The gross-out high school comedy: We all get older, they stay the same. “Incoming” is the latest addition to the genre, a Netflix release written and directed by Dave and John Chernin, who made their name with the signature vulgarity of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” before creating the short-lived but memorably raucous Fox comedy “The Mick.”
The filmmaking brothers’ story for “Incoming” is filled with tried-and-true tropes: the unfunny freshman, the grumpy sister, the wannabe womanizer, the blonde queen bee. But the Chernins strike a breezy beat that energizes these familiar ingredients, more in the joke department than in the film’s shallow dramatic components.
Directors: Dave Chernin, John CherninWriters: Dave Chernin, John CherninStars: Mason Thames, Ramon Reed, Raphael Alejandro
Fourteen-year-olds aren’t the most complicated people on Earth, and “Incoming” knows it, establishing its core cast with a forceful opening act that benefits from the Chernins’ experience in sitcoms. Four insecure young people have entered the gauntlet of high school. Benj (Mason Thomas) is convinced he can date Bailey (Isabelle Ferreira), a sophomore. Connor (Raphael Alejandro) hasn’t made the growth spurt and is nicknamed Fetus. Eddie (Ramon Reed) hates his mother’s wealthy boyfriend (a memorably jaded Scott MacArthur, returning to the Chernins after “The Mick”). And Danah (Bardia Seiri) is banking on hooking up with a senior to boost her reputation. A party at the end of the week will change their lives.
Except it won’t, of course. A party is just a party. Even with current touches like TikTok ads and breezy LGBTQ acceptance, “Incoming” is possessed by the same nostalgia for adolescence as many of its less politically correct genre predecessors. No matter the clique, there’s a uniform warmth for students at the top and bottom of the high school sociological food chain. Even when someone bends his moral principles (as Danah does when he sets up security cameras to target the girl of his dreams and lock her in a room with him), they face swift punishment and, shortly after, unreserved forgiveness.
That leniency comes all too easily in “Incoming,” which quickly becomes defined by a sense of moral barriers that won’t be crossed, even as the film flaunts its R rating with k-hole escapades and nipple close-ups. Benj, Eddie, Connor and even Danah each have their own insecurities, but they’re unified by an obvious sense of right and wrong. As the film divides the four into separate stories, their moral columns prevent the comedy from being tested with real debauchery.
The Chernin brothers prove more adventurous with several supporting personalities, including Bobby Cannavale as a kindly, sad-sack chemistry teacher who takes his students for drunkenness at the party. The character ends up being largely a punching bag, but there are some humorous curveballs as Cannavale plays the pathos of an adult whose social sphere is limited to the teenagers he rates. Likewise, Ali Gallo seems underused as Benj’s sister, Alyssa, who just got a nose job. One memorable sequence is distinguished by the touch of Alyssa snorting loudly through her newly lined nostrils — one of the few moments when “Incoming” risks becoming mean-spirited and is rewarded with a good joke.
The gross-out high school comedy: We all get older, they stay the same. “Incoming” is the latest addition to the genre, a Netflix release written and directed by Dave and John Chernin, who made a name for themselves with the signature vulgarity of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” before creating the short-lived but memorably raucous Fox comedy “The Mick.” The filmmaking brothers’ story for “Incoming” is filled with tried-and-true tropes: the unfunny freshman, the grumpy sister, the wannabe womanizer, the blonde queen. But the Chernins strike a breezy beat that energizes these familiar ingredients, more in the joke department than in the film’s surface dramatic components.
Fourteen-year-olds aren’t the most complicated people on Earth, and “Incoming” knows it, establishing its core cast with a forceful opening act that benefits from the Chernins’ experience in sitcoms. Four insecure young people have entered the gauntlet of high school.
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