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WRITTEN BY

INCOMING (2024)

MPAA: R.
Release Date: 08/23/24 [Netflix]
Genre: Comedy.

Studio: Netflix. 

"Four freshmen navigate the terrors of adolescence at their first-ever high school party." 

OUR MOVIE REVIEW:

Incoming is a ridiculous example of how party movies can continue to live on in modern times. While it’s certainly no Animal House, Superbad or American Pie for those who grew up with those titles, this should be a welcome medium to accompany Booksmart (2017) for newcomers to have a raunchy comedy to start their journey within the landscape of today’s comedy standards. 

 

From the creators of the criminally short lived, The Mick on FOX, this comes as a short of reunion as the main cast reunite in supporting roles throughout the film. This detail was a welcome surprise for fans of the now forgotten series. These characters don’t overshadow the actual leads, who deliver quite the mix of characters in a friend group - introvert kids who are forced out of their shell for one epic high school party.

 

They all have different ideas of how the night is going to go down. One wants to admit his love for a senior, another wants to hook up with a senior and the other two just want to be included. 

 

Mason Thames’ Benj is the true lead of the film, a hopeless freshman romantic with a crush on his sister’s senior friend, Bailey (Isabella Ferreira). After his infatuation gets bigger after an encounter in the kitchen over the summer, this party feels like the time to finally make a move. 

 

Bardia Seiri’s Danah ‘Koosh’ wants nothing more than to live up to his brother’s expectations of him. Planning to spend the night performing recon with security cameras before making a move on a senior girl to attempt to hook up. It’s just as creepy as it sounds and luckily it does not play out as you might think. 

 

Uninvited from their first party as Freshman, Ramon Reed’s Eddie and Raphael Alejandro’s Connor decide to take on the town. Borrowing a Tesla and being mistaken as an Uber for a popular drunk girl, their night quickly becomes a messy disaster. 

 

Bobby Carnavale’s Mr. Studebaker is the cool science teacher, the only teacher we happen to encounter amongst our short time on school property. This teacher can hang, he wants to continue to thrive amongst his students' image of him and after a breakup finds this party as a way to escape his reality. Consciously or not this is seemingly a nod at the teacher subplot featured in Booksmart and what if the teacher participating in the party might not be the best of ideas. 

 

A spa nightmare, a drug deal gone wrong, a Taco Bell explosion and a love ballad are just the tip of the iceberg of the party fouls that occur throughout. The party is lively, full of shenanigans - mostly involving drugs, sex and alcohol. These characters feel like genuine teens and a friend group that feels like a close knit group that easily have each other's back. 

 

While not having the sharpest of humor on display, sometimes it doesn’t have to reinvent the wheel but instead roll with it. In today’s current state of comedy, it’s nice to see a comedy skate the line of over the top raunch with topical jokes about society. It's gross when it needs to be, acceptably crude and a great over the top depiction of a high school party. 

OUR VERDICT:

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