Summary
- Incoming is a third-rate Superbad rip-off with no originality or charm.
- Good Boys is a much better version of what Incoming tries to achieve, with heart and humor.
- Good Boys came closer to Superbad’s critical acclaim than Incoming, which was panned.
Incoming, Netflix’s terrible middle-school version of Superbad, is a timely reminder to check out Seth Rogen’s awesome middle-school version of Superbad from 2019. Incoming is about four freshmen attending their first high school party and trying to get in with the cool kids. The film marks the feature-length directorial debut of brothers Dave and John Chernin, who cut their teeth as writers on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. But Incoming is nowhere near as funny as a Superbad-esque teen comedy from two of the minds behind It’s Always Sunny sounds.
It seemed as though Incoming had everything going for it: two writers from It’s Always Sunny at the helm, “Sweet Dee” herself Kaitlin Olson in a supporting role, and financial backing from Netflix to bring their wildest gag ideas to life. But unfortunately, when the movie was released into the streaming library of Netflix on August 23, it arrived as one of the biggest disappointments of the year. The comparisons to Superbad didn’t do the movie any favors, because drawing parallels with one of the greatest comedies ever made just highlights how bad it is.
How Netflix’s Incoming Movie Imitates Superbad
Incoming is a third-rate Superbad rip-off
Incoming is little more than a third-rate knockoff of Superbad. Much like Superbad, Incoming chronicles the debauched antics of a bunch of immature kids trying to get in with the popular crowd by attending a high school party. The only difference is that Superbad’s Seth and Evan are seniors attending the very last party of their high school careers, whereas Incoming’s cast of characters, Benj, Eddie, Connor, and Koosh, are all freshmen attending their very first high school party. That difference is pretty negligible. Once they get to the party, they’re basically the same movie.
Superbad is a much smarter and sweeter movie than Incoming. Superbad has its fair share of crass humor, like when Seth gets period blood on his leg or when Evan tries and fails to knock back a full bottle of liquor, but it’s not just crassness for the sake of crassness; it’s all rooted in story and character. The crass humor in Incoming, like when the most popular girl in school drunkenly defecates all over the interior of a car, is the definition of crassness for crassness’ sake. And it doesn’t have the underlying vulnerability of Superbad.
Incoming Is A Terrific Reminder To Watch Seth Rogen’s 2019 Good Boys Movie
Good Boys is a much better version of what Incoming wants to achieve
The only thing that separates Incoming from Superbad is that the boys are a couple of years younger. But the writing team behind Superbad, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, already produced their own younger version of Superbad with 2019’s Good Boys. Good Boys was directed by No Hard Feelings’ Gene Stupnitsky from a script he wrote with Lee Eisenberg, with whom he wrote several episodes of The Office, including season 4, episode 13, “Dinner Party.” Good Boys stars Jacob Tremblay, Keith L. Williams, and Brady Noon as three eighth-graders who skip school to prepare for their first boy-girl party.
Anyone who was disappointed with Incoming – or even anyone who’s considering giving Incoming a watch – should check out Good Boys instead. Good Boys has just as much gross-out shock humor as Incoming, but it also has the heart that Incoming lacks. The gimmick of seeing kids doing and saying things that the ratings board deems them too young for is enough to get viewers into the movie. But it’s the endearing friendship between these three boys and the insecurities they’re afraid to face that carry the movie to the finish line.
How Good Boys & Incoming’s Reviews Compare To Superbad
Good Boys came much closer to Superbad’s acclaim than Incoming
|
Movie |
RT Score |
|---|---|
|
Superbad |
88% |
|
Incoming |
22% |
|
Good Boys |
81% |
Neither Incoming nor Good Boys managed to achieve the universal critical acclaim met by Superbad, but Good Boys came much, much closer than Incoming. When Superbad arrived, it was a breath of fresh air. It had all the lewd teenage antics of American Pie, but it also had an underlying sweetness. It sets itself up as a movie about two teenage boys trying to get laid, but it’s really about their separation anxiety as they’re about to head off to different colleges. Critics praised it as one of the best comedies ever made.
Superbad earned an impressive Rotten Tomatoes score of 88%, the kind of rating awarded to Best Picture nominees. Incoming, on the other hand, has an abysmal “rotten” score of 22%. Superbad’s score indicates near-universal acclaim, whereas Incoming’s score indicates near-universal panning. Good Boys came a lot closer to Superbad’s score with a “fresh” rating of 81%. It didn’t quite reach Superbad’s heights, but it’s still a very impressive score for a comedy.