Plan B
Common Sense says
- NR
- 2021
- 107 minutes
Parents say
Kids say
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A lot or a little?
The parents' guide to what's in this movie.
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that Plan B is a teen comedy bursting with sexual content, drinking, and drugs. The two main characters are 17-year-old women, Sunny (Kuhoo Vermaone), who is Indian American, and Lupe (Victoria Moroles), who is LatinX, who withstand regular ethnic taunts and stereotyping. They also seem to spend most of their time thinking about, talking about, and planning for sex. One masturbates to a drawing of a nude male in an anatomy book; the other takes pictures of her butt and texts them. A first sexual encounter for a boy and a girl is awkward, and a condom gets left inside the girl. Two females presumably have sex in a car after their first kiss. A teen drug dealer drops his pants and reveals his (pierced) penis when he bribes a girl to give him oral sex in exchange for a pill or a fake ID; she gets close, but backs out. A clueless sex ed teacher plays a pro-abstinence video, prompting derision from her students. Anatomical and sexual terms are rife, including "vagina," penis," "butthole" "p--sy," "pubes," "d--k," "dildo," "t-ts," "diddling," "wet dreams," "creamed my pants," "virginity," "erogenous zones," anal sex, and "skullf--king." Other language includes “f--k” and "s--t," "bulls--t," "bitch," "a--hole," "hell," "butthole," "p--sy," "pubes," "d--k," "dildo," "t-ts," "poop," "moron," "Jesus," "Jeez." Teens drink and take drugs, often to excess and sometimes leading to getting sick or behaving erratically. Party scenes include teens drinking from a keg and pun
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What's the story?
Lupe (Victoria Moroles) and Sunny (Kuhoo Verma) are best friends and high school classmates in small-town South Dakota in PLAN B. When Sunny has an awkward first sexual encounter then later finds the condom she'd used didn’t work properly, she turns to Lupe for help. The two try to get a Plan B pill, but the local pharmacist refuses to sell it to them, so they take off for the closest Planned Parenthood, three hours away by car. En route, they'll have a series of adventures and encounters that will test their friendship in a variety of ways.
Is it any good?
This edgy comedy has a lot of teen appeal, but also a lot of mature content. The teen girl buddy movie is having a moment -- from Booksmart to Never Rarely Sometimes Always to Unpregnant, the latter two with premises not dissimilar to this film's. What Plan B brings to the genre is more diversity and a gleeful urge to push the boundaries. Its two charismatic leads (played by newcomers Victoria Moroles and Kuhoo Verma) face a variety of stereotypes and ethnically-insensitive comments. Most of these are played for laughs, like the idea of an "Indian mafia" that young Indian Americans can't escape, or a character's secret penchant for Christian rap. At one point, one of the stars deadpans, "Is this what White privilege feels like?" There are also subplots about a lesbian character fearing the repercussions of coming out, and the pressures teens feel to live up to their parents' and peers' expectations.
Unfortunately, the characters don't reveal these inner feelings and motivations until more than an hour into the movie. For its first half, Plan B feels more like a series of ideas and situations strung together. Some of these are very funny, but others are decidedly less so. Rachel Dratch has a cameo as a clueless sex ed teacher promoting female abstinence, and an overachieving teen mind-melds hilariously with a drug dealer when they're both high. Sequences like one involving grown men frightening two teen girls with racist sexual taunts, young adults drugged out of their minds at a house party, or a playground drug dealer dropping his pants for oral sex all feel a bit aggressive for a high school movie.
Talk to your kids about ...
Families can talk about the South Dakota law that allows a pharmacist to refuse to sell birth control if it goes against his or her beliefs, and which forces Sunny and Lupe to have to drive hours to get a pill. Where else do such laws exist? What’s your opinion about them?
What do Lupe and Sunny learn about each other on their road trip? Does the trip weaken or strengthen their relationship? How so?
How do the teenagers' parents react when they return? Were you surprised by their behavior? Why or why not?
Lupe and Sunny are each keeping a secret from the other. Why? Did you understand their hesitations to share?
How were drug use and drinking presented here? Were there consequences for this behavior? Why do consequences matter?
Movie details
- On DVD or streaming: May 28, 2021
- Cast: Victoria Moroles, Kuhoo Verma, Edi Patterson
- Director: Natalie Morales
- Studio: Hulu
- Genre: Comedy
- Topics: Friendship, High School
- Run time: 107 minutes
- MPAA rating: NR
- Last updated: May 27, 2021
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