Blockers (2018)

I saw the trailer to Blockers months ago which is the reason why I wasn't anything good from it. Actually, I was expecting it to be pretty damn bad which is why I wasn't planning on watching it. Unfortunately for my brain, I read some positive reviews and I watched it. 

Lisa (Leslie Mann), Hunter (Ike Barinholtz) and Mitchell (John Cena) are connected with each other because their teenage daughters, Julie (Kathryn Newton), Sam (Gideon Aldon) and Kayla (Geraldine Viswanathan), are friends since they were little. While snooping in Julie's room, they stumble upon their daughters' pact to lose their virginity on prom night so they make their mission to stop them from sealing the deal. 

There's all you need to know about the plot as the film barely has a plot. And it's very clichéd too. The weird and great thing about it is that it is not as shallow as one would think after watching the trailer. There's some sort of coming-of-age plot going on with the adult characters as they realise that teens, their daughters included, need to make their own decision when it comes to sex, and it is quite charming. 

The story also emphasizes how our society, people in general but especially parents, views losing virginity in a completely different way when it comes to girls. If a teen guy does it, it is something to be celebrated; if a teen girl does it, it is some horrific thing that destroyed her innocence forever. Unfortunately, this theme isn't as explored as it should have as it is mentioned only by a couple while arguing. 

The characters are one-dimensional stereotypes, especially the adults, and yet they manage to be quite likeable, with the younger characters being the most interesting of the bunch. The performances, on the other hand, are just decent. 

Universal Pictures

While the film is quite sweet and heartwarming, it is a bit disappointing when it comes to comedy. Though it's not as raunchy as I thought it'd be, and some of the jokes are funny, most of them didn't work for me and there wasn't really a laughing out loud moment in the film. 

Tour de Pharmacy (2017)

I remember people talking about Tour de Pharmacy last Summer, saying how good it was but I never even bothered checking out what it was about. Then back in March, Steven from thevoid99 left a comment on one of my reviews and mentioned John Cena's hilarious performance in this so I checked it out. 

Tour de Pharmacy is a mockumentary that follows the (fictitious) 1982 Tour de France, the hornet's nest of moral depravity, and through the perspective of five riders --the Italian JuJu Peppi (Orlando Bloom), the "Nigerian" Marty Hass (Andy Samberg), the French Adrian Baton (Freddie Highmore), the African-American Slim Robinson (Daveed Diggs), and the Austrian Gustav Ditters (John Cena)-- it gives an inside look on doping in professional cycling.

Now, if you want to watch something serious, witty maybe, and boring, check out the Oscar winner Icarus; if you want to be entertained, watch this. You'll probably learn more about how doping in professional cycling works that you would watching Icarus anyway. Not only, you will also be saving more than an hour of your time. 

Anyway, this is a brilliant parody of the cycling world that constantly makes fun of the sport without being offensive --I'm not a fan of the sport, but there's Lance Armstrong poking fun at his own use of drugs and steroids, so I think it's safe to say it's not offensive. 

The slapstick approach to the topic allows the filmmakers to deliver plenty of gags, most of which are silly but very hilarious --I loved Armstrong's. There are a lot of crude jokes but they are quite memorable and always work. There's also some frontal nudity --it's HBO people-- but it only makes the film funnier. 

HBO

If it wasn't for the cast though, I don't think I would have enjoyed Tour de Pharmacy so much. Adam Samberg, Orlando Bloom, John Cena, Jeff Goldblum, Kevin Bacon, they all are amazing, even J.J. Abrahams playing himself, but my favourite was easily Dolph Lundgren. How did the man even manage to do that whole cheetah cheater scene with a straight face? I was cracking up.