Superbad Review
“Remember all those awkward,angst filled moments at high school parties? That is this movie. Hillarity ensues.”
The days of R-Rated comedies are upon us and the cast of characters are populated throughout most of the films. Point being, you can consider seeing Vince Vaughn, Steve Carrell, Paul Rudd and the rest of the proverbial “frat-pack”, in about any R-Rated movie comedy to date. Is it safe to label these gents the postmark to the 80′s era of Murray-Akroyd-Ramis-Chase? I’d consider possibly, with the additions of two new driving forces in this arena. Enter Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen, the minds and talent behind 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up and the new teen classic Superbad.
What Superbad has going for it is that it doesn’t pretend to know how geeky the audience is, but merely represents that geekdom as somewhat heroic qualities. These guys aren’t the typical “Star-Wars-Loving-Comic-Book-Convention-Attending” geeks, but merely represent the driving, underlying quality of most adolescent white males who don’t play sports or are part of the higher echelon of the high-school social hierarchy. These gents are horny, dirty and lovingly pathetic.
And that’s what’s so endearing. Our heroes, Seth and Evan along with cohort Fogel (a.k.a. McLovin), are so easy to get behind and so easy to laugh at and with. Their arrested development seems funny because it strikes home (at least for me at some level) so strikingly. This movie is possibly one of the funniest movies I’ve seen with characters that are unforgettable. The dialogue is spot on and just purely hysterical. This movie totally captures the awkwardness of being in high school.
The actors, though relatively unknown, hit the bullseye on their preformances and just make memorable moments. The underlying theme of “the greatest love of all” possibly being your best friend is shown so endearingly and so, awkwardly homo-erotic, that between laughs, I found myself “Awww…”-ing. The cops are purely comedic and also give a little to the message and idea of the movie.
This movie earned it’s R-Rating and rightfully and happily so. I don’t remember laughing that much at a movie in a long time. While there are some moments that detract from the message just for pure potty humor or comedy, the film never loses it’s momentum. The subtleties of being able to portray the angst filled moments of our youth never get’s old, and Superbad captalizes big time. I give this movie a 9 out of 10 Bones, losing a Bone for some drag and detraction, but not totally noticeable. See this movie with a good friend, and you may find yourself looking over at them and tapping them on the nose. Boop!
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