2008 Woodie Awards
Now Rating: "Superbad"
Kevin Eagan
Issue date: 8/21/07 Section: A&E
Sex and booze. Geeks versus jocks. What more do you need to make another teen movie?
"Superbad" has all of the elements of another bad teen comedy: a lot of sex jokes, the foibles of climbing up the high school social ladder and the climactic house party where the geeks and the jocks finally get along, until the cops show up and bust it. However, this only scratches the surface of "Superbad" - it is also a touching, coming of-age story that evokes the difficulties of high school and the importance of friendship.
Don't let the title fool you: "Superbad" isn't bad at all. In fact, the movie is a no-holds-barred comedy that will have you cracking up throughout.
Directed by Greg Mottola and written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, the movie follows a day in the life of Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan (Michael Cera), two friends who are desperate for sex before high school ends and they are left to survive college on their own. Sound familiar? "Superbad" has all of the criteria for a throwaway teen comedy, but it redeems itself early and shows us that teen comedies can still be fresh and original.
In fact, the opening credits are the first sign of originality. Playing off of some surrealistic '70s disco music video (or, worse yet, the opening credits to a James Bond film), the silhouettes of Seth and Evan jerk spasmodically to the beat of a disco track that fades into the stereo of Seth's car as he stops by to pick up Evan for school. From there, it's all crude jokes and questionable morals; in other words, don't bother watching this with your grandma.
The movie is packed full of crude comedy, but it's great fun. Seth, the chubby, fun loving geek and Evan, the tall, sensitive geek strike out on a quest to get laid and buy booze for the girls they are trying desperately to impress. Along the way, their equally geeky friend Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) transforms himself into the fake-ID toting "McLovin." That's the name on the ID. McLovin. No first or last name. Just McLovin.
"Superbad" has all of the elements of another bad teen comedy: a lot of sex jokes, the foibles of climbing up the high school social ladder and the climactic house party where the geeks and the jocks finally get along, until the cops show up and bust it. However, this only scratches the surface of "Superbad" - it is also a touching, coming of-age story that evokes the difficulties of high school and the importance of friendship.
Don't let the title fool you: "Superbad" isn't bad at all. In fact, the movie is a no-holds-barred comedy that will have you cracking up throughout.
Directed by Greg Mottola and written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, the movie follows a day in the life of Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan (Michael Cera), two friends who are desperate for sex before high school ends and they are left to survive college on their own. Sound familiar? "Superbad" has all of the criteria for a throwaway teen comedy, but it redeems itself early and shows us that teen comedies can still be fresh and original.
In fact, the opening credits are the first sign of originality. Playing off of some surrealistic '70s disco music video (or, worse yet, the opening credits to a James Bond film), the silhouettes of Seth and Evan jerk spasmodically to the beat of a disco track that fades into the stereo of Seth's car as he stops by to pick up Evan for school. From there, it's all crude jokes and questionable morals; in other words, don't bother watching this with your grandma.
The movie is packed full of crude comedy, but it's great fun. Seth, the chubby, fun loving geek and Evan, the tall, sensitive geek strike out on a quest to get laid and buy booze for the girls they are trying desperately to impress. Along the way, their equally geeky friend Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) transforms himself into the fake-ID toting "McLovin." That's the name on the ID. McLovin. No first or last name. Just McLovin.
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