“Yo where my Ho’s at?”
Superbad is the teen movie they are always trying to make when they come up with Meet the Spartans and Eurotrip, it is profane, gross at times, silly and very, very funny. It is also one of the most realistic films that deal with the teen years that I can remember, except for the joke-a-minute stuff… and the fact that Jonah Hill gets the whip-smart likeable chick… And Michael Cera is knocking back headjobs… And McLovin’ scores the hot jailbait…
Come to think of it maybe this is NOTHING like growing up, but it still is funny.
For some reason the credits and music are largely stuck in the 70s funk era, even though the film is set in the present day. It most definitely is good funk music though, and never overpowers the film or distracts you from what is happening.
The film was written by Seth Rogen and his childhood buddy Evan when they were both kids in school, nerdy and unpopular. It deals with two school age kids named Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan (Micahel Cera) and how they desperately want to be popular and score with chicks.
Gee where do these guys come up with their ideas??
The first few minutes of the film show with reasonable accuracy the everyday goings on of a high school kid and his buddy. Rather than picking colleges (already done) they are picking porn sites to subscribe to. Rather than discuss school stuff they are discussing after school stuff, most prominently parties that they would like to attend, but won’t because they are dorks.
Now there are many factions among the unpopular at every school, the smart kids, the computer nerds, the disgusting, the emo/Goths, the try-hards and the dorks.
Dorks are usually not as physically mature as the cool, jock types, not as suave with the ladies, and not quite ready for mature conversation. They also aren’t computer geeky, nor total social lepers, they just aren’t quite ready yet.
Seth and Evan are dorks. Their friend Fogel (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) is also a dork, but exacerbates the situation by being a try-hard as well. His early attempts at hip-hop slang and mature banter create many uncomfortable chuckles. Fogel tells Seth and Evan that he is scoring a coveted fake ID that very day.
As the school year is rapidly winding down Seth, Fogel and Evan basically seem to ignore the class schedule, and track each other down to chat, we learn that they have been friends since childhood, but their plan of attending the same college and rooming together has been waylaid as Seth didn’t get the scores required. (This also rings true as I’d bet thousands that Jonah Hill has half the IQ of Michael Cera.)
Early in proceedings a “cool” chick in class named Jules mentions to Seth that she is having a party that night while her parents are away, she invites Seth and Evan along, and Seth tries to talk himself up by saying that he will have access to a fake ID and can bring the booze.
Much was made of “McLovin” in the marketing for Superbad, and with good reason, the scene in which Fogel unveils his new 25 year old Hawaiian organ-donor alias to the world is hilarious and creates much tension between the three leads, all of it leading to more jokes.
Seth thinks supplying alcohol to the party will get him into Jules’ pants, Evan thinks that buying some vodka for his muse Rebecca will gain him kudos, and who the hell knows what Fogel was thinking. I actually think his D&D obsessed character in Role Models is only a heartbeat away from McLovin anyway.
While in the bottle-O trying to buy the booze the store is held up and Fogel is knocked down, once the inept cops (Seth Rogen & Bill Hader) show up they not only seem to swallow his story and new McLovin persona, but they offer to take him to the party direct.
Seth and Evan assume the whole thing has gone horribly wrong and that Fogel is being taken to custody, and being teenage great buddies like they are they split.
Now in separate cars going in separate directions, Fogel and Seth and Evan spend the rest of the night trying to get to the party, dealing with the many circumstances that seem to conspire against them ever making it. These events include mobile phone problems, an adult party (with very adult situations), and all in brawl, repeated police intervention and Seth being hit not once, but twice by cars in separate incidents.
The film is always funny and often hilarious. It is irreverent, frequently gross and more true to life than a million American Pies or “Insert generic teen film here”.
Again to the point where all three dorks score to varying degrees on the first night!
Final Rating – 8 / 10. It can’t be a coincidence that every R Rated comedy worth its salt in the last 10 years had Judd Apatow’s fingerprints on it. Can it?
