Crass, distasteful, and just plain terrible

Rating: 1/10 (23 August 2007)

There was a certain underlying sweetness to films like There's Something About Mary and The 40 Year Old Virgin, in spite of the fact that both movies (far more so the Aptow film) has some very crass elements to them. While not ideal, some of these elements can be viewed as necessary to the story line or the ultimate resolution of either of those films.
However, Superbad is just simply and plainly a terrible film - with very little genuine humor to redeem it. The crass elements of Superbad and far from necessary as their is no genuine story line other than to parrot teen comedies of the last decade: one or more boys try to get some booze, try to get some babes, and try to get "some." While those issues may have been "ultimately resolved" in Superbad, there is no genuine resolution there. The characters have not learned anything, they are no better nor worse off than before and the audience certainly hasn't learned anything -- except perhaps that the target audience of teen males who most want to see movies in the first two weekends when the studios can make their most money from the receipts -- still rule what films will and will not get made.
A silent Charlie Chaplin film still has the power to make us laugh some fifty years after it was made. In fifty years, people will likely wonder how something as crass and distasteful as this was considered one of the "better" comedies of the year.