Their last true moment

Rating: 8/10 (14 September 2008)

Judd Apatow has become a big household name in a relatively amount of time, as he's written, produced, and directed seemingly dozens of movies over the past couple of years, most of them widely respected by critics and really loved by fans; and yet, nothing with his name connected to it yet has really impressed me that much until Superbad. With a plot that sounds like American Pie but concerns that go far beyond it, Greg Mottola and crew begin what first seems to be another smart-ass teenager flick, but lead it into some tender and relatively unexplored territory of male friendship in contemporary times.
Michael Cera and Jonah Hill are Seth and Evan (non-coincidentally sharing names with the two writers), high school buddies essentially tied to the hips in a strange alternate dimension where kids are allowed to enter classes, talk to buddies, and leave pretty much as they will. They want sex; they are leaving for college soon and to separate schools, nonetheless; and their friend Fogell has acquired a fake ID just in time for Seth and Evan to accept an invitation to a party. Unfortunately, they're also klutzes, and Fogell himself is somewhat of a joke with his fake ID dubbing him the now famous and over-quoted ironic tee-shirt du jour, "I am McLovin!" But that's all the set-up. Then the movie actually gets good.
Y'see, due to some strange circumstances, poor decisions, and a little of the old bad timing, McLovin ends up under the wings of two police officers (Seth Rogan NEVER having been funnier, and Bill Hader), Seth and Evan end up with a creepy guy taking them to a party way beyond their maturity, and a lot of distance between them and their goal of being the ultimate saviors of the party. As they wander over the empty nighttime streets in a strange alternate Universe where no parents are ever around to recognize them, they are forced to confront their impending maturity while dropping their witty facades and coming to terms with their friendship and reliance of each other. And there's hilarious drinking and sex talk, too.
The ironic thing is that where Seth and Evan's story is really much more of the point of the movie, and a lot more intimate, it's McLovin's guidance into adulthood by two cops that simply want to reclaim their childhood that is the more remembered and talked about segments, and my own personal favorite. It's a wish-fulfillment fantasy culminating in free shots and a burning police car, and it all feels a bit more satisfying than the longing separation look shared by the actual leads during the final scene of the movie. On the technical level, however, it's the main relationship between Seth and Evan that makes Superbad just a little more interesting and lasting than escapist entertainment meant to make a buck and be forgotten.
The movie is a little strange in that parents, true authority, boundaries are practically nonexistent except as a means of making a couple snide jokes. The world Evan and Seth and Fogell live is really not the real world, but that's kind of the point: it's their last chance to essentially trip and hop fences their way to their desires before it's time for them to grow up and gain pesky things like responsibilities. Everyone has their last great summer and such. It's a staple of the American coming-of-age story.
--PolarisDiB