Producer Judd Apatow, the man behind crude-yet-touching comedic gems The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up, has another winner on his hands with Superbad.
You can’t help but root for the film’s awkward heroes Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan (Michael Cera), best friends trying to score with girls before they graduate high school and head off to different colleges in the fall. When they’re unexpectedly invited to a popular girl’s party with the caveat that they must score alcohol for it, they enlist the help of an even geekier guy, Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse). Fogell’s secret weapon is his brand new fake ID, which identifies him as 25-year-old Hawaiian organ donor, McLovin.
But their plan unravels from the get-go as a liquor store robbery takes Fogell/McLovin out of the picture and leaves Seth and Evan broke and up the creek without a six-pack. Determined not to arrive at the shindig empty-handed, they cook up other schemes to acquire the booze.
Knocked Up star Seth Rogen and his high school mate Evan Goldberg wrote the semi-autobiographical script when they were teens growing up in British Columbia, and if you’re easily offended by sex jokes this probably isn’t the film for you. Some of Seth’s utterances are amusing but vulgar. Yet, what sets this film apart from lesser films in this genre (American Pie, Can’t Hardly Wait), is its heart and its honesty. These guys know they’re in over their heads but they try anyway, desperately and hilariously, to get what they want, even if they’re somewhat afraid of actually getting it.
Christopher Mintz-Plasse IS McLovin
An overarching theme in the film is that of friendship and the separation anxiety both Evan and Seth feel but won’t easily admit. They know that when they go off to different schools things are going to change and that freaks them out. What happens to them in the movie is at times far-fetched but their emotions are achingly true to life.
With Fogell/McLovin, Rogen and Goldberg have created a character for the ages. This is Christopher Mintz-Plasse’s first film role and it’s a star-making one. Fogell steals the scenes he’s in, notably the ones with a pair of inept cops (Rogen and Bill Hader), and owns the movie’s most memorable line: “I am McLovin.”
Though I had a riot watching Superbad – I figure any comedy that makes me laugh out loud more than 10 times is an unqualified success – make no mistake, this is a movie written by guys, for guys, and the female characters are little more than the object of the heroes’ affections. But I think most of us, male or female, will look at Seth and Evan and see a little of our own uncertain selves when we were teens. Like life, it’s goofy, genuine, messy, real, and as such deserves to be seen.
Superbad (*** out of 5)
Rated: R
Directed by: Greg Mottola
Starring: Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Seth Rogen, Bill Hader
Written by: Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg
Related links: Official site, IMDB page, Apple trailer
Review by Cate Jones
Agree? Disagree? Email Cate at criticizecate@gmail.com
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