Blockers (dir. Kay Cannon)

If you've seen the trailer to Kay Cannon's bawdy sex-comedy "Blockers", you'll doubtless notice an illustration of a hen plonked strangely above the title, which subtly reveals the real title of this R-rated sub-American pie comedy, "Cock Blockers".

Given this juvenile starting point, you may think that there's more of the same crude humor and rampant misogyny on display that have been the staple of American young-adult sex comedies of late (Superbad, The Girl Next Door, Neighbors etc).

Thankfully for all involved, it's the contrary. Despite it's horrible title, this sporadically hilarious comedy -which pits itself somewhere between a randy sex-ploitation farce and a somewhat clichéd coming-of-age tale - has it's heart in the right place, and a progressive ideology about parenting in 21st century western-society which is cheerful and oddly charming.

For one, there's much more going on in "Blockers" than meets the eye: If you're like me, and have become disillusioned with the indignity of the representation of teenage boys in movies of recent memory, seemingly spending their days smoking illegal substances and perusing the web for degrading images of the opposite sex. You'll be assured to know that the greatest attribute to Kay Cannon's comedy - which was written by newcomers Brian Kehoe and Jim Kehoe - is that it has far from juvenile and retrograde attitudes towards its younger characters than have become the norm.

For instance, not all boys are sexually-obsessed nerds adorned with pimples, keen to take advantage of their female counterparts. And our female heroines are not all fairy princesses who need to be wrapped in cotton wool and constantly protected. In fact, our characters are representative of the state of this well pitched teen comedy: they are grown up, and thankfully for the genre - so is "Blockers". Even if some of the comedic set-pieces feel the need to wallow in the commonly seen toilet-humor which has made this genre famous, it's only momentary and unlike some other entries, it isn't what the film revels in.

The set-up - which is far from original - introduces us to best friends: Julie (Kathryn Newton), Kayla (Geraldine Viswanathan) and Sam (Gideon Adlon) - who are seen in an early scene hitting it off the minute they are ushered to their first moments of kindergarten. Waving them off are there positively beaming parents: Julie's Mom, Lisa (Leslie Mann), Sam's Dad, Hunter (Ike Barinholtz) and Kayla's Dad, Mitchell (John Cena). By way of proxy, our grown-up guardians become best of friends as well, as a result of their daughters becoming so close with each other. Skip forward a few decades, and there's more to celebrate: it's prom night, but there's a twist: the parents think it's a time to celebrate their children's precipice toward adulthood, whilst their daughter's have made a sex pact to loose their virginities - Julie to her long-term boyfriend Austin (Graham Phillips), Kayla to her school-girl crush, Conor (Miles Robbins) and Sam to theater-dweeb Chad (Jimmy Bellinger).

All seems to be going according to plan for our young experimenters. Even though their assorted parents are exhibiting strange and peculiar behavior - ranging from Lisa's borderline obsessive neediness to Hunter's dysfunctional recent divorcé shtick, and Mitchell's overbearingness with spontaneous fits of sobbing - it's all merely background noise for the ensuing fun. But alas - when Julie accidentally leaves her MacBook open, her mother slyly peruses their group messages with the help of Mitchell and Hunter. Amongst the emoji content, and the championing of underage drinking, they divulge their intentions to break their cherries - much to the chagrin of their parents- who believe they are being duped by their testosterone fueled male co-horts.

Under Lisa's guise, they follow their offspring with the idea of intercepting them before they do anything they might regret, therefore earning the title, "Cock Blocker's". Admittedly, the underlying message of Canon's caper is the proviso that the parents are as immature as their daughters, and on their nightly adventure our parents get up to all types of hijinks along the way. First, they manage to mess up the party at the school promenade, before heading to a frat house party in order to seek information, which turns into an embarrassingly long anal-chugging scene that flirts dangerously close to the lambasting madness of the sort of comedy it hopes to avoid.

Yet amongst the mania, there are deeper threads to be explored: Julie finds an acceptance letter addressed to her daughter from UCLA, even though they agreed she would attend a nearby college, and is unable to process what's best for her future. Mitchell is unhappy with Lisa's mistreatment of him and their disintegrating relationship, and Hunter has been semi-ostracized from the group after a disgraced dalliance with his baby-sitter, which he believes has been misconstrued. All of these sub-plots on paper would appear to be incredibly saccharine and mawkish, yet it's the direction of first-time director Kay Cannon - who made her fame writing the script for Pitch Perfect - ability to conjure up delicate portrayals of the trials and tribulations of 21st century parenting, along with well-timed gags on the ignorance of their millennial brood, that are assuredly dynamic.

Similarly, when the drama flickers back to our teenyboppers, there's equally empathetic exchanges. Not all of our central trio are indeed attracted to their prom dates or are even ready to go the whole way with them. Additionally, a delightfully well-judged sub-plot surrounding same-sex attraction is wonderfully engaging and further proves Hollywood's affinity for treating romantic homosexual sub-plots as a standard teen-comedy trope.

Most of the comedy comes from the sardonic dialogue, many of the films best lines coming from the self-deprecating humor of John Cena's "wouldn't-hurt-a-fly" routine that he does so brilliantly. Equally, the psychical humor is just as memorable - as the parents adventures take them to the house of Julie's boyfriend, they are met with by his parent's in the midst of a tantric sexual congress - which results in a hilarious climax scene and a repeated gag involving blindfolded sex-games with all manor of nudity on screen, which needs to be seen to believed.

But it's the sexual politics of Canon's drama which makes it a real winner. Telling a subject about teenagers loosing their virginities is almost as well-worn as a soon-to-be retired cop taking one last case, yet our talented filmmaking team are only interested in using this comedic trope as a vehicle for the real story on screen: a progressive coming-of-age tale with girls that are as foul-mouthed as their opposite sex and parents that are unable to deal with their children growing up.

Even if there are moments when you are reminded that the narrative is basically just a collection of small vignettes masquerading as a linear storyline, "Blockers" is much better than it ever had the right to be, and if this type of film needed was a woman's touch to make it as watchable as it can be, then in director's like Kay Cannon - we are in the right hands. Best Prom Ever!

Rating 3/5