‘Senior Year’ Review (Netflix Original)

Stars: Rebel Wilson, Angourie Rice, Mary Holland, Molly Brown, Sam Richardson, Zaire Adams, How Chao, Ana Yi Puig, Justin Hartley, Tyler Barnhardt, Chris Parnell | Written by Andrew Knauer, Arthur Pielli, Brandon Scott Jones | Directed by Alex Hardcastle

It’s 2002 and Stephanie, is a loser. Reinventing herself as the most popular girl in her high school she becomes the captain of the cheerleading squad, dating the quarterback and is well on her way to becoming the prom queen. Girls want to be her and guys want to be with her… She has it all until she falls off the top of the cheerleading pyramid and goes into a coma! Fast forward 20 years later and Ruby finally wakes up from her coma as a 37-year-old woman. She goes back to her high school and tries to assume her role as the star of her school. Most of all, she is still set on winning the crown as prom queen.

What is it with Rebel Wilson and being in a coma? The actresses second collaboration with Netflix repeats the coma formula that made her first Netflix film Isn’t It Romantic a hit. But can that make Senior Year another hit for Wilson and Netflix?

Speaking of films about kids falling into a coma after an accident and then waking up years later with the same mind as their teenage selves and struggling to blend in to a more progressive society, there’s no film that does it better than 2007’s Kickin’ It Old School. That film succeeded because of the naivety of Jaime Kennedy’s performance – including his romantic relationship with Maria Menounos’ now grown-up Jennifer, and the sheer ridiculousness of seeing a group of grown men trying to breakdance. All of which was wrapped up in a tale that perfectly balanced goofball humour and a sweet “fish out of water” style story.

Senior Year does something similar, walking the fine line between comedy and romance in very much the same way Kennedy’s film did. Though Senior Year spends a lot more time discussing the change in language and attitudes in the 20 years Stephanie has been in a coma – for example, we don’t use the “R” word or call things “gay;” though I’m sure kids in the early 2000s didn’t use those terms either as they were old hat by the time I was in college in the late 90s! And I’m positive kids in 2002 weren’t referencing Mr.T in any way shape or form. So why is Stephanie?

Unfortunately, the culture clash between 2002 and 2022 for Stephanie seems altogether far too overly exaggerated, so much so that her behaviour and her responses become far too camp. So camp that Senior Year goes as far as relying on slapstick humour, with Wilson throwing herself around like a human ragdoll, reminiscent of the likes of the Three Stooges back in the day. But that creates an odd dichotomy with the film. There’s a sweet heartfelt story at the core of Senior Year – one about a girl who’s struggling with growing up too fast not only because of her coma but because of the death of her mother, which was the catalyst for her reinvention back in 2002 – but the over the top nature of the culture clash, of Rebel Wilson’s performance, buries that in a movie that feels far too much like it’s TRYING to be funny instead of just being funny.

Senior Year is far removed from the success of Isn’t It Romantic that’s for sure. Instead of empathising with Stephanie, for most of Senior Year we laugh at her instead (which isn’t helped by the OTT way Wilson plays Stephanie). Which is no way to generate any sympathy for a character that we’re supposed to root for, especially when it comes to Stephanie’s relationship with a now-mature Seth, the bookish friend who’s now the school’s librarian; and coming to terms with her childhood trauma.

** 2/5

Senior Year is available on Netflix now.