Senior Year: Film Review
I find Rebel Wilson hilarious in some roles but painfully unfunny in others and I wasn’t sure where Senior Year was going to land – unfortunately, it is mainly in the latter camp.
The film tells the story of Stephanie Conway, a 17-year-old Australian immigrant (Angourie Rice) who dreams of being the most popular girl in school, head cheerleader, and (most importantly) prom queen. Her mission is cut short in 2002 when a cheer stunt is sabotaged and she ends up in a coma. Stephanie wakes up 20 years later (now played by Wilson) and while she may now be 37, she still has a teenage mind and is determined to go back to school and be prom queen.
I really liked this concept and felt it had the potential for great comedy but it is sadly not very funny. It tries too hard with the jokes and they fail to land more often than not, which is a shame because the culture shock element provides ample opportunity for laughs. It explores the change in fashion and the rise of technology, phones and social media – sometimes to comedic effect – and paints all 2022 high schoolers as vegan climate change activists (I’m exaggerated slightly but I’m not too far off).
The film – which is way too long at 111 minutes – also comes with a heavy-handed message that is far too sentimental. Stephanie realises she has ignored her true friends in her pursuit of popularity and the prom queen crown. It’s a worthy message but it isn’t very well written; a criticism which can be applied to the rest of the film.
It’s a shame because it felt promising at the beginning – I liked the aesthetic and Rice as Stephanie and I felt like we might have a new high school classic like Mean Girls on our hands. But then it rapidly goes south. It was still entertaining – I was certainly never bored – but the comedy was too broad and crude (sometimes) to really work. There is no real reason for Wilson and her co-stars to recreate Britney Spears’ Crazy music video but it was the highlight of the film, alongside all the other cheerleading and dance routines.
I’m not sure Wilson was the best person for this role. She will gamely throw herself into a part and try her hardest to make the jokes work but she never convinced as a teenager stuck in an adult’s body. The physical element of the performance wasn’t believable enough. I liked Happiest Season standout Mary Holland as Stephanie’s longtime best friend and Sam Richardson is amiable enough as her longtime love interest Seth. Elsewhere, Zoe Chao is given a very one-note mean character and Justin Hartley is her hot husband.
Senior Year is a very easy and relatively entertaining watch but it should have been much funnier than this.
On Netflix now