Underneath the raunchy premise in Blockers, there's a strong pulse radiating at the core that warms its way through entire film, perfectly echoed and reflected in the home footage that bookends the film. The film's savvy is that it trades in the typical lowball sleaze of the genre for a heaping dose of heart, which helps to reinforce its main theme of family. There are still plenty of vulgar moments, most of which feel a little shoehorned and cheap here, but the journey the film takes us on is never less than entertaining.

One of the film's more refreshing qualities is how our trio of overbearing parents, played by Leslie Mann, John Cena and Ike Barinholtz, grow over time. Out of all the characters in the film, including the parents, our three protagonists are the only ones who hold such a stringent view of sex. The film doesn't impose any judgements on the three young women choosing to have sex on prom night, just the three main parents, and over the course of their journey to prevent their daughters from losing their virginity, they come to reevaluate their own outlook on sex and sexuality, ultimately arriving on a more accepting, pseudo-European point of view. At the core of it all, however, it's about parents relinquishing their grip and learning to let the kids go, which is rendered pretty beautifully here and leads to a smattering of touching moments, which I was not expecting.