Senior Year Review

Now streaming on Netflix is Senior Year, a teen comedy without a teen star. That's because the story follows Stephanie played by Rebel Wilson, who last she remembered was in the midst of living her best life during her senior year of high school. But now she finds herself waking up from a twenty-year coma to the realization that not only did she miss senior prom, she completely skipped over the part of her life that was supposed to make her an adult. The path she set for herself is completely gone and before she can come to terms with that, she's got some unfinished business to attend to-- going back to high school (thanks to her former BFF, now principal pulling some strings to allow her to attend) and picking up where she left off. She won't know true peace until she can prove she's a Prom queen.

The premise here is totally absurd, but perhaps never fully embraces its absurdity. At best Senior Year is mildly amusing, at worst it's derivative. We've seen the adult thrown back into high school schtick a few times now with much more memorable results (see Billy Madison, Never Been Kissed and 17 Again). Still, the teen movie feels like a forgotten genre these days, so I can never be mad when a harmless comedy lands on my doorstep. Plus it is kind of fun seeing a movie that somehow feels like it's from another time. Much like Stephanie, the movie itself feels like it came straight from 2002 and that definitely feels intentional. The film definitely recycles all of the tropes of that genre from that time period, but it's hard to feel mad about it. It more just makes you think "wait haven't I seen this before?"

Senior Year won't stay with you very long, but I didn't hate it! It had a couple smirk worthy moments in describing the way things have changed in twenty years. Though some were clever, some felt too on the nose. And am I the only one who really hates how current high schoolers are portrayed these days? They can't all be militant. Rebel Wilson seems to be having fun, but I wish the movie gave her a better script to work with. All in all, could have been better, but could have been worse!

RATING: 5/10