Blockers Blu Ray Review (Universal)
Blockers is a 2018 sex comedy film directed by Kay Cannon (Producer from 30 Rock, New Girl, Girlboss, & Baby Mama). This was the directorial debut for Cannon. It was produced by Seth Rogen (Superbad, Knocked up, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, & Pineapple Express) & Evan Goldberg (Preacher, The Disaster Artist, Funny People, & This is the End). The original script was titled “Cherries” then after that it was called “The Pact” & it featured three fathers as the leads. The budget was $21 million & it was a success making $93 million worldwide at the box office during it’s theatrical run.
Single mother Lisa (played by: Leslie Mann from Knocked up, This is 40, The Cable Guy, & Big Daddy) drops off her daughter for her first day of kindergarten. She watches her meet two other girls from her class. She starts talking to the fathers of Julia’s new friends Mitchell (played by: John Cena from WWE, Daddy’s Home 1/2, Trainwreck, & The Wall) & Hunter (played by: Ike Barinholtz from Suicide Squad, Eastbound & Down, Neighbors 1/2, & The Mindy Project) there. They form a bond together because their children become close. 12 years later, the parents have kinda drifted away from each other. Lisa is beyond focused on her daughter Julie’s (played by: Kathryn Newton from Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Lady Bird, & Bad Teacher) life & she’s starting to push her away. Mitchell has a new baby with his wife Marcie (played by: Sarayu Blue from No Tomorrow & Monday Mornings) & he has helped Kayla (played by: Geraldine Viswanathan from The Package & Janet King) become the girl that she is today. Hunter is disgraced from all of them because of his cheating. His ex wife Brenda (played by: June Diane Raphael from The Disaster Artist, Zodiac, Unfinished Business, & Forgetting Sarah Marshall) is now with Frank (played by: Hannibal Buress from Tag, The Nice Guys, Neighbors 1/2, & Spider-Man: Homecoming). He is a more of a father to Sam (played by: Gideon Adlon from Mustang) than he is. After a laptop is left on, they discover that their girls all have a pact & a plan to lose their virginity at their prom later on that night. They don’t want Austin (played by: Graham Phillips from Evan Almighty & The Good Wife), Connor (played by: Miles Robbins from Halloween, My Friend Dahmer, & The X-Files), & Chad (played by: Jimmy Bellinger from The Middle & Shameless) near their daughters precious flowers. Hunter tries to stop the other two from “cock blocking” their kids but ends up convinced to help them stop these events from happening. This ends up being one of the craziest nights in their entire lives going from place to place to try to track them down. They end up running into wild characters like dedicated chauffeur Rusty (played by: Colton Dunn from Hatchet 2 & Superstore) plus Austin’s sex crazed parents Ron (played by: Gary Cole from Office Space, American Gothic, A Simple Plan, & Talladega Nights) & Cathy (played by: Gina Gershon from Bound, Showgirls, Face/Off, & Cocktail) trying to change either the biggest mistake or the greatest night in their children’s existence. Can they survive all this chaos for the ones they love? or Will it be too late????
I am very fond of the sex comedy sub genre & I always appreciate when mainstream films have the guts to go for a hard R rather than a watered down PG-13 rating. It’s starting to be become a rare thing these days so it’s refreshing to see when it actually happens. The screenplay is well written, it’s hilarious & it’s full of references that make me grin when the lines are delivered. Not a big surprise considering who’s involved in this project but Blockers was basically the female version of 2007’s Superbad. I am okay with that because that was one of the best comedies in recent years. The casting on this was pretty damn good & the performances were all way better than expected. When I say that I am mainly talking about the kids in this plus one more person. The veterans in this like Leslie Mann, Gary Cole, & Gina Gershon elevate their surroundings with their experience & talents. Somewhat newcomers Ike Barinholtz & Hannibal Buress keep getting better in everything I seen them in also. John Cena doesn’t really have the acting chops when it comes to something real serious but his comedic timing is very impressive. He was probably my favorite character in this & he had so many laugh out loud moments. That dude is hilarious in every comedy that I’ve seen him in. I have to give him major credit for that because you honestly wouldn’t expect that from him especially after seeing all his action films. I didn’t know what to expect going into this but I left it being very entertained & knowing it has major replay value later on for other viewings. It’s one of those films that makes you forget your personal problems & stress for awhile. You just enjoy it & get away from reality.
Let’s talk about the high definition presentation. The 1080p (2.39:1) transfer looks great from Universal! All the colors & locations really pop out on this. As you would expect from this sub genre, it’s a pretty straight forward look & doesn’t try to use any stylish visuals or gimmicks to draw you in. It includes various audio options like English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Spanish DTS 5.1 , & French: DTS 5.1 on this disc. One thing you can usually expect from a major studio like Universal is the quality on their finished products. The sound on here doesn’t disappoint at all & it sounds awesome in my home system. There’s a few moments from the film that has a real nice boost to them when the action hits! The party scenes are amped up also. It includes English SDH, French, & Spanish subtitles.
Let’s discuss the special features on this Universal release. You get an Audio Commentary with Director Kay Cannon. This is pure speculation because I don’t know her entire history or anything like that but it kinda sounds like this could have been her first commentary track. She isn’t as prepared as others & it has a decent amount of silence during it. She talks about the music that she picked for this production. She chats about the cast & some of their backgrounds. She mentions the sex comedy sub genre & has this one has a little more to it. She goes into the production of this & gives you information about Blockers. She does go into detail about what was cut from this & how certain scenes were extended more originally more. I think a moderator would have made this a smoother process & the overall track would have been paced better compared to how it turned out because honestly it was a little slow at times. “Deleted Scenes” features 3 scenes that were cut from the film & it runs almost 3 minutes. “Gag Reel” is almost 3 minutes. It features a few moments & you can tell everyone was having fun doing this. “Line-O-Rama” is a little over 7 minutes. It gives you lots of alternate takes of familiar scenes in Blockers. It’s hilarious to see some of the differences in these performances. “Rescue Mission” is 5 minutes & it covers the main cast for this production. It shows some behind the scenes footage. It interviews various cast & crew members about their experience on this.
“Prom Night” is a little over 6 minutes & it goes over the sex pact at prom. It also focuses on the girl’s targets for the night. It covers the prom & the atmosphere of it. It interviews various cast & crew but it mainly focuses on the younger cast members for this extra. “The History of Sex with Ike Barinholtz” is 2 minutes & it’s pretty much exactly what the title says. “John Cena’s Prom Survival Kit for Parents” is little over 2 minutes & the actor has some fun with some items that are required to help with a night like this. “Chug! Chug! Chug!” is a little over 3 minutes & gives you a closer look into one of the funniest scenes from the film. “Puke-A-Palooza” is 2 minutes & it goes into the visuals of the hilarious reaction from the feature. It also comes with a DVD copy, a digital code, & a slipcover. Recommended for sex comedy, rated R comedy, John Cena, Leslie Mann, & Ike Barinholtz fans. If you want to have a good time & forget about life for a little bit, check this out! It’s available this Tuesday everywhere.
