around a bunch of teenagers trying to get laid or popular with the other sex at a wild party involving booze. But almost always, they meet with one unfortunate incident after another. Project X follows this same theme, following three teenage boys and their mission to increase their popularity in school, by throwing a party when one of their parents are out of town. Produced by the same folks that brought us the Hangover series, you can imagine how this goes. As the party progresses, things turn awry, involving drug dealers and the police. But it’s the party of the year that you wouldn’t want to miss out on.
