Superbad (2007)
The Cast
Jonah Hill ... Seth
Michael Cera ... Evan
Christopher Mintz-Plasse ... Fogell
Bill Hader ... Officer Slater
Seth Rogen ... Officer Michaels
Martha MacIsaac ... Becca
Emma Stone ... Jules
Aviva ... Nicola
Joe Lo Truglio ... Francis the Driver
Kevin Corrigan ... Mark
Erica Vittina Phillips ... Mindy
Joe Nunez ... Liquor Store Clerk
Stacy Edwards ... Evan's Mom
Carla Gallo ... Period Blood Girl
David Krumholtz ... Benji Austin
Martin Starr ... James Masselin
This is another in a long line of hard-to-write reviews. Not that it's too difficult for me to type or anything, have no fear. It's just one of those movies that I enjoyed so immensely that I want to sit down and just type 5 / 5 in a huge font and let the review sit like that. But then I second guess myself a bit, wonder if people will question my credibility as a reviewer if I'm giving Superbad a perfect score, stuff like that. But then I decided, fuck that noise, the movie was a laugh riot and the story was great and when it comes out on DVD I'm going to buy it the first day it's available and that anyone that has such a high opinion of themselves that they'll judge a movie based on what they've seen in commercials and refuse to watch it because... I've lost my train of thought.
Directed by a friend of Judd Apatow, Greg Mottola, and co-written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, Superbad is about one day in the life of Seth (Hill) and Evan (Cera), two somewhat geeky high school students that trying to "get with" a couple of girls before they head off to college. Seth and Evan have been best friends since childhood, and the events that take place during this one day threaten to tear apart their friendship, all because of women. Oh, I guess booze, the police and bullies might also be factors, but mostly women. This viewpoint of mine may or may not ring as an endorsement of lazerbug's review.
A lot of people might be reluctant to plunk down their hard-earned money to go see Superbad just because it looks like a "dumb comedy". Kind of like how I won't be rushing out to see Hot Rod before it leaves theatres, or how I won't go out of my way to see Blades of Glory or Talladega Nights. However, I refuse to see anymore Will Ferrell movies because just like andythesaint doesn't find Ricky Gervais funny, I feel the same about Will Ferrell. Superbad, however, has the Judd Apatow / Seth Rogen seal of awesomeness on it, and based on their impressive pedigree, I will always plunk down money to see one of their movies.
A lot of that blind devotion of mine goes to the casting of these movies, as well as the wonderfully colourful and realistic-feeling dialogue that soaks every scene. Michael Cera is pretty much an acting veteran by now, and the awkward deliveries he gives - while reminscent of his character on Arrested Development - are so dead-on to how many high school geeks act in real life that I fear he'll always be asked to play this character. Because he's so good at it! Match up that solid perfection with the chemistry the entire cast shares and you've got yourself one hilarious and entertaining movie. I don't want to say too much here because I'm worried about spoiling all the awesome lines. I literally took 20 minutes to choose the quote for my cut because I was afraid of ruining an awesome laugh.
Usually when a movie is over - even if it's a great one - I'll be happy because it was an all-around decent package or whatever. When the credits started to roll on Superbad, I was saddened, and I stuck around for a bit just hoping that somehow there'd be more thrown into the mix. I haven't seen a tonne of movies from this year so far, but aside from Hot Fuzz and Knocked Up, there hasn't been a movie I truly loved that has hit theatres. Until now. In an effort to one day get my name on a movie poster as a reviewing guy, I came up with my tag line for the movie: "Superbad? More like SUPERAWESOME, jackass!"
5 / 5