A teen sex comedy for the latest generation of high school minors, whose sneaking-in to the film aren’t hurting its box office clout.
THINGS THIS MOVIE CONTAINED: A plethora of sexual jokes/references, lots of liquor, amusingly crooked cops, and of course, McLovin.
THINGS THIS MOVIE DID NOT CONTAIN:My long-lost collection of Pogs, Brontosaurus Burgers, Scott Bakula’s Worchester sauce.
The Review: Taking place during the course of one day, Superbad explores the misadventures of a trio of high school seniors named Evan, Seth, and Fogell. All three remain virgins as the school year nears its end, lacking popularity and skills with the opposite sex. What starts off as a mission to score alcohol for their female crushes goes completely awry, delaying their arrival to the first party they’ve finally been invited to.
The humor is dirty, the main characters are typical, and the plot is familiar. To the myspace using teen generation, this is a fresh and different comedy that they can relate to, unlike the other Judd Apatow-influenced flicks of the past few years. It’s still enjoyable for older crowds, but we’ve seen this sort of film before. Since its release, the film has been widely promoted, praised, and yes, over-hyped. It’s a fun comedy, but the real laughs of the film don’t kick in until the two disturbingly funny cops come onto the screen.
As Evan, Michael Cera returned to his role of George Michael Bluth from ArrestedDevelopment. He plays virtually the same character, except now he cracks dick jokes. Jonah Hill (as Seth) delivered the weakest comedic performance, outshined by newcomer Christopher Mintz-Plasse (But we'd rather call him 'McLovin'). Hill’s shouting dialogue deliveries seemed overacted and forced, while Mintz-Plasse is either a shining new talent or was possibly playing an exaggeration of himself (either way, it works). Bill Hader was particularly hilarious in his role as wayward police officer Slater, training a new cop played by the script's co-writer, Seth Rogen.
The script provided several memorable quotes, and the adventures of ‘McLovin’ and the two cops were stand outs over those of the two lead roles. Superbad is worth a watch. The main elements of it may not be original, but they are executed well enough.
Complaints: I’ve seen this pre-college sex comedy concept already, and it was done better before. It was called American Pie.
On a side note: Why use a fake ID to get liquor when you can implement a perfectly good befuddling spell?
