My City Buzz - What's YOUR Buzz??? - Review

Home

Movie Reviews

Review - Superbad

Written by Taryn Shick

Friday, 17 August 2007

Starring: Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Bill Hader, Seth Rogen, Emma Stone, Martha MacIssac
Written by: Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg
Directed by: Greg Mottola

Superbad is another great movie from that comic genius, Judd Apatow. Judd has brought us such great films as Anchorman: The Ron Burgundy Story, The 40-Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up. Judd was writer/producer on the latter two films. He was only the producer on Anchorman, as he is for Superbad.

Superbad follows three high school boys on the verge of graduation as they try to change their image from dud to stud. Michael Cera (Arrested Development) plays Evan, a very awkward but very sweet kid. Jonah Hill (Grandma’s Boy, Knocked Up) plays Seth, the very blunt, obnoxious, rude but in a funny way, best friend of Evan. Christopher Mintz-Plasse makes his acting debut as the total geek who turns super cool named Fogell aka McLovin.

The boys are trying to get to a party and have to overcome many obstacles to get there. Anticipate a lot of sex jokes and drunken hilarity. The cast is rounded out with Emma Stone and Martha MacIssac playing Jules and Becca. Jules is the object of Seth’s affection as Becca is for Evan. A lot of the movie centers on the boys’ attempts to impress these ladies and create many of the best moments.

Then there’s Officers Slater and Michaels, played by Bill Hader and Seth Rogen. The officers seem to try to excel at being totally incompetent, but not from being stupid. Rather their superb ability to master great levels of inefficiency is due to seeking out just having a good time and avoiding doing any actual work as much as possible.

Superbad is hysterical. I love the plethora of very realistic awkward adolescent moments. The situations within the movie are insanely ridiculous. The acting is so much fun. I was laughing almost non-stop through the entire movie.

What I love best about Judd Apatow films is the feeling you get watching them. You just feel like you’re hanging out with your best friends, having a really good time. You can tell that’s how the movies are. It’s just a bunch of friends who got together and made a movie full of really hilarious moments.

Apatow has revamped a genre previously occupied by goofy films of the 80s like Porky’s and Meatballs and to a lesser extent films of the 90s like American Pie. It’s that mix of sex, drugs and rock and roll tossed in with a bizarre cast of characters that yields great comedy. Apatow has taken that genre and made it better. The 80s and 90s films rely more on gross-out humor and stupid situations. Apatow’s films do get a lot of their humor from these elements, but they also have really great characters brought to life with really good acting - an element that is hard to find in films from previous decades.

Seth Rogen is responsible for writing Superbad, along with Evan Goldberg. Both have previously written for Da Ali G Show. Seth has acted in many of Apatow’s projects, including TV shows Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared and films The 40-Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up. It seems that Superbad might be semi-autobiographical, with Jonah Hill’s character being named Seth and Jonah looking quite a bit like Seth Rogen. I imagine the true story part might only include the awkward moments and the funnier situations are largely embellished – but really well.
Superbad is awesome. It is so funny and so fun – I just love it! I recommend it highly and predict it will have you quoting it often and doing donuts in empty parking lots at 2 A.M. while listening to Van Halen’s Panama. You’ll see what I mean. Oh yeah.

Grade: A

One person has commented on this article.

1. Untitled
Mitch Emerson, Registered

It's so funny I have seen it twice before it even opened!

Posted 2007-08-17 13:15:23

< Prev		Next >