Netflix’s new high-school comedy ‘Incoming’ is so eager to please that it never does anything to do that. Sold as the Gen-Z’s version of ‘Superbad,’ the film does very little to actually make its raunchiness part of the spectrum it wants you to experience. Starring Mason Thames, Ramon Reed, Raphael Alejandro & Bardia Seiri as the four teenagers in their first week of high school and the biggest party of the year that they become a part of, directors Dave and John Chernin (known for their television work on the hit series ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) have tried to bring the wildness back into the high-school-party-gone-wild sub-genre. But we have to look into it more closely to see if it works or not.
In the following article we will take a look at what happens during the movie and where it leads these four kids. Please be aware that this article will be full of spoilers so please proceed with caution.
Incoming (2024) ‘Netflix’ Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
Benj (not Benji, played by Mason Thames) is one of those nice geek kids who suddenly develops a crush on a senior and would do anything in their hands to become cool. He has a mean old sister, Alyssa (Ali Gallo), who only cares about two things – her new nose job and her ex-girlfriend, who seems to have moved on faster than she anticipated. Bailey (Isabella Ferreira), who is the girl Benj has a crush on, is the only one who tolerates Alyssa’s mean side and is her best friend.
First Day as a Freshmen
It’s Benj’s first day as a freshman, and he is excited to see what and how he can navigate it by hanging out with cool people and finding a way to impress and possibly get Bailey to like him back. However, his day doesn’t go off to a good start when he is assigned to carpool with Ruby (Thomas Barbusca), a grade-A douche-bag who is involved in selling fake drugs to people who would fall for his ammeter trap (basically everyone on the high-school level). After school that day, Ruby also forced him to be part of a fake drug drop to some boys at the skatepark.
At school, though, Benji reveals to his friends how he had his first interaction with Bailey, which is an amalgamation of nice little teenage jitters, basic flirting, and an unkempt nipple that remained visible to him and him alone. He also tells them that he felt a connection between them and would like it to turn into something bigger. However, that would involve wooing her off her feet, which is impossible for someone like him who still practices kissing his room mirror.
This is when Danah reveals to Benj, Connor, and Eddie that he is throwing a huge-ass rager at his house (basically, his older brother Kavyon is the one throwing the party) and that they should all come to it. No freshmen are allowed at the party, but Danah promises his friends that he can have them in. Benj gets excited because the party would mean him having a chance to express his feelings to Bailey, and while Connor and Eddie are not really interested, they decide to go anyway.
However, at the party, we learn that Danah’s older brother – who is an asshole who beats him (the movie casually drops this info with little to no way of addressing it) has asked him only to allow one of his friends to attend the party. The four of them unanimously decide that Benj should be the plus one that Danah brings to the party, which means Connor and Eddie will head home.
The Cool teacher who refuses to grow up
For some odd reason, Netflix’s Incoming also has one more character in the mix to make the narrative feel longer than it is supposed to. Bobby Cannavale stars as Mr. Studebaker, the school chemistry teacher who is also sort of like an icon among students because he is a try-hard who refuses to act his age. He cusses like them and talks to them in the Gen Z lingo when all of his friends seem busy hanging out with him after his divorce; he is also found at the party.
A Literal shit-show
While home and after a lot of basic video-game playing sessions at Eddie’s, Connor gets pissed about being dropped from the party. A little background to give you context: Eddie is like the geekiest of geeks; he is the good boy who would not do anything wrong even when opportunities arise. However, he has a soft spot that Connor hits on.
So, Dennis is the man who has been dating his mother, a man he dislikes just for being who he is – a sloppy, smothering douche who wouldn’t stop at anything to let Eddie know that he is banging his mom. So, when Connor decides that they will take Dennis’ car parked in the garage while he and Eddie’s mother are out on a date, he reluctantly agrees.
After driving around the city for a bit, the two of them decide to drive by Danah’s house to see what is up with the party. When they reach there, they see that the hottest chick in the college, Katrina Aureinna (Loren Gray), is drunk out of her mind, and her friends put her into their car, thinking that it’s the Uber they had booked.
After making a stop so that she can eat to her heart’s content, they try to ask her for her address. However, she soon passes out, which leads them to go to her purse and find her identity card. But before they can get to her place, they realize that she has popped into the backseat and is now covered in her feces. The two of them lose their mind as to what they should do about this, now that they have ruined Denis’ car and also have a drunk senior covered in her shit on the back of their vehicle.
Back at the party, Danah shows Benj his surveillance set-up and how he plans to prey on the most vulnerable person at the party to hook up with him. Benj is not happy with his setup, but since he is fixed on the fact that he wants Bailey to like him, he does not pay heed to Danah’s oddness.
The First Kiss
When Bailey arrives at the party, he sees her through the cameras and approaches her. However, Benj’s sister takes her away from her. He is left alone at the party, but when Cool Jeff (Devon Weetley) approaches him, he does not freak out and is confident enough to talk to him. Mr. Studebaker tries to be cool about him being at the party, too, but he ends up participating in the teenager’s wild antiques nonetheless. While all this is happening, Benj tries to take a second chance and roam around the house to find Bailey, only for Danah to tell him that she is leaving.
