Great Laughs But The Story Could Use Some Work

Rating: 7/10 (19 June 2009)

Two friends and not so popular teens Evan (Michael Cera) and Seth (Jonah Hill) are about to graduate from High School. Both are looking for social acceptance and romance (or possibly just sex) while contemplating the fact that they will be attending different colleges next year. A big end of year party offers them a chance at social acceptance, if their possibly more socially inept friend Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) can acquire the booze they need with his new fake ID. Our second or "B" story involves a pair of police officers who seem to have their own issues with maturity.
The film definitely delivers some incredible laugh out loud lines and great scenes but that alone doesn't guarantee a great movie.
While the writing is obviously very important in comedy also essential are the actors that deliver those lines and performances. We start here with a trio of exceptional young actors. The very talented Michael Cera and Jonah Hill may be known to some from their previous efforts, but scene stealing Christopher Mintz-Plasse makes his professional debut here. The performances from the police officers (Bill Hader and Seth Rogan) while at times hilarious seemed a little over the top, which kind of reflects their story as well.
The film was written by Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg (notice the first names), directed by Greg Mottola (The Daytrippers) and produced by the now very hot Judd Apatow (The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up).
Overall the film lacks something in its cohesion, rather than telling a story (or several stories) it seemed at times more like a framework in which to place the jokes and the hilarious set pieces. Also somewhat off putting was the fact that the two different stories seem to reflect very disparate levels of reality. While this approach may have supplied a lot of laughs it might have been improved from a storytelling point of view by sticking with just one story and developing the characters more fully.