An Epic tale of a quest for booze and sex

Rating: 9/10 (30 August 2007)

According to co-writer and co-producer(who gets to be a part of his own flick as Officer Michaels)Seth Rogen,the script for "Superbad" was a collaboration that had been worked on and ironed out over a decade ago(which,if Rogen's bio is correct,means he and his pal Evan Goldberg started working on the screenplay of a movie about high schoolers when they were still in JUNIOR HIGH school)and producing it into a film was something they had long strove for. If so,I believe the payoff will be to their liking.
Lifelong buddies Seth(Jonah Hill,a familiar tag-along of Rogen's,going back to "Freaks and Geeks" and most recently in the also hilarious "Knocked Up")and Even(Michael Cena,a part of one of my all-time faves "Arrested Development") are facing the end of high school and the very grim possibility that they will enter into the adult world as virgins. Being relatively normal boys,they think of almost exclusively girls,movies and music(and almost in disproportionate and descending order). To make matters worse,while Even has managed to get into DArtmouth while Seth has opted to try "Local" college,so their partnership seems to be about to be dissolved. To this end,they seek to lose their virginities with their respective girls:Seth's is Jules and Evan is Becca. They reason,to that goal,that if they can get their intendeds sloppy drunk at one of the major "Senior parties" being thrown,they will achieve this goal. Enter Fogell(Christopher Mintz-Plasse,a natural!),a whispery slight lad they hang with,who possesses some of the same delusions as Seth and Evan(and has a few of his own),who becomes their confederate in this mission. He becomes the point-man in their endeavor,and his owning of a fake ID from HAwaii that identifies as merely "McLovin" becomes both a comedic gem and a trigger point for the action that ensues from there.
The story takes place over the course of a little over twenty-four hours,and while actual events that take place(i.e.an armed robbery,cops who flout their authority and lack a fair amount of maturity themselves,getting physically hit by automobiles,taking a ride with an unstable stranger,potential date rape)in this story should not illicit laughs in normal conditions,they are handled with the right amount of delicacy and absurdity to make it clearly funny(albeit somewhat uncomfortable)in this film. Rogen and SNL member Bill Hader(as Officer Slater)are the perfect foils/accomplices as the morally challenged cops,and the girls the boys pair up with(the only name that sticks in my mind is Aviva as Fogell's lust target)are not easily pigeon-holed,which makes them dynamic characters to match the vibrant uncertainty of their suitors. Director Greg Mottola either is on the same wavelength as the writers and actors or has decided to quietly guide this project,but it works smoothly all the same. To me,this film was strictly OK in the first thirty to forty-five minutes but picks up energy as the action increases(namely,at the point where the liquor purchase occurs through to the next day). Some great lines and a general ability to tie together rude,crude and lewd obsession with a gentle sense of missing one's naiveté and youth. I feel like adults who remember their teen years(rather than kids still in or not far removed from their high school years,who will probably like this movie for the more obvious reasons) will in all likelihood TRULY appreciate this movie,since there's a real sense of dumb nostalgia that is celebrated here. To this thought,I'm in some disbelief of the fact that two pre-high school guys could've written this movie(or at least not in the finished form that we see),but then again,this might've been an evolving opus. Irregardless,while I feel like this film is more of about an 8.5,but I decided to round up,since there's so much energy and likability with the principals that you can't help but give this one a bump. While going for liquor and/or sex may not SEEM to be an epic adventure,anyone who can remember when it was so(or can appreciate it in the present)will love this movie.