So, he rushes to her and persuades her to stay for ‘the beer that she promised.’ The two of them hang out by the pool and clearly have a great time in each other’s company. However, this is where the party starts taking wild turns, notably when Mr. Studebacker gets a little too drunk and gets electrocuted in the swimming pool and when the guys from the skatepark show up and get even with Ruby for selling them fake shit. A fight breaks out when Ruby blames Benj for the drug fuckup, and Kayvon Koushani intervenes for the disruption to his party, also breaking Alyssa’s nose in the crossfire.
Trying to hide from all the chaos, Benj goes into the house. This is where Bailey finds him, and the two of them share their first, second, and third kisses. Bailey confesses that she likes Benj too, but if they are going to be together, they have to do it in secret because she is a senior who also needs to survive in school.
What do Connor and Eddie do with Katrina?
After finding themselves in a literal mess they can’t get out of, Connor and Eddie decide to leave Katrina near the Fire station, but soon, they find that their conscience doesn’t let them leave the drunk girl on her own. So, the two of them decide to take her back to Eddie’s home, but before that, they clean her up, put her in clean clothes, and get her to sleep in their beds before crashing out on the couch themselves.
Is Danah able to get laid?
Danah finds his prey in the party in Gabrielle (Victoria Moroles). He first tricks her into using the bathroom in the basement, then locks himself in their house spa, offering her a massage since they are locked in. He is almost able to get her into the bathtub after the massage is over, but his plans fail when he slips and dislocates his shoulders, where he is forced to tell Gabrielle that he had the key all along. This pisses her off as she leaves him with his pain.
Danah is, however, able to have his pseudo-meet cute with Alyssa, who is also at the hospital for her broken nose. The two of them convenience each other that even though they are assholes, they need to be themselves in order to survive.
How does Benj mess things up with Bailey?
After the kiss, Benj and Bailey dissipate to the party, gelling up with other people. This is when Cool Jeff asks Benj to hang out with them. Benj is not interested, but since he does not want to make a bad impression on his seniors, he decides to tag along. They offer him some drug to sniff, and when he sniffs it off a girl’s stomach, Bailey walks into the room and is clearly unhappy to see the innocent little Benj involved in drugs and other dirty stuff.
When Cool Jeff tells Benj that what he has sniffed is not Coke but Katemine, the rest of the night zips by while he sits on the couch, unmoved by anything else happening at the party. The party comes to an end when the police arrive and vacate the premises.
Incoming (2024) ‘Netflix’ Movie Ending, Explained:
Do Benj and Bailey end up together?
The next morning, both Benj and his sister Alyssa get an earful from their mother, who is unhappy about Ketamine and the broken nose. However, the party sort of brings the brother and sister, who don’t see eye to eye, closer. Alyssa tells Benj that he has messed things up with Bailey, who clearly likes her for being the nice little kid who sings Stevie Wonder and blushes when she is in the same room as him.
A lot happens at school, though. Eddie is able to stand up for himself against Dennis by literally telling him everything that happened in his car the previous night. At the school assembly, Connor and Eddie are no longer bullied by seniors because Katrina invites them both to sit with her. However, the biggest of them all is Benj deciding to head up to the announcement mike and sing “Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours)” by Stevie Wonder before he proposes to Bailey to be his girlfriend.
However, despite the whole school supporting his gesture, Bailey rejects his proposal in front of everyone. This doesn’t break his heart, though, because as she is leaving the hall, she looks back at him and winks, singingly, that their relationship will very much happen, but in absolute secrecy like they had promised back at the party.
Now, will there be a future for Bailey and Benj? Probably not. Like most high-school romances that fizzle out when things get serious, I assume they will also not have a future beyond the coming years. However, if that is a plotline that seems interesting to you, wait till Netflix announces Incoming 2, another round of raunchy high-school fun, because the streaming giant is looking to turn anything into an IP at this point.
Is there an end-credit scene in Netflix’s Incoming?
In a mid-credit scene, Mr. Studebaker is called into the principal’s office. The principal is not interested in talking to him, so she just shows him a clip of him being wild and free at a high school party. Studebaker moves out, realizing that he is fired.
Incoming (2024) ‘Netflix’ Movie Review:
Much like movies that center around a high-school party, such as Project X, Booksmart, American Pie, etc., the Netflix rager is neither too wild, too offensive, nor too anything to be remarkable in the slightest bit. The film actually plays it safe when it comes to a high-school party movie.
I mean, these movies don’t necessarily work because of how smart the plot is. What else would you expect from a movie that is basically just one big party? However, Incoming cannot establish a single complete character that remains memorable. The party doesn’t even start 20 minutes into the movie, but in those 20 minutes, the film cannot use a single line of exposition to give these kids any personality.
Movies like Superbad become cult because they at least have a single character that we can relate to or laugh with. Incoming is just a whole lot of nothing that fails at every possible instance, that of being a high-school comedy that is at least fun while it lasts.
