The Package Review

The Package is a new raunchy teen comedy from Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates director Jake Syzmanski and starring David Doheny, Geraldine Viswanathan, Sadie Calvano, Luke Spencer Roberts, and Eduardo Franco. High schoolers Jeremy (Franco) and Donnie (Roberts) are about to head out on a spring break camping trip to celebrate Sean (Doheny), who has been studying abroad in Germany. Unexpectedly along for the ride is Jeremy’s twin sister Becky (Viswanathan), whom Sean has a serious crush on, and her best friend Sarah (Calvano), Donnie’s ex-girlfriend. Jeremy comes to the trip prepared with special hunting knife that he has no idea how to use, intending to fend off vicious beasts, and a fake ID that enables him to buy a bunch of booze no questions asked. After a six-mile hike into the wilderness, the group finally makes camp and begins to partake in some extreme underage drinking. But the inciting incident happens when Jeremy decides to go off alone, super drunk, with a blade that he has no idea how to use. Needless to say, this leads to disastrous results. Now it’s up to awkward in love Sean, oblivious Becky, snarky Donnie and Sarah, to run a race against time to save their friend from permanent peril. The Package does not waste any time or hold back on the clichéd jokes and the gross out humor. One of the first scenes in the film is Sean’s family, little brother included, getting tricked into watching some very disturbing fetish porn. Donnie and Sarah are no holds barred when referencing their physical relationship and the um, lack of the physical attributes they both possess while constantly reminding the audience how much they hate each other. And the entire theme of the film frankly a little too mature for the main protagonists to be a bunch of high school juniors. That being said, The Package is really not super terrible. The cast has really great chemistry. They all have pretty good comic timing, and they all give pretty good performances. There are some really dumb things that they have to do in this movie, and they manage to execute these gags pretty convincingly. The cast member tasked with the most physical comedy however is Doheny, who manages to remain really awkward while still being somewhat of a hero. The first half seems to consist of having the main incident take place, and throw every random obstacle in the way that makes sure the group arrives just in the nick of time to save the day. The film has such a thin premise to begin with that it has to rely on subplots to stretch out run time. Sean and Becky have crushes on each other, and they’re both too nervous to say it. Hijinks ensue. There is a mix-up with the hospital and characters within the hospital do funny things. Although both of these incidents are terribly clichéd and in turn lead to an equally predictable ending, its bad, but I’ve seen worse. The Package is a very passable watch on Netflix. The plot is pretty dumb, but its only 94 minutes and the cast is entertaining. I’m pretty sure you have paid full price for a lot worse comedies in the theatres.