“Never Change!” will make you laugh if it’s the last thing it does.

Debuting this week, the straight-to-Hulu absurdist movie never stops throwing, er, stuff against the wall in the hopes enough of it sticks comedically.

Enough of it does.

Written by one of its lead cast members, John Reynolds (“Search Party”), and directed by Marty Schousboe (“Joe Pera Talks With You”), “Never Change!” is built on the tried-and-true comedy formula involving adults being sent back to school. It worked in “Billy Madison.” It worked in the “21 Jump Street” movies. Heck, it worked in “Back to School.”

It works here, albeit in the silliest and, at times, even downright stupidest ways possible.

The setup: The class that would have graduated from North Meadows High School saw their senior year cut short in 2008 due to a devastating tornado. No big deal — they all went on with their lives, as sad and pathetic as some of them would seem to be. Well, now a new bit of education-centric government legislation is requiring them all to return to the school to actually earn their diplomas.

Obviously, this is rough news for many of them, including a suddenly distraught TV newscaster delivering the report, Katie Cartwright (Sofia Black-D’Elia). Also, the seemingly unbalanced Curtis Eldridge (Gary Richardson) — coworkers believe he’s training to kill someone in the company gym — loses his job when his jerk of a boss (Billy Bryk) learns he didn’t actually graduate from high school.

On the other hand, husband, father and bar owner Tedi Mayo (Carmen Christopher) — whose informational placard describes his high school persona as “slacker, wasteoid” and lists his 2.1 grade point average — is embracing the opportunity, hoping this return to the classroom will lead to bigger and better things for him.

These student graphics are pretty funny, the one for class president-turned-corporate human resources rep Amelia Nadler (Jo Firestone) crosses out her “married” status and writes under it “dead inside.”

Last but not least is Reynolds’ Sunny Football, whose occupation “changes daily” and whose status is “open to literally anything.” The one-time jock is a mess of a person who has invented pants made entirely of towels and whose basic hygiene is called into question.

At a gathering at Tedi’s bar, Stools, the night before class is to start — during the school’s fall break, so the regular students are not subjected to this bunch — Katie is stunned to see her high school flame, Sunny, whom she’d long believed to have died. (We can see it.)

They hook up, on and off, of course, while Amelia and Curtis grow close while working on the school play.

One of the many ridiculous conceits of the story — credited to Reynolds and Schousboe — is the school administration’s desire to re-create much about 2008, right down to the prom and the play. The latter causes much distress to pretentious drama teacher Mr. Whiley (a game, long-haired Topher Grace), who is endlessly frustrated by having to direct untalented 35-year-olds.

The stakes are higher for Ana Gasteyer’s Principal Nadler, Amelia’s mother, whose continued employment is tied to the class’ success.

Along with the familiar faces in Gasteyer (“Saturday Night Live”) and Grace (“That ’70s Show”), Zach Cherry (“Severance”) and Reynolds’ hilarious “Search Party” castmate John Early are among those portraying minor figures.

Firestone (“Joe Pera Talks With You”) turns in the most memorable work in front of the camera, as Amelia is desperate to be remembered by any of her classmates, while Christopher (“The Bear”) is enjoyable as the over-the-top Tedi. And, believe it or not, you may actually become just the tiniest bit invested in whether Sunny and Katie will have a future together, due at least in part to the chemistry between Reynolds and Black-D’Elia (“Single Drunk Female”).

The performance by Richardson (“Saturday Night Live”) never quite comes together, though, even as the script takes Curtis in some wild directions.

No one element of “Never Change!,” from an individual performance to a running gag, stands out, but you can’t help but appreciate the cornucopia of reasonably humorous ingredients that make up this wild stew, from the insanely horny sex-ed teacher (Maria Thayer) to Tedi’s terrible showing in class (a teacher begs him to shut up after his fifth consecutive incorrect answer) to sad student (Micah Sterenberg) inviting classmates to a party at his house — not because his parents are out of town but because they’ve just died!

And, oh, we almost forgot: In 2008, a mysterious, never-apprehended figure was killing handsome men, stuffing them into cheap suitcases and leaving them inside chain restaurants, so expect that to factor into the proceedings, too.

Reynolds and Schousboe clearly believe that more is more, and they might be right.

We see a second viewing somewhere in our near future, at which point we’d be more comfortable giving this ambitious-in-its-way affair a true letter grade. For now, it passes, if not with flying colors.

———

‘NEVER CHANGE!’

2.5 stars (out of 4)

Rating: TV-MA

Running time: 1:38

How to watch: On Hulu June 17

———

©2026 The News-Herald (Willoughby, Ohio). Visit The News-Herald (Willoughby, Ohio) at www.news-herald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.