Superbad
Rated: R
Runtime: 1 hour, 58 minutes
Directed by: Greg Mottola
Starring:
Jonah Hill - Seth
Michael Cera - Evan
Christopher Mintz-Plasse - Fogell / McLovin
Bill Hader - Officer Slater
Seth Rogen - Officer Michaels
Emma Stone - Jules
Martha MacIsaac - Becca
While Judd Apatow’s Knocked Up may be the best overall comedy of 2007, Knocked Up star Seth Rogen co-wrote Superbad which takes the crown for funniest film this year. Unless you simply don’t go for raunchy humor (in which case, you probably didn’t agree that Borat was the funniest film of 2006), Superbad will have you grabbing your sides in pain as its charming and lovable leads can find the humor in the simple act of a day in home-ec or running from the cops.
Seth (Accepted’s Jonah Hill) and Evan (Arrested Development’s Michael Cera) are two weeks away from graduating from high school and like all non-popular teenage guys, they are obsessed with losing their virginity. While neither is totally devoid of sexual experience, they also lack confidence and think that they only way they can get a hot chick into bed is through the use of copious amounts of alcohol. The film certainly touches on the murky moral issue of such a move, but manages to find the heart of such a dubious plot and its easily carried by the charm and affability of its two leads. The quest for alcohol runs alongside a plot as Seth and Evan’s friend Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) ends up hanging with the world’s two most irresponsible cops (Rogen and SNL’s Bill Hader). Both stories end up help keep the two-hour comedy never feeling long by maintaining a steady pace and never dwelling on one group for too long.
The amount of sexually-frank dialog is handled wonderfully by Hill who makes Seth into a character we can all recognize as our friend who has way too much sex on the brain but not enough in the bed (and if you don’t know someone who talks like Seth, tell Jesus I said “hi” when you’re at church next Sunday). The timidity and awkward humor of Cera’s performance may end up wondering if he’s just reproducing his George Michael character from Arrested Development but despite the similar demeanor, Cera understands how Evan comes from a different place where he shares the shyness but also has a streak of deadpan blue humor that George Michael could never manage.
I haven’t talked much about the jokes in the film because Superbad is a film that works best when you can let the shock of the A-jokes hit you while knowing the movie will have a serious shelf-life due to its honesty and subtle comic genius of its cast. Despite lacking any big name stars, Superbad clearly has the makings of a word-of-mouth hit and the breakout feature for its two leads. Apatow’s brilliance is in nurturing stories that are not only funny but also find a heart without being hammy or overbearing. Working on this script since he was 13, Rogen has clearly picked up on Apatow’s gift and managed to develop a movie that is in the same vein of Knocked Up but appealing more to our perverted inner child than our stunted adult.
Words by
Matt Goldberg
7.12.07