Incoming” movie review: A step back into rowdiness

“Incoming” also has difficulties in portraying consent and what constitutes a healthy relationship.

Netflix’s new teen drama “Incoming” attempts to navigate the delicate balance between being edgy and crossing the line into offensive territory. While it effectively captures the lively spirit of a wild teenage party, it often goes too far. One notable instance occurs early on when Benji shares details about his crush, Bailey, with his friends, Eddie, Koosh, and Connor. Instead of a light-hearted reaction, his friends respond with inappropriate remarks, which undermines the humor and reinforces negative stereotypes. There are additional troubling moments, such as a chemistry teacher who engages in questionable behavior and makes lewd comments at a party in front of students. The teacher’s antics continue as he repeatedly says goodbye to a group of teens but ends up sticking around. In a bizarre turn of events, he accidentally sets himself on fire and jumps into a pool to extinguish the flames. The teens cheer for him as if he performed a clever stunt, while he basks in their applause. Instead of laughter, this scene leaves viewers contemplating the troubling implications of such portrayals. Moreover, “Incoming” falters in its depiction of consent and healthy relationships. In one scene, Benji tells Bailey she can sleep with him if she wishes, without needing his approval. This conveys a damaging message about consent and mutual respect. Unfortunately, this is par for the course in a teen comedy that features a character spying through a CCTV control room in search of sexual encounters.

The film’s attempts at humour rely almost entirely on derogatory language.

A character encourages Benji to get himself high on Ketamine. He tells Benji, “It’s like, for cats, I think. Might be horses.” The operative word is ‘horse’ to describe a woman, of course. Now, some might put all this down to “That is how teenagers talk” and “This is just a teen comedy”, but the conversations head nowhere. Even if the director duo Dave and John Chernin got the tone of teenage conversations right, the content does not add value to the plot, neither is it funny. There is no insight whatsoever to be gleaned from the portrayal.

Occasionally, the film threatens to come into light, like the Willy Wonka reference about a car full of human waste, but these moments are far and few. And, Incoming settles to become a disappointing teen comedy that does not deliver on its promise of a fun experience.

Director: Dave and John Chernin

Genre: Rom-com

Platform: Netflix

Language: English