Movie Review: Superbad (2007, Greg Mottola)

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Cast: Michael Cera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Bill Hader, Seth Rogen, Martha MacIsaac, Emma Stone, Aviva, Joe Lo Truglio, Kevin Corrigan
Screenplay: Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg
114 minutes / Color

Director Greg Mottola and screenwriters Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg give us the most pleasant (and outrageous) surprise of the year with uber-psyched comedy “Superbad”. To be very corny for a second, I just gotta say that the title it too misleading to be true, because the film is far from being Superbad as is actually Super-Good. From the acting of the 3 young principal males to the hilarious screenplay, “Superbad” turns out to be the funniest movie of the year!

A small inside look of American high school behavior, we are introduced to the rather dorky Evan (Michael Cera), the overweight Seth (Jonah Hill) and the immature Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) who have one problem: they’ve never been laid and it’s their last year to do it so in college they won’t end up as “virgin losers” and would do anything for a simple “blow j”.

When Jules (Emma Stone), one of the hottest girls in school gets paired up with Seth in a class, she says she has a party in her house that night and Seth sees it as an opportunity to “get into her pants”. Even better, Emma asks Seth to bring some alcohol tonight, which gives Seth even a bigger chance to sleep with her, if SHE’S drunk.

So the three boys decide that they are going to buy alcohol to impress their girls tonight, but in a terrible misunderstanding that relates to Fogell’s fake ID in which his name is “Mclovin’”, the three reach great heights and many adventures just to get a few bottle of booze to impress the chicks.

They meet two wild cops (Seth Rogen and Bill Hader), they run away from crime, they get mixed up in a terrible druggy gang fight regarding “period”, they risk their lives and friendship and on top of all that Seth gets hit by a car.

Regardless of what they experienced, Seth’s selfish needs (and horniness) get the alcohol to Jules’s party. However, Seth ruins his chances with Jules after a terrible “hitting” accident and Evan doesn’t take advantage of the girl he loves when she’s drunk. The friends leave the party being chased by cops and miserable and in the verge of killing each other…

The next day, when they wake up from the night before, they realize that whatever comes between them, chicks or even different colleges, they’ll always be frie- I mean, brothers. But the two hit gold when their girls realize they ARE nice guys after all and go out with them anyways.

“Superbad” brings us sweet and hilarious in the same time. It turns out to be one of the naughtiest films of the decade and makes any Jude Apatow directed movies or actors look like they were crap. “Knocked Up” is receiving too much praise and this film is completely overlooked.

The amazing work by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg as screenwriters reached new heights. They’ve gone beyond the barriers of “teen sex movies” and have given us such a remarkable piece of work without showing a single breast or ass of some young 18-year-old “chick” that just signed onto the movie just because they don’t have any other job. The screenplay is so clever and so truthful and so utterly funny that the whole film builds around it. The story is original and superb and the young actors chosen give us some of the most underrated performances of the year.

The three principal lead males are too clever and funny and without them, the film would definitely NOT be as brilliant as it already is. Jonah Hill wasn’t too impressive as the other two, he was annoying at times but he was really funny. This Judd Apatow Regular, who always uses his “weight” as something to laugh about, will surely be in much more comedies (he has a hella amount just in the past few years already) in the upcoming years to come.

Michael Cera, who not only entertains SOOOOO much in the TV show “Arrested Development” gives us a much clever lead performance as Evan. Cera will go places as teen actor with the recent releases of this and “Juno” (2007). He gives proof that he is capable in a brilliant motion picture and help in the creation of its rompy brilliance. He was so interesting and he made his character so interesting that the screen hungers for more Michael Cera movies!

Christopher Mintz-Plasse and his dorky, immature, “McLovin’” performance has given us a supporting performance that is just so hard to forget. His heavy breathing, his look, his acting and not to mention that “sinister” laugh; everything about him was just so hilarious. He did the best job in the entire film and he can stand alone as the stick-out of “Superbad”.

As a much adult movie hidden in a “high school theme”, the film turns out to be truly clever and utterly enjoyable. Even though it runs a whopping 114 minutes, you really find the two hour one of the most enjoyable movie experiences of the year. You never want it to end (I know I didn’t)! “Superbad” is actually Super-Good and truly is the funniest, most outrageous, most hilarious, most scandalous motion pictures of the year.