Incoming (film)

Incoming
Release poster
Directed by	Dave Chernin John Chernin
Written by	Dave Chernin John Chernin
Produced by	Nicholas Stoller Conor Welch Todd Garner Mark Korshak Gary Barber Peter Oillataguerre Peter Principato Ben Silverman
Starring	Mason Thames Bobby Cannavale
Cinematography	Ricardo Diaz
Edited by	Elizabeth Praino Josh Crockett
Music by	Jonathan Sadoff
Production companies	Spyglass Media Group Artists Road
Distributed by	Netflix
Release date	August 23, 2024 (2024-08-23)
Running time	91 minutes[1]
Country	United States
Language	English

Incoming is a 2024 American teen comedy film written and directed by Dave Chernin and John Chernin in their feature length debut. It was released on Netflix on August 23, 2024.

Benji is an incoming high school freshman eager to reinvent himself and wants to date his older sister Alyssa's friend, Bailey. His friends Eddie and Connor are also excited to make a new name for themselves, and their other friend Koosh is eager to live up to his older brother's reputation.

Benj's assigned carpool, senior student Ruby, involves him in a fraudulent drug sale by selling vitamins to skateboarders instead of MDMA. Koosh convinces his friends to attend his older brother's party that weekend. While Eddie and Connor are reluctant, Benj jumps at the chance to pursue Bailey. When they arrive at the party, Koosh reveals his brother is only allowing one of them to attend, and Benj convinces the others to let it be him. When Bailey and Alyssa arrive at the party, Benj talks to them briefly before he's left alone and interacts with a group of rowdy older students. Meanwhile, chemistry teacher Mr. Studebaker arrives and quickly becomes increasingly intoxicated.

Connor, bored at Eddie's house, convinces the latter to steal his mom's irritating boyfriend's Tesla to drive to the party. When they arrive, popular girl Katrina, who is severely intoxicated, gets in the car believing that they're her Uber. They get Taco Bell and Katrina passes out. Eddie nearly crashes the car after Katrina has diarrhea, causing the feces to spray all over them and the car. Connor and Eddie debate leaving her at the fire department before eventually deciding to care for her and clean the car.

At the party, Alyssa is criticized by her ex-girlfriend for being unkind. Mr. Studebaker lights accidentally lights himself on fire and jumps into the pool. Ruby warns Benj that the skaters they ripped off are at the party. When confronted, Ruby blames Benj entirely and gets punched. Before they can attack Benj, Koosh's older brother intervenes, and after Ruby attacks one of the skaters with a cattle prod, a fight breaks out; Alyssa gets her nose broken by accident and Mr. Studebaker is inadvertently electrocuted. Running away, Benj and Bailey kiss and reveal mutual affection for one another. Meanwhile, Koosh orchestrates a meet cute with a girl named Gabrielle by pretending they are trapped in his family's indoor spa.

Benj socializes and dances with Bailey. The group of rowdy older students invite him to a room where they're snorting lines of what Benji believes to be cocaine. Peer pressured, he does a line only to discover it is Ketamine, causing him to enter into a dissociative state. Bailey finds him, gets upset and leaves. The police arrive and break up the party. Koosh's plan fails after slipping on water and injuring his shoulder. He bonds with Alyssa who is also at the hospital. Mr. Studebaker attempts to drive home but is unable to do so because his car key fob has melted.

The morning after, after being berated by their mom, Benj confides in Alyssa who comforts Benj, telling him to be himself as that is who Bailey likes. Katrina wakes up and attacks Connor and Eddie, she quickly recalls what happened and leaves in embarrassment. Eddie finally stands up to his mom's boyfriend. At a pep rally, Katrina defends Connor and Eddie, she apologizes and thanks them for being kind to her. Inspired by Alyssa's advice, Benj sings Stevie Wonder to Bailey and asks her out in front of the school, which she publicly rejects. However while leaving, she secretly turns and winks at Benj.

In an end credits scene, Principal Hutchens fires Mr. Studebaker after a video of him partying with students comes to light.

The film was written and directed by Dave Chernin and John Chernin in their feature debut. Producers on the film include Nicholas Stoller and Conor Welch for Stoller Global Solutions, Todd Garner, Peter Principato, Ben Silverman and Mark Korshak for Artists Road and Peter Oillataguerre. The rights to the film were purchased by Netflix in November 2023.^[2] The cast is led by Mason Thames, Bobby Cannavale, Kaitlin Olson and Scott MacArthur as well as Bardia Seiri, Ramon Reed and Raphael Alejandro.^[3] First look images from principal photography were released in July 2024.^[4]

The film was made available to stream on Netflix on August 23, 2024.^[5]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 27% of 22 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.0/10.^[6] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 38 out of 100, based on eight critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.^[7]

• Incoming on Netflix
• Incoming at IMDb