Review Of: Superbad

Imagine A World Where (the synopsis) …

Seth, borrowing hair and clothing from Napoleon Dynamite, and trying his best not to do a Chris Farley impression, and Evan, a dumber version of William Miller from Almost Famous, embark on a journey to provide alcohol for a party in an attempt to impress their two crushes. Wait. Actually, I could cut and paste the synopsis for Stardust in here and it would still work … check it out.

STARDUST
Tristan is the local loser who has a crush on the town hottie. In order to prove his worthiness and love for the hot chick, he sets off to find the remains of a shooting star and bring them back to the shallow, attractive girl. Along the way, Tristan encounters witches and princes and spells and black magic and talking animals and pirates and most importantly, the shooting star – whose actually is Claire Danes.

SUPERBAD
Seth and Evan are the local high school losers who have crushes on the town hotties. In order to prove their worthiness and love for the hot chicks, they set off to find alcohol and bring it back to the shallow, attractive girls. Along the way, Seth and Evan encounter fake IDs, police officers, drugs, fights, car accidents and most importantly, the alcohol.

The fact that both synopses can be written the same way is not a bad thing. In fact, it shows that mans eternal quest to prove his love for a woman is a timeless tale. But it also shows that the greater experience is not the completion of the quest, but rather the journey itself; whether it’s in Medieval England with a would-be prince or Suburban California with two horny teenagers.

Thank you for watching Inside the Actor’s Studio. I’m James Lipton.

Noteworthy Moment From Before the Movie Started:

I love the stereotypical crowds for certain types of movies. You catch an animated film and it’s a bunch of soccer-MILFs hanging out with already hyper children who aren’t paying attention and are eating candy and drinking soda for an hour and a half. A Meg Ryan film produces tons of single girls and couples where the guy is whipped. Any period piece flick or war film will have all the suburban empty-nesters out in droves, and any Depression-era film will get the Matlock Fan Club to fill the seats. Obviously you make a sci-fi movie and you have a bunch of dorks who haven’t been laid since William Shatner made a good movie. And any movie containing a “z” instead of an “s” in its title, and you have people yelling at the screen and cell phones going off the entire time.

I mention this because before seeing a young adult film like Superbad, I noticed I was surrounded by a bunch of teenagers who still think it’s funny to throw Skittles, make farting sounds when the theatre goes black, and dress like Turtle from Entourage.

Quote of the Movie:

“Have you looked into his eyes? It was like the first time I heard The Beatles.”

“You know how many foods are shaped like dicks? The best kinds.”

“Why don’t you calm down, it’s soccer.”

The last quote is directed to ESPN and everyone else who is trying in-vain to make David Beckham and soccer relevant. It’s never going to happen. We don’t care!

Pleasant Surprise:

McLovin.

And in two ways:

1) I haven’t giggled at a name throughout a movie that much since Focker in Meet the Parents.

2) Surprisingly the McLovin sequences were consistently the funniest parts of the film. The kid was a great mix between William (Charlie Korsmo) in Can’t Hardly Wait and Kyle (DJ Quails) from Road Trip. And while Seth and Evan were embarking on the most boring part of the film (trying to steal alcohol from a party), McLovin and the cops were producing lines like “You just cock-blocked McLovin.”

Nit-picking:

You thought it was a stretch how Ben (Seth Rogan) hooked-up with Allison (Katherine Heigl) in Knocked Up? That’s nothing compared to the stretch of Seth (Jonah Hill) getting even the slightest big of attention from Jules (Emma Stone) in high school.

How do I know? Because I lived Seth’s and Evan’s lives during high school. And there isn’t enough alcohol in high school to ever convince the hot, popular chick to be interested in fat, vulgar dork. It’s not happening. Believe me, I tried. And I wasn’t even fat or vulgar. Jules is getting it from half the linebacking corps and the starting backcourt.

What I Learned:

That this was a funny movie but would have been even better if Evan (Michael Cera) wouldn’t have killed it with his acting. He made Kevin (Thomas Ian Nichols) from American Pie look like Jack Nicholson.

Cards on the Table Time:

You are going to laugh aloud during this movie. You are going to get frustrated by the fact there is no way two-time Academy Award winner, Evan, is turning down his high school crush while she is drunk, offering to give him head, while dry-humping his leg, and is only wearing a bra. Think of your high school crush, are you turning them down in that scenario? I didn’t think so. Pope Benedict wouldn’t turn down his crush given those conditions and we are supposed to believe Evan will? C’mon.

Anyway, you are going to be pleasantly surprised by Seth Rogan and his cop-buddy’s performances – even if it gets old by the end. You are going to note the strange number of vehicle-related incidents. You are going to be startled by the amount of profanity. You are going to wish there was some form of nudity in the same spirit of Fast Times at Ridgemont High. You are going to grow emotionally attached to a bottle of Goldslick Vodka. You are going to think to yourself, “wow, this ending is dragging.” But most importantly, you are going to enjoy the movie not because of the unoriginal rite-of-passage plot, but because the characters are fun and how they talk to each other is hilarious. You are going to have a good time and walk out of the theatre happy.

Now I bet you can’t hardly wait to see this film and talk about with your friends afterwards eating a slice of American pie.

Correction:
From the review of I Know Who Killed Me, the name of the crappy movie that destroys Vegas in Resident Evil: Extinction, not Resident Evil: Apocalypse.