Imagine that. You’re approaching 40 and after 20 years you return to your high school where you enroll as a student surrounded by TikTok-obsessed teenagers. This is – shockingly – not the premise of a horror movie, but of Netflix’s upcoming Rebel Wilson-led comedy Senior Year.
The opening title card of the film’s first trailer, released Monday, indicates the year is 2002. Boy bands are all the rage, glitzy low-rise jeans and butterfly clips are the pinnacle of fashion. Life couldn’t get any better for Wilson’s character Stephanie Conway, a popular cheer captain played by Mare of Easttown actress Angourie Rice as a teen, when a cheerleading stunt gone wrong sends her into a coma.
Stephanie wakes up in the hospital two decades later, feeling bereft of her perfect senior year, complete with a successful cheer season, a handsome boyfriend (with frosted tips and a seashell necklace, of course) and the coveted title of prom queen. Basically, she has a big FOMO for everything she’s missed during her 20-year coma.
“Everyone else has got to get on with their lives and, eh, do you want me to just jump ahead?” she asks her father, played by Saturday Night Live alumnus Chris Parnell. “I mean, I just found out there are eight other Fast & Furious movies.” Of course, she decides to go back to high school and jokes ensue.
Outfitted in her finest youth (eg, a pink rhinestone-embellished tank top over a baby striped tee), Stephanie quickly learns that high school is a little different now than it was when she ruled the halls. She just can’t deal with the inclusive Gen Z “everybody’s popular” mentality.
“Oh, no, no, no. There are only three ways to become famous,” she tells a lunch table full of teenagers. “Being a cheerleader, working at Abercrombie, letting guys go out the back door.” When she learns that everyone in the cheer squad is a captain, she remarks, “That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard.”
In a press release for the film earlier this year, Wilson described Senior Year as an updated hybrid of two classic high school films – Never Been Kissed and Bring It On. In other words, it’s our dream film.
Senior Year is led by Alex Hardcastle. It features a supporting cast of incredibly funny actors, including Sam Richardson, Zoe Chao, and Mary Holland. Former teen queen Alicia Silverstone and 2000s heartthrob Justin Hartley also make appearances.
Revel in Y2K nostalgia when senior year arrives on May 13th.