Plan B answers the question, what two things should not be caught in the same room? Apparently, it’s Adam Sandler’s juvenile lack of wit combined with a weak attempt at a promising friendship that has no chemistry.
If raunchy teen comedies have taught us anything, the most important aspect in a teenager’s life is their social status.
It doesn’t matter who is leading the country or what is happening in some faraway third-world country, the pubescent priority list is all about popularity and, subsequently, who to go out with.
That said, many films have begun to highlight the social pressures that come along with a modern age; kids being told to act like kids while being more informed than their technologically lacking parents.
Adding some warranted drama is a touch that I have a grown a fan of in light of films such as Lady Bird, Big Time Adolescence, and Eighth Grade. Plan B doesn’t fit into this tonally darker group, feeling more like a disappointing shadow in a time of coming-of-age prosperity.
As the title suggests, Plan B follows the journey of a pair of hungover 17-year-olds trying to obtain a morning after pill.
A promising idea for a Superbad-esque buddy comedy… which is why I felt such an immense disappoint at the execution. Firstly, the age-old pairing of the nerdy protagonist that is sexually inept and the extraverted best friend who boasts about all their romantic encounters is just that; stereotypical.
Repeated tropes are repeated for a reason, but there needs to be depth, a chemistry between the characters that makes me believe in their friendship. Sunny (Kuhoo Verma) and Lupe (Victoria Moroles) are ‘best friends’ but have about as much intimacy as colleagues who say the odd hello in the break room.
Not only does their relationship feel a little mouldy, but everyone in this film walks and talks like a sex-driven robot. Rarely is there ever a conversation that isn’t about it.
At one point, Sunny even explains an unfamiliar term as if she is reciting an Urban Dictionary entry, surprised that Lupe doesn’t know it. The few times a conversation is actually natural, it either forcibly slides in some heavy-handed reference at being a modern teenager or is cut short in favour of the next phallic gag.
Plan B is littered with awkward moments and theatrically bombastic acting, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t funny.
There are clear moments where I found this amped-up version of teenage life to be amusing, but never relatable. In metaphorical terms, I felt like I was panning for gold, waiting for a bright and brilliant nugget to land in my hands to make it all worth it… but it never came.
Sure, I got my fair share of cool stones that might have entertained me for a minute or two, but nothing that can justify the long-winded trek through the worst parts of adolescence. If only there was a plan C.