Superbad

Seth Rogen has had about as good of a year as someone could have, save Shia Labeuf. He starred in the biggest comedy of the year, Knocked up and in it he got to make out with the unbelievably hot Katherine Heigel and became a star in his own right. He also wrote this movie, which critics have been praising and they praise his small role in this movie. He became an cting star and a writing star all in one year, it is hard to have a better year! This movie has been being written for 14 years and the lead characters take on the names of the two writers- Seth and Evan. I have been looking forward to this movie since I first saw a trailer and with so few comedies, scratch that, so few FUNNY comedies being released every year, I knew that if this would be funny it would be very funny.


Seth(Jonah Hill, the new overweight comic guy) and Evan(Michael Cera, who may be a comic genius) are co-dependant high school seniors who are not going to the same college next year. They have been best friends forever and as high school comes to end they realize they need to stop talking about sex and start actually having it. They both have objects of their affection, Seth desiring Jules (Emma Stone) and Evan desiring Becca(Marha MacIssac). They also have a friend whom they cannot stand, Fogel(Newcomer Christopher Mintz-Plaase) who just got his hands on a fake I.D. Without seeing this I.D Seth and Evan promise the girls they like they can score alcohol for Emma's party. Both boys think if they get their girls drunk they can nail them. They spend the rest of the movie looking for alcohol and encountering some hilarious people and situations. Fogel's I.D just says "McLovin" and thanks to the trailer that moment where he looks up and says "I am Mclovin" will live for a long time on shirts and what-not. Fogel becomes the victim of a robbery and the two cops who comes to solve it are possibly the worst cops ever. Officers Slater and Michaels (Bill Hader and Seth Rogen) are cops who drink on the job, shoot their guns of randomly and seem incapable of doing anything police like. Fogel, Seth and Evan run into these guys a few times throughout the evening and while I will not spoil exactly what happens, I liked that the movie took a real life approach as opposed to the fantasy route of say American Pie.


This movie is funny the way a Kevin Smith movie is funny- the comedy comes from things people actually say. Rogen and his writing partner, Goldberg have a way of capturing very authentic sounding dialogue. Yes, that makes it very filthy, but high schoolers often talk like that. Hill and Cera have an obvious connection and play incredibly well off each other. Hill's over the top hilarious monologues are balanced by Cera's bumbling awkwardness and like Abbot and Costello the differences in looks help to make the comedy. Hill is not afraid of a little physical comedy as he gets hit by 2 cars and Cera will find a way to say a line to make it funny, even if it was not written as a joke. This movie does live and die with these two stars and it lives big and hilarious because these two guys make it work. Both Rogen and Hader add great elements to the comedy as the out of touch cops but I do wish Hader got to use his vocal impressions a little more because on Saturday Night Live he is the at his best in impressions. he does do a little Yoda here and maybe he wants to stay away from them in movies, but even without impressions he is quite funny.


Yes the stuff that happens in this movie are over the top and pure movie situations but nothing ever seems like a side gag just for the sake of a side gag. We know that these boys want to find alcohol because they believe sex comes with it, so we understand that they will go to insane lengths to get it done, therefore no situation is entirely implausible and Fogel's insane dorkiness actually makes him cool because of how unaware he is that he is a dork. With Fogel, Plasse has created a brand new nerd for the world to rally behind, because of how great his performance is. He is cool, but always on edge and he gives all very nerdy people hope. The next thing I really loved about this movie is that the girls, while never rising above being objects, are not overly hot. Not to say they aren't hot because I happen to think both of them are but they aren't obviously hot. These are girls who could maybe find a way to be with nerds and that gives a sense of realism to the movie. I do wish the girls had been written a bit better, but I guess that is what makes Rogen a very good writer and not a great writer, like say Judd Apatow.


I cannot recommend this movie to everyone because the dialogue mostly fixates on sex and body parts involved in sex and that just doesn't work for some people, but the movie is truly hilarious from beginning to end and while it may not quite have the one-liners of a Kevin Smith or Judd Apatow script, it does have some wonderful zingers and some very funny real moments. In the end this movie is about two guys trying to find their place in the future and coming to terms to being separated after spending their entire lives together. There is a very touching moment towards the end that works because it doesn't lose the humor, but it manages to get very honest at the same time and in the end, that is what makes good movies, honesty, beneath everything else. When the opening credits of a movie hearken back to the 70's and feature silhouettes of our leads trying to dance and it cracks you up, you know you are in for a treat from the very beginning to the very end, period.