Looking for an offbeat comedy full of boy band jokes and questionable adult choices? Consider Senior Year, the new movie from Netflix starring Pitch Perfect’s Rebel Wilson. Senior Year will make audiences laugh, squirm and reminisce when it launches next month. Want to know a little more before you decide if it’s worth neglecting your Tamagotchi for a couple of hours? Here are six Senior Year facts that’ll make you say “no duh” when someone asks if you wanna watch.
1. Senior Year takes a tried-and-true trope — a high schooler’s struggle for popularity — and twists it.
In Senior Year, Stephanie (Rebel Wilson) tries to answer the question “Can you ever really go home — or, rather, to homeroom — again?” After spending 20 years in a coma following a tragic frenemy-induced cheerleading accident, Stephanie wakes up. Startled by how much has changed since she went under, the former prom queen shoo-in decides to head back to high school in an effort to recapture her glory days. But can an ’02 star rule a ’22 school, all while learning to use Instagram, figuring out what influencers do and dealing with the realities of being in her 30s? Will her old nemesis, Tiffany, and Tiffany’s social-media-star daughter, Bri, thwart Stephanie’s renewed quest for prom queen? And does being popular actually really matter at all? Only Senior Year holds the answers.
2. Senior Year stars a cavalcade of comedy darlings.
Joining Wilson, the film’s mission-driven protagonist, is a wide array of comedy all-stars, including Sam Richardson (Veep, The Afterparty), Zoë Chao (Love Life, Strangers), Chris Parnell (Saturday Night Live, Rick and Morty), Mary Holland (Happiest Season, Veep) and Justin Hartley (This Is Us, A Bad Moms Christmas). You might know co-writer Brandon Scott Jones, who also appears in Senior Year, from series like The Other Two and Ghosts. Angourie Rice, who was in Mare of Easttown and the last three Spider-Man movies, lights up the screen as the young Stephanie.
3. If you remember Y2K, you’ll find a lot to love in Senior Year.
If you know the difference between saying something is “supes” and saying it’s “tha shiznit,” then you’ll love Senior Year, which is positively laced with turn-of-the-21st-century slang. The soundtrack boasts some throwback jams as well, including a very well-placed Britney Spears homage that viewers will absolutely adore.
4. Senior Year might be about growing up, but it’s definitely for adults only.
Just because Senior Year is about high school doesn’t mean it’s family-friendly. The movie is full of raunchy, off-color humor, grown-up emotions and references geared toward thirtysomethings. That doesn’t mean Gen Z viewers won’t love it — there are plenty of stand-out younger actors in the cast, including Rice, Jade Bender, Avantika, Joshua Colley and Jeremy Ray Taylor — but Senior Year is decidedly R-rated. Think Isn’t It Romantic mixed with Pen15 and Never Been Kissed, plus a dash of Blockers.
5. Yes, there are cameos!
To reveal any more would land us in spoiler jail, but yes, there are cameos (plural), and yes, they are spectacular.
6. Senior Year arrives just in time for prom season.
Spike the punch and pin on your corsage, because Senior Year will be released on Netflix on May 13.
