MovieChat Forums > Blockers (2018) Discussion > Wildly overrated and wrongly called “pro...

Wildly overrated and wrongly called “progressive”

posted 7 years ago by SlackerInc (1101)
27 replies | jump to latest

This has an 81% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, but only a 51% audience score. Normally when you see something like that, it’s an art film with limited mainstream appeal. This strikes me as the opposite, so I’m mystified by both scores.

I would normally just give a movie like this a pass, but I saw all the strong reviews and claims of progressivism, so I checked it out. It had its moments, but it was just barely in the realm of “not so bad”, like a 5.1/10. It’s basically a stupid broad comedy, and the supposed progressivism is cancelled out by the scene with John Cena and his daughter in the hotel room. Seriously WTF?

I did enjoy her character in general before that weaksauce conclusion, and she looked hot in her “I Dream of Jeannie” dress. Her date was pretty funny too.

[–] ADBruno1985 (3482) 7 years ago

Granted I've not seen it and don't care to, but have trouble seeing how it's progressive. It reeks of the caveman mentality of "I Man, own my daughter and her virginity." They wouldn't and didn't have the parents of the boys in American Pie react that way.

[–] SlackerInc (1101) 7 years ago

Exactly!

[–] TheArgentinian (7062) 6 years ago

Exactly what? The parents learned a lesson by the end. We are supposed to be laughing *at* them and their backwards views. Did you miss the whole point of this sex-positive, subversive movie?! That's why it was praised as being progressive

[–] SlackerInc (1101) 6 years ago

You apparently missed that Cena’s character got rewarded with tearful professions of love and admiration by his daughter for violently interrupting her attempt to hook up with her date.

[–] NoEasyBuckets (346) 6 years ago

Well the parents in the movie feel like they need to protect their daughters and the idea that it's different for a girl to lose their virginity is brought up several times, but I guess the point is in the end the parents realize they were wrong to think that way. The girls are presented as responsible and more than capable of making their own decisions.

It's still just an average comedy and calling it progressive seems like an attempt to make it look more important than it is, but the intention was definitely there.

[–] Alex (1503) 6 years ago

Parents were presented as the weak-ass liberals who let their children do whatever the fuck they want.
If my kids wanna act like adults, they're gonna be treated as such. They wanna make their own decisions? Go and earn your own money and make your own goddamn food. Oh, they can't right?
Little fuck-ups gonna do what they are told so long as they are staying in the parents' house and getting paid for their college.

[–] gsmith9072 (454) 6 years ago

Exactly.

[–] Alex (1503) 6 years ago

Spoken like a true Teen Mom's parent, gj!!!

[–] gsmith9072 (454) 6 years ago

ADBruno1985 The movie was trying to be 100% opposite of that, how can you not see that? The parents were shamed for wanting to 'block' them...that was the whole point of the movie. The point of the movie is that we should celebrate teens fucking around and have parents should have no input in their lives. They are, after, adults, despite doing stupid ass things like making 'sex pacts'.

[–] SlackerInc (1101) 6 years ago

How was Cena shamed in his daughter’s hotel room?

[–] gsmith9072 (454) 5 years ago

The point of the movie was that they were overprotective.

[–] SlackerInc (1101) 5 years ago

That was partly the point, at times. The hotel room scene was late in the movie and if this was really the point they wanted to make, that would have been the time for him to be set straight. But that is not how the scene went down. Instead his daughter reassured him that he was just being a great dad, as he always has been.

[–] gsmith9072 (454) 5 years ago

Do you, and does the movie think that his actions were acceptable, or over the top? Sounds like they just didn't want to end the movie sadly with him being declared a terrible father.

[–] SlackerInc (1101) 5 years ago

Then they should have added a scene or extended this one. Have her tell him off there, and then have him apologize and do something to try to set it right. Having her reassure him that all the stuff he did actually just proves what a great dad he is? Not good.

[–] TearofLys (2641) 6 years ago

Yes, the actors going for the wild night were girls, but I didn't get any overly politically correct vibe from the movie. Perhaps because the real stars of the movie were the parents and the teen girls were actually just secondary characters. Without John Cena, the movie would have sucked.

[–] SlackerInc (1101) 6 years ago

Huh. I thought he was the worst part of the movie.

[–] Bolchevik (377) 6 years ago

Wouldn't say progressive but you have definitely some left leaning elements :

1. Very obvious mixed couples;
2. A lesbian coming out;
3. All the guys/men are flawed;

[–] beauq81 (1085) 6 years ago

Not to mention that the way the girls talked would put truckers to shame.

[–] TearofLys (2641) 6 years ago

My responses

1) Yes, there were a couple mixed couples. Cena had an Indian wife and Hunter's wife was married to a black guy (Hannibal Burruss). But it didn't feel forced and it is reflective of what you see in real life.

2) I too hate it when Hollywood tries to shoehorn a gay character into every movie or show for the sake of "diversity". But in this instance, I felt it actually meshed well with the story as a whole, and didn't detract. Just my opinion.

3) *All* of the main adult characters are flawed, not just the guys. Leslie Mann's character is Clingy, desperate and terrified of dying alone. Keep in mind this is a comedy, and it is hard to draw humor from perfect.

[–] VIDEOSTOREVANDAL (313) 5 years ago

THE PARENTS ARE OVERPROTECTIVE,THEY LEARN,IT IS PROGRESSIVE..ETC ETC...THE REASON IT IS AND ALWAYS WILL BE JUST A LITTLE DIFFERENT FOR DAUGHTERS OVER SONS LOSING THEIR VIRGINITY IS ONE SIMPLE FACT OF NATURE....GIRLS GET PREGNANT.THE STAKES ARE MUCH HIGHER.

[–] alanparsons (559) 2 years ago

It's another stupid leftist movie trying to insult something as natural and right as a father trying to encourage their daughter to wait until they are older to have sex. This thing where leftists feel they are instilling MORE dignity into women by encouraging them to be whores is insane.

[–] SlackerInc (1101) 2 years ago

You're wrong in your opinions, and wrong about what the movie's message is.

[–] alanparsons (559) 2 years ago

I'm absolutely correct in both. The right promotes abstinence, and waiting until you're married, and that fathers are protectors who should help encourage their daughters to not be promiscuous, and the left is the exact opposite. The left promotes sexuality, encourages children to explore their sexuality, thinks that "body counts" on women don't matter at all, sees zero problems with sex before marriage, declares it's not a fathers' place to influence their daughter on what is an appropriate age to start having sex, and treats sex workers like it's any other profession. The left declares that women who run around taking on as many guys as they can are "liberated". It's insanity.

[–] xanthas (3215) 2 years ago

[deleted]

[–] xanthas (3215) 2 years ago

LOL @ "the right promotes abstinence, and waiting until you're married"....and worships donald tRump

[–] SlackerInc (1101) 2 years ago

Sick burn!

[–] moviechatterer (15583) 2 years ago

so over on your "Right is right" conservative side,

could you explain why a "body count" is a problem for a woman?
especially if it isnt for a man?
and also whats the problem with sex before marriage specifically?
and what is an appropriate age to start having sex?
and more importantly what is an appropriate age to start being educated about sex?

[–] sut6432 (2908) 7 months ago

Cena’s character’s wife was so annoyingly preachy that in her 3 minutes of screen time she managed to virtue signal and lecture the audience on damn near every progressive talking point, including most randomly, the “wage gap”. It’s hilarious how they just can’t help themselves to randomly throw in political talking points out of nowhere in a character’s dialogue.