Incoming is the new straight-to-Netflix teen sex comedy directed by John and David Chernin. The film relies on tropes made famous in various classic teen sex movies but fails to outdo any of its contemporaries.

While Incoming tries to emulate the coming-of-age stories told before it, the movie fails to live up to even the worst in the genre. Incoming makes some bizarre choices in its storytelling, conflicts, and resolutions. It may be a fine flick to throw on during a boring Sunday afternoon, but it never leaves the shadow of the excellent films it’s trying to emulate.

Gross-out Humor

There’s a great scene in Greg Mottola’s 2007 classic Superbad where Seth, played by a then-unknown Jonah Hill, dances with a girl at a party. She is attractive, clearly wasted, and grinds her leg all over Seth. When Seth is finally pulled away from the dance, an onlooker notices a blood spot on his leg where she was grinding. It takes a few beats but Seth finally realizes where the blood came from. This moment caused countless audience guffaws and giggles as Jonah Hill became visibly sick at the gross-out realization.

This scene is great for a couple of reasons. First, it uses a classic gross-out humor technique, bodily fluids, but in a unique way. There is no over-the-top bodily excrement; it is just a small indicator that the audience instantly recognizes. Second, it’s a small throwaway joke in a film filled with these little moments that make the audience laugh. It’s not a major plot point and it’s never revisited after they leave the party. It’s a small detail done with care that adds to the overall humor in the film.

Incoming also tries its hand at bodily fluid humor but instead of a well-thought-out joke, they create an entire subplot out of a hot girl with diarrhea. It’s gross and memorable, but not particularly funny and wears out its welcome the moment it comes on screen. Instead of this being a small joke, it becomes the entire conflict for two of the film’s stars. And this is essentially the problem with Incoming.

The Conflict in Incoming

Incoming follows the exploits of four freshmen who are attending their first High School party. Our lead played by Mason Thames is a hopeless romantic who wants to use this party as an in with adorably cute sophomore Isabella Ferreira. Two of the teens are denied entry into the party. They then spend the rest of the film joyriding around a Tesla and assisting an incredibly wasted beautiful blonde high schooler. The last freshman is the brother of the party thrower. His goal is just to get laid, and he lays out an elaborately themed sitcom-level scenario to attain his goal. There is also a truly bizarre subplot involving a teacher played by Bobby Cannavale that goes nowhere. Cannavale’s subplot is so paper-thin and cringe that it overshadows the good story beats, like Bardia Seiri’s sauna escape room.

Incoming only has a runtime of 91 minutes but all of these conflicts are resolved at the hour mark. Our lead gets the girl, the two freshmen deliver a cleaned-up blonde bombshell to her home, and the horny little brother fails and gets his comeuppance. The writers, realizing they need to fill another half hour of screen time, go on to create a new conflict with our lead that is both out of character and uninteresting.

Incoming finally ends with an epic high school assembly scene. It’s a classic teen comedy trope and it’s not done terribly bad here. But the film then decides that this isn’t the kind of movie we’re watching and grand gestures made by nerds aren’t cool. It’s an odd note to end on and an even odder place to leave our lead. There is a small wink at the character, and audience, that maybe this isn’t the end. But it is. And it feels totally at odds with itself.

Teen Comedies

Vince Vaughn recently lamented the state of R-rated comedy films on an episode of Hot Ones. His statements are painfully realized here with Incoming, an R-rated sex comedy that plays it painfully safe at every step. Aside from the bizarre teacher who drinks and does drugs with all his students, there is nothing in Incoming that pushes the envelope. There is cursing, teens doing drugs, and a plethora of poop jokes, but nothing that leaves an impression.

Not every R-rated comedy needs to reinvent the genre. There are plenty of good and even great R-rated comedies that rely on solid jokes and witty dialogue. The problem here is that Incoming is trying to emulate a group of sex teen comedies that have all pushed the envelope and are much better films.

There is nothing offensive here and that’s kind of the problem. The conflicts are dull, the humor is trite, and our leads lack any heart. It may be unfair to compare Incoming to Superbad but it’s hard when the film looks so much like it. Incoming is fine for what it is, but what it is, isn’t very good. Incoming is a 4 out of 10 film that won’t scratch the teen sex comedy itch missed by many.