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Netflix has had a bit of a rough patch in terms of quality lately. A few of their movies and series that have been released lately have been of subpar quality, even with a few notable moments in them. The original content seems more committed to these small moments in an attempt to generate interest on social media. Unfortunately, a movie like Senior Year does not benefit from this and it only makes the problems with the third act more apparent.
The strongest part of Senior Year is a strong comedic performance from Rebel Wilson. The only reason the movie partially works is because she has the comedic chops to carry it through. She has a sincerity to her performance that allows for the audience to empathize with her character as she moves through the world that she finds herself in post-coma.
The plot is pretty simple and should work on paper. It is the kind of elevator pitch that would immediately gain a lot of interest. The idea is a cheerleader ends up in a coma during her senior year of high school. When she awakens 20 years later, she wants to step back into the role she had and become Prom Queen and also graduate high school. It’s a strong enough concept on its own, but in execution it falls apart.
The conflicts of the movie feel weird and follow a comedic version of “nightmare logic” as popularized in horror movies. The idea is that in a horror movie no one acts like a normal person and everyone acts like they are in a nightmare or some other kind of dream. This movie acts like a fever dream, and not in a good way. The strange obsession that Stephanie (Rebel Wilson) has with being Prom Queen at 37 years old to the point that she is getting intimately involved with the personal lives of other high school students feels like it crosses a line. Maybe it is just the fact that Wilson is playing someone so much older, but this feels like territory that Licorice Pizza crossed into as well with an inappropriate relationship between people of very different ages. It is one of those things where after the first few instances of her meddling, they would just move her to a GED program.
The movie fundamentally falls apart in its third act. The third act of a movie is supposed to be the emotional resolution of the plot, yet Stephanie’s conclusion does not feel earned considering how much of the movie and her backstory are set in her desire to be popular. She does not make enough steps to move into this new paradigm and move into the next step of her life so the ending feels like platitudes for their own sake rather than an actual emotional resolution.
The movie is funny enough where it might be worth a watch for those who find Rebel Wilson funny, however if they do not enjoy her brand of comedy there is really very little to enjoy in this film. That said, the movie is on Netflix and is not a huge time commitment, so it’s always an option.
Final Rating: 6/10
