Superbad

Rating: 6/10 (25 September 2010)

Even though in my opinion Judd Apatow's output as director and producer has been quite uneven, there are funny movies to be found in his body of work. His 2007 production Superbad directed by Greg Mottola tells the story of three high schoolers who are about to graduate in a few weeks. Wishing to have a great time before moving out to different colleges, Seth and Evan (Jonah Hill and Michael Cera) manage to get themselves invited to a party hosted by girls they like, provided that they bring plenty of alcohol with them. Easier said than done; all their attempts at buying liquor go wrong in unexpected ways, leading to a series of more or less unfortunate events involving the duo's geeky friend Fogell, also known as "McLovin" (Christopher Mintz-Plasse).
At first the movie doesn't seem too great; the crass sex dialog and obsession about getting wasted feel like they have been done in hundreds of high school movies already. Luckily the story picks up later on when the guys get their epic quest for booze started. The references to movies and other pop culture products are amusing and the funk and rock music on the soundtrack is very groovy, but the best jokes are delivered by Seth Rogen and Bill Hader as the laid-back cops Michaels and Slater, who just won't let anything distract them from having a fun night while on duty. During the party scene at the end, the movie feels like it's again dragging and trusting the teen sex comedy clichés too much, but ultimately the ending turns out alright.
Rogen and Hader overshadow the main actors quite heavily, but I also liked Hill's performance as the chubby and superficially bold but secretly insecure Seth. Mintz-Plasse's Fogell learning to have fun 'in a manly way' is fairly amusing too. However, the other actors don't succeed quite as well; so far I haven't really been impressed by Michael Cera in the admittedly few roles I've seen him in, and Superbad is no exception. He just seems so uncharismatic that a movie based on his screen persona just isn't going to be very strong. The actresses playing the girls (Martha MacIsaac, Emma Stone et al.) don't manage to make their characters very memorable either. Still, the story's drama element about Seth and Evan's lasting friendship is alright and has its place in a movie like this, even if the adversities in their bromance come across as a bit by-the-numbers.
When all is said and done, Superbad shouldn't let down the fans of other Apatow productions, and there are many entertaining jokes for everyone else too; particularly Seth's penis drawings are pretty creative and worth seeing, if that kind of humour is your thing. The movie may not a comedic bullseye, but it's an adequately crass entertainer anyway.