Incoming Review: Cringe High School Film is an Embarrassing Watch

In this Netflix film written and directed by the Chernin brothers, four freshmen face the biggest challenge of their lives to date – attending a high school party. Navigating through the ups and downs of this sensitive time, how will the friends use their newfound freedom to create their own space in this exciting new time of their lives?

The comedy film has a runtime of 91 minutes.

Incoming Netflix Review

The high school experience has been a wild ride for most people, and writer-directors John and Dave Chernin (The Mick, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) have created a movie that exceeds expectations. Just kidding – Incoming channels the high school experience that we have all started to hate at this point; loud, rambunctious kids who think that they are above anyone and everyone and somehow don’t need to listen to anyone around them. The film is a caricature in a lot of ways and is an all-around annoying and cringy watch that is neither funny nor heartwarming.

Freshman Benj Nielsen is in love with his sophomore sister’s bestie Bailey and the story revolves around him trying to turn over a new leaf and impress Bailey while his nerdy friends try their best to uplift their social standing. In the midst of this major storyline are the smaller B-plots that are all forgettable and extremely grating. The movie goes overboard with the trash-talking and the in-your-face comedy, depicting high school in America as a free-for-all lawless wasteland where children just do stuff without consequences. The concept has become so old that it gets on your nerves the moment the film starts because you know exactly what this film is trying to do.

Considering the comedy is so taxing to watch, all the plots in the film get extremely old very quickly, leaving you to witness this embarrassing display of insanity that has neither nuance nor any idea about where to draw the line. Jokes go on forever and repeat themselves constantly, leaving you to wonder what exactly was funny in the first place. Benj and Bailey’s “relationship” doesn’t create anything lovely either and thus you don’t feel drawn to the love story much. Plus, it doesn’t help that the plot is just so old that you know exactly what’s about to happen here.

From Mr Studebaker (Bobby Cannavale) trying to find his lost youth and a sense of belonging in hanging out with his students to resident hot girl Katrina Aurienna (Loren Gray) getting drunk and eating like a raccoon in Eddie’s car, the situations have very little humour and depend more on very primitive jokes that have lost their charms at this point. There’s a point in the movie that is literally all about poop jokes and the lack of any sort of subtlety gave me a headache.

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However, the little moments of sweetness between Bailey and Benj are what will keep you moving, especially because Mason Thames and Isabella Ferreira have some cute chemistry together. Although there’s no uniqueness in the storyline, these two are cute as a button and it’s fun watching them trying to overcome the awkwardness between them to reach their true feelings. Plus, there’s a vulnerability in Thames that is infectious.

Final Thoughts

Incoming on Netflix is such an odd movie that it is thoroughly forgettable and extremely cringeworthy. Although we don’t jump into the “just be yourself” train too much in the end, thankfully, it still doesn’t provide anything interesting or engaging to keep you hooked.

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