So, been a while since I've touched this baby, as I have been predisposed surviving and making my way in the cut and thrust world of my corporate day job.Anyway, I figured it was long overdue since I checked out a highly rated movie from last summer, Judd Apatow's Superbad. It involves the antics of 3 slightly dorky teenage boys as they attempt to get laid in their final days of high school before going off to college, with all the uncomfortable fumbling, gaffes and stupidity that that implies.
It lacks the raw hilarity of say, American Pie, which is more overtly commercial and formulaic in it's take on the ubiquitous American teenage experience, going more for character driven storyline. It also captures the idea that most of growing up is about goofing around with your mates not getting laid and wondering what it will be like and recogising that those friendships have value and meaning, perhaps more than the flings that happen along the route to adulthood.
Writers Seth Rogen (the male lead in last years' Knocked Up, and a drunken, wayward cop in this movie) and Evan Goldberg also heavily lay out the homoerotic subtext of the friendship between lead characters Evan and Seth heavily from the offset. "Have you ever stared into his eyes?" he says of one ex-boyfriend of the girl he has a crush on. "It was like the first time I heard the Beatles".
Though it successfully captures the confusing burst of feelings that accompany growing up, Superbad is definitely a film about the boys (finally) getting the girls. As well as getting some action, Evan, Seth and Fogle (aka McLovin, as his fake ID states) find themselves also getting into hi-jinks involving illegally buying liquor, being chased by the Police, and gatecrashing a party and nearly being beaten up by the host. It's a great ride with lots of fun, and the best movie of it's kind for many years, though it did leave me feeling slightly unsatisfied, like the hi-jinks weren't quite high enough, and the jokes didn't quite make one laugh out loud. For a slightly superior take on growing up, check out Richard Linklaters' Dazed And Confused. As for Superbad, it's still an entertaining, funny 2 hours of anyone's time.
Hack Rating 3/5
