A Serious and Legitimately Good Comedy.

Rating: 10/10 (25 July 2014)

This movie is the best teen comedy of the decade, hands down. It is like "Fast Times at Ridgemont High: The Next Generation." It follows a group of four different, but close high school friends: the geeky Jim Levenstein (Biggs), athletic Chris "Oz" Oztreicher (Klein), charming Kevin Meyers (Nicholas), and oddball Paul Finch (Thomas), who make a pact to lose their virginity before graduating high school, which prom being the last chance. Jim tries to score with sexy exchanged student (Elizabeth), Oz tries to make it with a straight-laced choir singer (Suvari), Kevin tries to win the trust of his girlfriend (Reid) whose relationship is ending, and Finch pays people to support a new reputation of his. Supporting characters include Jim's guiding father (Levy), obnoxious party animal Steve Stifler (Scott), band geek and Jim's last-minute partner (Hannigan), Stifler's sexy mom and Finch's last minute effort (Coolidge), sex expert Jessica (Lyonne), and wannabe cool Chuck Sherman "the Shermanator" (Owen). These other characters add to the hilarity, heart and memorability.
Despite this movie being about sex and totally hilarious, the character development and chemistry are strong, and Kevin's and Oz's subplots are more dramatic than funny. So any super-conservative person would be surprised at the right mix of comedy and drama. The seriousness isn't sad or boring, it is there to strengthen the quality of the movie. Also, everything this movie has is realistic and relatable with the hard times of high school. So it may be about trying to get laid, but that is an aspect that nearly every teenager faces. As the guys get closer to doing so, they also learn lessons on love and adulthood. And since each friend is different, more lessons can be made and the movie gets strengthened even more. Without these strong dimensions, it would just be a stupid late-night comedy.
4/4