‘Plan B’ Is the Raunchy, Latina-Directed Teen Comedy You Never Knew You Wanted

Courtesy Brett Roedel/Hulu

Natalie Morales is having a moment. Not only is she the new voice of Betty in the Rugrats reboot, but she’s also the director of a new, buzzy Hulu movie, “Plan B”. “Plan B” is a noted departure for the Morales. While the Cuban-American actress was a familiar face on TV shows, she has now turned her gaze to directing. Based on the reviews, Morales may have found her true calling behind the camera.

Critics are praising “Plan B” for being a raunchy teen comedy in the vein of “Superbad”. But instead of starring white teenage boys, “Plan B” has two brown, first-generation teen girls at its helm.

“Plan B” isn’t your classic teen movie, and Morales is proud of that fact. As she explained to KCRW, “”it’s actually an R-rated teen comedy, like the teen comedies we all grew up with, except, instead of getting alcohol for the party or getting the girl or getting your dad’s car back in time, it’s getting basic health care.”

Yes, it’s a traditional, gross-out teen comedy. But its protagonists are anything but. Sunny (Kuhoo Verma) and Lupe (Victoria Moroles) are best friends who march to the beat of their own drum. Sunny is the reserved and responsible daughter of Indian immigrants. Lupe, born to Mexican immigrants is more of an in-your face wild child.

After Sunny has unprotected sex at a high school party, she tries to get Plan B at the local pharmacy. But the pharmacist refuses to provide it to her on morality grounds (yes, it’s a thing). The girls must travel across South Dakota to get Plan B from the only Planned Parenthood in the state.

The movie’s subject matter hits close to home for Natalie Morales, who was born in Miami to Cuban refugee parents.

Morales identifies with the film’s main characters because they are trying to figure out who they are in a world that’s giving them mixed signals. They’re told to be one way by their strict, old-school parents, and at school, they’re expected to assimilate to mainstream American ideals.

“My whole family are Cuban refugees, and I was the first person born in the United States,” Morales told KCRW. “Immigrant parents] couldn’t really tell you what to expect or what to be like…because they were figuring it out on their own, and their perspective was completely different.” She added: “I think that’s something that a lot of children of immigrants share.”

Natalie Morales says her involvement in “Plan B” sprouted from the desire to create diverse, resonant stories that didn’t rely on mining through POC trauma to engage its audience.

“It’s essential and it’s also not difficult to make TV and movies look like the world around us,” Morales told NBC News. She also insisted that it’s “not difficult to make TV and movies look like the world around us.” “Stories about us are a bigger swath than just the trauma,” she said.

“Plan B” is now streaming on Hulu.