Blockers Blu-ray Review

‘Blockers’ Blu-ray Review: When Parental Discretion Goes Awry

July 16, 2018Ben MK



FEATURE: 
Raunchy teen sex comedies are a dime a dozen in Hollywood, but for some reason, it seems no one has ever thought to make a movie about what the parents of said adolescents would do if they learned of their kids' planned sexual escapades. Until now.

Mitchell (a scene-stealing John Cena), Lisa (Leslie Mann) and Hunter (Ike Barinholtz) are the proud parents of Kayla (Geraldine Viswanathan), Julie (Kathryn Newton) and Sam (Gideon Adlon), who became friends when their daughters hit it off with one another on the first day of school. But fast forward 13 years, and the trio aren't quite as chummy, with single mom Lisa ignoring cry-a-holic Mitchell's phone calls because his happy family reminds her of how she'll die alone, while they both ignore Hunter, who's become the black sheep of the neighborhood ever since he and his wife divorced after he cheated on her.

Meanwhile, Julie plans on attending UCLA in the Fall, despite her mom's insistence that she enroll somewhere close to home like the University of Chicago; Kayla is a star soccer player and the apple of her dad's eye, despite growing up faster than he would prefer; and Sam is introverted and conflicted about her sexuality, despite the longing looks she's constantly directing at fellow classmate Angelica (Ramona Young). Suffice to say, the three BFFs are like three peas in a pod, and so when Julie decides that prom night would be the ideal time for her to lose her virginity, both Kayla and Sam declare they want in as well.

In what follows, director Kay Cannon and screenwriters Brian and Jim Kehoe deliver no shortage of gut-busting moments, but the end result is a story about both growing up and letting go that everyone can identify with. And while Blockers doesn't offer any particularly meaningful insight into either topic, it's far more than 90-something minutes of cheap, dumbed down laughs. On the contrary, this wry, sometimes vulgar, but always self-aware comedy has something smart to say about sex, parenthood and even the genre itself.

AUDIO & VISUALS: 
Blockers arrives on Blu-ray with a 1080p transfer that won't necessarily wow viewers, but it certainly gets the job done. The film's color palette is vibrant and varied, and that's reflected in the excellent color saturation of this release, which also boasts excellent detail in faces, costumes and environments throughout. Likewise, the movie's sound design equates to what you might expect from your typical R-rated teen comedy, which translates primarily to an abundance of dialogue and music from the likes of Lizzo, Icona Pop and Hailee Steinfeld, all of which are handled with ease by the disc's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 sound mix.

EXTRAS: 
Universal's two-disc combo pack includes a DVD copy of the film, an iTunes/UltraViolet digital copy and the following Blu-ray extras:

  • Deleted Scenes (2:34) - Three scenes ("See Ya Later, Suckers," "Olds Blocking the Beam" and "Rudy 'The Main Man' Glover").
  • Gag Reel (2:39)
  • Line-O-Rama (7:26) - The cast show off their improv skills.
  • Rescue Mission (5:14) - A look at John Cena's, Leslie Mann's and Ike Barinholtz's characters, the gags and the stunts.
  • Prom Night (6:37) - A behind-the-scenes look at the movie's depiction of prom night, from the costume design to the cast's prom night stories.
  • The History of Sex with Ike Barinholtz (2:06) - Barinholtz sits down to share a brief and humorous history of sex with viewers.
  • John Cena’s Prom Survival Kit for Parents (2:35) - Cena presents his list of items key to parents' survival on prom night, from snacks and water to a taser.
  • Chug! Chug! Chug! (3:20) - A behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film's butt-chugging scene.
  • Puke-A-Palooza (2:02) - A behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film's limo vomit scene.
  • Feature Commentary with Director Kay Cannon - In this rather low-key commentary, Cannon talks about the actors' performances, the production design, the jokes, fun facts about the making of various scenes, and more.

Blockers is available from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment as of July 3rd, 2018. The Blu-ray features English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Spanish and French DTS 5.1, and English Dolby Digital 2.0 Descriptive Audio tracks. The film is presented with English SDH, Spanish and French subtitles. The total runtime is 1 hr. 42 min.




* Reviewer's note: Portions of this Blu-ray review were adapted from my original review of the theatrical release, published on April 6th, 2018.



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