Superbad Review
by Clint Morris
Read our Interview with Jonah Hill, Michael Cera & McLovin!
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Comedies are like See Saw’s – every once in a while the
genre really dips, just before it gets up again. In the late 90s, the
sexy, slightly crude, teen comedy American Pie
(1999) resurrected the stale genre and now, a decade or so later, it’s
the same type of raunchy unrestrained witty gags that are responsible
for comedy gold again.
And not just that, it’s the one
man that’s responsible for breathing new life into a genre that had
started to become synonymous with bad Freddie Prinze Jr comedies (and
piss-poor remakes starring Ice Cube), Mr Judd Apatow.
Anything
considered comedy gold this year probably has a credit attributed to
the guy. He is the master of the funny bone, and seems to know exactly
what makes a good pisser. With Knocked Up – inarguably one of the funniest and wittiest films of the past decade – and now Superbad, the man’s definitely on his way to running the funny-flick board. Give him a gavel and let him rule forever.
Superbad, co-written by Apatow and his Knocked Up star Seth Rogen,
is essentially what John Hughes (the king of the 80s teen comedy)
would’ve written if he penned something on crack. It’s a coming-of-age
story drowning in hilarious but crude gags and side-splitting pop
culture references.
Seth (Jonah Hill), Fogell (Christopher
Mintz-Plasse) and Evan (Michael Cera) are about to graduate. Not
expecting to be invited to a wild graduation party, they accept the
offer with glee and the promise of bringing the guest’s alcohol. Just
one problem – none of them are over 21, of course, so they’re going to
have to use Fogell’s new fake I.D. Unfortunately, the name on the card
reads ‘McLovin’.
“What are you, an Irish R&B singer?” Evan asks after reading the nom de plume on the card.
We
follow the three to a liquor store as they attempt to snag some booze
for the night, where they ultimately meet the harebrained cops (Bill
Hader and Seth Rogen) that develop a wacky relationship with ‘McLovin’
and finally, as they get to their party – and their dream dates.
Like Hughes (this one is a little reminiscent of that timeless party flick Sixteen Candles
– only with more dick references), Apatow and Rogen know their audience
– and though the guys in this get up to some pretty crazy things, let
alone speak like Bada-Bing clientele, you can’t help but assume it’s
not all far from the truth.
It wouldn’t be so funny if it
weren’t for the vibrant performances of the lead actors though – and
they’re terrific, especially newcomer Mintz-Plasse as the
destined-to-be-remembered-for-this-role-forever ‘McLovin’. And as the
cops, Hader and Rogen score quite a few good of the best lines in the
movie (a personal favourite was the ‘Yoda’ reference – you’ll know it
when you hear it).
Like Apatow’s The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up,
the jokes work because they’re fixed in reality. With this one, he
nails the modern-day teenager – so well, that the sexless underage
17-year-old won’t be able to help but laugh at themselves. And the
message isn’t all about ‘getting as much tit as you can before you go
to college’ either, it’s underlining theme is that of two friends
who’re about to say goodbye to one another.
One thing that must
be noted though is that Apatow didn’t direct this one – that honour
belongs to Greg Mottola. Hopefully after this they’ll be able to
actually use his name in the advertising materials, because he must
feel kinda cheated having his buddies’ names on the poster and not his.
Especially being his film and all.
Though it’s a little less chick-friendly than Knocked Up, and therefore the men might find it a little more of a tickler than the ladies, everyone’s bound to get something out of it.
Superbad is SuperGood! 4 out
of 5 Superbad
Australian
release: 20th September,
2007
Cast: Michael Cera, Jonah Hill, Seth Rogen, Bill Hader
Director: Greg Mottola
Website: Click
here.
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