Movie Review: Incoming

The American “teen sex comedy” is a tradition that stretches back at least as far as 1981 and the release of Bob Clark’s racy Porky’s (and yes, that is the same Bob Clark who directed A Christmas Story). Over the ensuing years, each generation has had at least one major hit in the subgenre that managed to capture some part of what it was like to grow up at its time while offering the nation’s youth a string of gross-out gags they could all talk about at school the following day. Comedy doesn’t really sell at box offices anymore however, so the latest attempt at crafting the next American Pie or Superbad has been put together for Netflix with predictably middling results.

Friends Benj (Mason Thames), Eddie (Ramon Reed), Connor (Raphael Alejandro), and Danah (Bardia Seiri) are all beginning their freshmen year of high school, each anxious to make a good impression for the usual reasons, e.g., impressing a girl or avoiding being bullied. Alas, none of the four are considered “cool” by their classmates so things quickly seem to start working against them.

Danah tells the group that his older brother Kayvon (Kayvan Shai) is throwing a party and he can get them all in, which Benj sees as a perfect opportunity to talk to his crush, sophomore Bailey (Isabella Ferreira). Upon arrival however, Kayvon will only let one of the friends in, and so Eddie and Connor agree to find other ways to amuse themselves. What follows is a fairly predictable series of mishaps as no one’s night goes according to plan and everyone grows up at least a little. Maybe. It’s actually hard to say if Danah is redeemable.

As someone who stopped being a teenager a very long time ago, I can’t really comment on how well Incoming captures the experience of today’s youth but there are some things about growing up and entering high school that never really change and some of the worries these characters are experiencing do ring true. The gags land with varying degrees of success, though I can’t imagine much of what happens here proving shocking enough to get anyone discussing it afterwards. In fact, much of the time it’s hard not to feel like the movie is treading similar ground to its forebears, many of which did so more memorably.

These sorts of movies succeed largely based on the charm of their cast though and luckily that is one place where Incoming shines. Don’t get me wrong, no one is going to win an Oscar or anything, but each of the young actors and actresses does their best with the material and really sells the story. Their natural charm and believable chemistry elevate the somewhat rote material and actually leave the viewer curious to see more of these characters. As a result, even the more obnoxious among them wind up at least slightly endearing by the end.

I don’t think it’s all that likely that this movie will wind up being remembered as a cultural touchstone for a new generation of kids, as Netflix’s algorithm-based production decisions seem to be incapable of producing anything unique enough to achieve that status, but it’s consistently engaging and is good for a few solid laughs. ★★★