Hip To Be Square: One of The Year's Funniest Films; Hilarious  I'm "McLovin' It!!"

Rating: 10/10 (11 June 2007)

SUPERBAD (2007) **** Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Bill Hader, Seth Rogen, Emma Stone, Martha MacIsaac, Aviva, Stacy Edwards, Joe Lo Truglio, Kevin Corrigan, Dawn Morrow, David Krumholtz, Clement Blake, Erica Vittina Phillips, Brooke Dillman. (Dir: Greg Mottola)
Hip To Be Square: One of The Year's Funniest Films; Hilarious  I'm "McLovin' It!!"
Every generation gets their American GRAFFITI and the MySpace kids get theirs in one of the funniest films of the year, a howlingly hilarious look at a pair of high school senior buddies who face an uncertain future when they will be going to different colleges come fall.
The two pals, Seth (Hill, best known for last year's funfest ACCEPTED and this summer's forthcoming KNOCKED UP) and Evan (Cera of the late, great Fox sitcom "ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT"), have known each other since kindergarten and on the cusp of high school graduation, with summer approaching and the need to hook up with someone before the friends go their separate ways. Evan is headed for Dartmouth (Seth failed to make the cut) with another fair-weathered geeky amigo, Fogell (Mintz-Plasse, a star-making scene stealer, who constantly serves as a source of annoyance for Seth who really wants to score with hottie classmate Jules (Stone, who resembles Lindsay Lohan and sounds like she swallowed Linda Fiorentino, with her husky/sexy vocals), who invites him to her weekend party and asks for a small favor: if he can buy her the liquor needed.
Seth has it all planned out with Fogell getting a fake ID to get the alcohol, figuring that if they were both drunk the more likelihood they would have sex and she would simply think that he was a bad mistake considering their conditions. Skeptical Evan meanwhile is pining for his gal pal Becca (MacIsaac) who also invites him to Jules' party, so the trio get together to buy the booze, make the date and have the time of their lives one last time.
Naturally things don't' go as planned and to divulge too much would take away the fantastically concocted craziness that ensues but lets just say two slacker cops ("SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE"'S Hader and co-screenwriter Rogen, who also serves as a producer with his fellow collaborator ,filmmaker Judd Apatow, inheriting the Harold Ramis/Ivan Reitman throne of smart/dumb vulgar comedies with rip-snorting gusto); an adult party involving illegal substances; some unlikely bonding; and of course the Holy Grail: Jules' party.
Rogen, who wrote the script with his childhood chum Evan Goldberg  when both were in high school themselves, basing much of it on their experiences - is on a roll since his debut in the lamented excellent high school sitcom cult classic "FREAKS & GEEKS" and its companion college spin-off "UNDECLARED" , and support work in films like THE 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN  and the anticipated starring gig in the aforementioned KNOCKED UP - has a talent for the raunch mixed with heart in this hysterical teen comedy that proudly wears its vulgarity as a badge of honor, and the mentoring of collaborator Apatow, have created another smash-hit cult classic in the making that ranks up with its genre forefathers like FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH and DAZED AND CONFUSED. Director Mottola (THE DAYTRIPPERS) handles the comedy with great skill and lets his young charges get their ya- yas out (** @ the sneak preview I attended, Rogen, Apatow, Hader and Mottola were there and it was confirmed that the cast were allowed to improvise and it shows) It clearly captures the hellish existence of adolescence, angst, anomie and in general feeling like a loser when a winner is deep inside all of us. And it has a plethora of dick jokes.
What more can you ask for? Hill, who suggests the love child of the late Chris Penn and Gene Wilder  the former's raspy voice and the latter's manic likablities  is a truly gifted comic actor  here sporting a Richard Pryor t-shirt and rockin' his Jew'Fro - who finally has a showcase to show just how funny he is and it is genius to have the awkward deadpan of Cera, as the well-meaning and respectful nerd who comes into his own as well.. Sexy newcomers Stone and MacIsaac also hold their own with their likable co-stars.
But it is newbie Mintz-Plasse making an audacious film debut (his first acting gig ever!!) who suggests the coolest geek since the aforementioned GRAFFITI'S Charles Martin Smith's "Terry The Toad", as Fogell , AKA , "McLovin'"  the singular moniker he chose for the fake ID, who steals the film with his mouth-breathing stylin' doofus who gets in one crazy situation after another with the police officers, who themselves prove to be just as cluelessly enabling their young charge with one ridiculously insane endeavor after another.
Trust me if you need to laugh long and hard from the funky opening credits with a killer soundtrack  from start to finish you will be in spasms of laughter to the point of pee-in- your-pants submission. By all means make sure you see this come August when it will be officially be released. You'll be McLovin' it too!!