Premature is a sexual Groundhog Day. Rob Crabbe (Jon Karna) lives the same day over and over again, and it resets every time he climaxes. When you think about it, this really is how Groundhog Day would go if Bill Murray was a high schooler. Premature knows we’ve seen Groundhog Day and can catch on quick, so it doesn’t waste a lot of time repeating daily occurrences before Rob tries to change things. The editing style helps a lot too by montaging through some of the redundancies.
The film sets up a day we want to see Rob get right, but the clever part of it is that he is in control of the reset button. Bill Murray always had to wait until 6 AM to reset. If Rob climaxes before lunch, he wakes up again. This gives him the power to try a lot of crazy stunts, so long as he can find a place to jerk off.
As a teen movie, Premature is cavalier with teen sexuality, just like the dangerous ‘80s movies of John Hughes. There’s coercion, but Bill Murray used manipulation to score too. In Rob’s defense he knows the day is going to reset and she’ll be fine. If writer/director Dan Beers didn’t go there, he’d be playing it safe. There’s groping, and clever slut shaming is still slut shaming. Angela (Carlson Young) is the blonde babe Rob always pined for even though his brunette best friend Gabrielle (Katie Findlay) is totally lovely. You don’t need to live this day over and over again to know where this is going to end up. It’s a trope, but it’s a good trope.
The morality of the sex comedy is something to be discussed, but I think it is designed to end up in a good place. The moral of Groundhog Day was that he eventually learned to be a good person. The moral of Premature is that Rob realizes something subtler about the way he lets his friends and family influence him. He self-actualizes, which is a really important message for the target audience of this film. Be your own person, and don’t be groping.
Beers assembled a great young cast for this. John Karna is an everyteen, way cooler than us but can play the put upon teen like we all still feel. Angela is the fantasy object and Young owns it. As the friend we all know Rob should be with all along, Findlay is warm and loving. As the sleazy best friend Stanley, Craig Roberts goes intense on the vulgarity, and seems to know Stanley’s an A-hole. I think some supporting actors mistake that character for a wise sage. Stanley is entertaining for his accurate portrayal of a misguided hormonal teenager. In the outrageous role of Arthur, a sort of high school Godfather, Adam Riegler is this generation’s McLovin. That’s right, it’s already time for a new McLovin.
To reveal any of Premature’s satisfying payoffs would be to spoil them, but along the way to those resolutions it’s just a funny script. Sexual wordplays create quotable lines, and Alan Tudyk’s blubbering college interviewer is just a funny awkward situation that happens over and over and over again. Of course there’s lots of dirty jokes. The whole movie hinges on repeatedly waking up with stained sheets, so that’s what you’re in for. I suspect we’ll be hearing a lot more about Premature in the days to come.
Fred Topel is a staff writer at CraveOnline and the man behind Best Episode Ever and The Shelf Space Awards. Follow him on Twitter at @FredTopel.
