Senior Year review, it’s back to school time

Senior Year stars Rebel Wilson in a comedy as a woman who has been in a coma for 20 years. The comedy arises because when she wakes up she’s still operating in her 17 year old brain as a high school girl who wanted to be prom queen.

Senior Year starts with Stephanie (Rebel Wilson and Angourie Rice) as her 17 year old self. She’s worked all through high school to be a popular kid, now she’s a cheerleader and running for prom queen.

While doing a cheering stunt twirling high in the air, Stephanie falls to the floor. Ouch, coma.

Stephanie has two good friends. Seth (Sam Richardson and Zaire Adams) and Martha (Mary Holland and Molly Brown). They stuck by her through all the years of the coma. Now Martha is the high school principal and Seth is the high school librarian.

Stephanie insists she needs to go back to high school and finish. She can graduate AND she can run again for prom queen. Except things are different now and the school no longer has prom queens or old fashioned cheerleaders.

So she shakes up the place. She convinces the students to go back to the way it was and get her elected prom queen. It sort of works, but there are a lot of kinks, a lot of strange moments, and a lot of dancing.

Stephanie’s old boyfriend Blaine (Justin Hartley and Tyler Barnhardt) is now married to her old nemesis Tiffany (Zoë Chao and Ana Yi Puig). They are still in touch with their 17 year old egos, and prove it when Stephanie starts shaking up the status quo at the high school.

The comedy is silly and riddled with tropes. Stephanie wakes up after 20 years and never asks a single question about any changes except to learn how to become an influencer on Instagram like Tiffany and Blaine’s daughter who is now a senior in high school.

There are a few serious moments between Stephanie and her dad and her two faithful friends. But mostly it’s a grown woman acting like a teen. I wasn’t impressed with the comedy. I did think the film worked itself up to a satisfying ending. (See: dancing) I did watch it all the way through.

You can see this one on Netflix.