The Purge meets Superbad in Hulu’s new original movie, The Binge. This raunchy teen comedy revives the R-rated high school party genre with a twist, set in a future where drugs and alcohol are prohibited with the exception of one amnesty day. Anyone 18 and older can participate, including a group of high school seniors ahead of the end of year prom.
Best friends Griffin and Hags have been inseparable their whole lives, but that’s all about to change as Griffin prepares to go to college at Brown. Griff is reluctant to join Hags in the Binge, but agrees to go when he finds out that his lifelong crush, Lena, will be going. But to make matters even more complicated, Lena is the daughter of Principal Carlsen (Vince Vaughn, Dodgeball) who threatens to rescind his letter of recommendation for Griffin if he steps out of line.
The Binge is the kind of comedy that’s primarily funny through a mix of outrageous shock factor moments and lead actors who respond in refreshingly fun ways. Dexter Darden (The Maze Runner) as Hags draws big laughs in particular just for the delivery of lines that don’t read as particularly funny on paper. Griffin is played by Skylar Gisondo (Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb) who is a likeable lead character who plays off of Dexter as if the two have been developing their routine for years.
Aspects of the film call to mind the musical Reefer Madness, based on anti drug propaganda from the 1930’s and full of false claims about its effects. Because the students in The Binge have never been exposed to alcohol and drugs, there’s a lot of myths and false beliefs about their effects. The movie plays these up for laughs later on when some of them prove to be correct in this world.
The film is narrated by a Morgan Freeman sound-alike, which makes it even more absurdly funny. Right from the start, it sets the tone with an anti drug PSA harvested from real clips from the annals of time played at a manic pace. Not every moment is funny, with some outrageous moments in the climactic “Gauntlet” challenge at the end falling flat, but overall it’s a laugh riot.
Is The Binge destined to become the next Superbad, American Pie, or Dazed and Confused? Probably not. It lacks the quotable lines and iconic moments to push it into the upper echelon of the genre. But if you’re a fan of this type of movie, you’re going to enjoy it.
I give The Binge 3.5 out of 5 twisty straws that spell the word “Binge.”
The Binge premieres Friday, August 28th, only on Hulu.