Origin and release year: United States (2022)

Starring: Rebel Wilson, Angourie Rice, Joshua Colley, Alicia Silverstone, Mary Holland, Avantika Vandanpu, Justin Hartley, Zoë Chao, Michael Cimino, Chris Parnell, Sam Richardson

Warning: This article contains spoilers!!!

The screenwriting? Wow. Some of the most on-the-nose writing I have yet to come across. The storyline is also extremely played out. We’ve all seen the nottie to hottie trope and the trope about someone who is obsessed with popularity and later learns that it’s not that important before.

More than a critique, this is just a warning not to expect anything too original or unique from this film. The most original thing about it is having a grown woman go back to high school and even that feels like you might’ve seen it before.

The high school flashback in this film was cringe from start to finish. I’ve never experienced a flashback that felt more like it was out of touch with that time period. It felt like an extremely forced reenactment of the classic teen movies from the 1990s and 2000s but also felt like it was trying to outdo them. I guess they tried too hard to make it seem accurate but only managed to do so on a surface level. It was forced reference after reference. Just in case the fashion and setting didn’t let you know we’re in a different time period, they made sure to drop a reference in every sentence.

It becomes almost hard to believe that the actors cast in Senior Year even know the music, pop culture, etc. references that were in the scripts beforehand? Regardless, the forced aesthetic and everything was inauthentic.

After the ridiculous coma inducing scene when Rebel Wilson comes into the picture, that is where I stopped having expectations and the film became more enjoyable. It is a much better film when you allow it to be itself and just be an entertaining watch.

I usually love Rebel Wilson but I found her acting to be a bit flat in this film. Maybe a result of the writing and directing. The ‘Gen Z’ actors were actually more entertaining to watch.

The narrative was okay but we obviously all knew where it was going so I can’t comment that much about it.

One thing I will give good credit to are the musical numbers throughout the story. Those were actually really good. Especially the Britney Spears cover.

I also really enjoyed the fact that Alicia Silverstone made a cameo that felt like a multiverse-esque Clueless reference.

Overall, if you don’t want to think a lot or watch anything deep, it’s an okay film.

What did you think of Senior Year?