It’s been a damn good year for comedies, that’s for certain. Superbad picks up the gauntlet and runs with it, assembling a brilliant comic team of writers and performers for a shockingly hilarious and brilliant comic take on adolescence and friendship that blows the American Pie films out of the water. Superbad was written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, the Vancouver born duo that also penned Knocked Up. Superbad was directed by former television director Greg Mottola and was produced by Judd Apatow, the producer of Knocked Up and The 40-Year-Old Virgin.
The film follows two high school seniors, Evan (Michael Cera of Arrested Development) and Seth (Jonah Hill of Accepted and Knocked Up), as they reach the final days of their high school lives. The two interdependent friends have relied on one another for years and neither one is too socially adept, making for some interesting situations and for a worrisome future when it turns out that they have been accepted into different colleges. Evan and Seth spot one last night of redemption and fun at a keg party. Through a series of comical and oddly poignant events, the two discover that their friendship is evolving as time changes.
Evan is a shy, sweet and nervous wreck of a kid. He has been accepted into Dartmouth and plans on rooming with a mutual companion, a kid named Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse). Seth, on the other hand, is going to a state university and is relatively the opposite of Evan. He is foul-mouthed, obnoxious and obsessed with sex. The two have a lot in common, however, including being largely ignored by the popular crowd at their high school. With the keg party upcoming, the pair enlist the help of Fogell and his fake I.D. to get some alcohol and to hopefully win some popularity.
Superbad is a non-stop barrage of sexual humour and rich, natural dialogue. The characters interact flawlessly and the comedic timing of these future comic stars is impeccable. Michael Cera is a true wonder here, as he picks off all of the elements of his character with expert precision and delivers such a complete and basic performance. His subtle tones and inflections are just tremendous fun to watch and Cera paints a picture of the kid we all knew or, better still, the kid we all were in some way. Hill is in charge of most of the deliberate comedy here, as his sexually obsessed and obnoxious character has no real way with women and fails to see how he can get any action without alcohol. Hill pulls no punches, delivering scorching line after scorching line with diatribes that would make Redd Foxx blush.
Superbad is one hell of a film to end the summer on. For those fed up with CGI-laden exploders and lackluster ideas coming in threes, this film is the ideal relief for such an endless siege of nonsense. Superbad combines heart, slapstick, empathy, and gross-out humour in one charming package of a film. Seth Rogen, who also plays a significant role in the film, and Evan Golberg have written another comedy classic that will help provide other comedy writers with a blueprint as to how to achieve true and hearty laughs. The formula here is rather simple, actually. Rogen and Goldberg have taken truly unique stories and drenched them in humanity, giving us all relatable elements and driving the story home without blowing it on an overabundance of fluff.
Superbad cements the notion that Rogen and Apatow saved film comedy this year (sorry, Sean Burns) and that comedy is, indeed, hardly a dead art form in film. Personally, I have long struggled to find substance and quality within comedies through the years. There were flashes of absolute brilliance, like Borat, but 2007 has represented a whole new fabric of quality films that have delivered new hope into a dying genre. Superbad, Knocked Up, and The Simpsons Movie are all films that arguably stole the summer from the normative blockbuster schlock. Superbad represents all that is good in comedy films: a brilliant and genuinely funny script, terrific comic actors, and heart.
8/10
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