A Teen Sex Comedy, But Honest. We Call That A Paradox.

Rating: 8/10 (16 September 2007)

Not only has the film been advertised incessantly with scenes of Jonah Hill in 1970s outfits and music from the '70s and '80s, but the film opens with a very funky '70s-style opening sequence with funk music. Then, the story begins, and the first thing that happens is a cell phone conversation, involving very up-to-date cell phones. At this point, you are taken quite aback. As the story progresses, you realize the acutely contemporary condition of teenage partying and sex among teens. What time period does Superbad think it's in?! The '70s motif confuses me to this second. It's something that can easily sever your tractor beam to the movie as the audience. However, this acutely contemporary look at the sphere of teenage sex and parties that I speak of is quite stunningly honest and poignant.
The greatest charm of Superbad is how it laughs with us, as everyone knows that sex is not at all the way one thinks it's going to be like, yet our main characters, played by very brazen and loud Jonah Hill, nervous straight man Michael Cera, and iconic geek Christopher Mintz- Plasse most certainly do not know that. To put it very simply, it's the long-hoped-for antithesis to the American Pie films, which treat not losing your virginity before high school is over like the end of the world that nobody should be made to think that it is. They're tailored for an even younger audience than Superbad is, heroicizing wham-bam-thank-you- ma'am guys and girls that are too cool to give certain people the time of day, and romanticizing that naive yearning for sex when we're in high school. Superbad is quite hilarious and comfortable because of its honesty with the subject, not any sort of shallow perpetuation of fitting-in mentalities in pre-teens turning into teens.
The boldest highlight of the movie, one of the funniest and most enjoyable things I've seen in a movie lately, is the plot strand involving Seth Rogen and Bill Hader as two cops who have no inhibitions with rebelliously fudging the law for their own good time and bringing the character well known by even those have yet to see the film as McLovin, played with a stunning dose of gawkiness by Christopher Mintz-Plasse, along for the rest of their shift, letting him do things like fire a gun and have beers with them, all leading to the message the film sends pertaining to people even older than those who will be seeing this movie and understanding the virginal naiveté of the characters. The film just hits a lot of notes that most teen movies of now don't bother to send, and in fact oppose.
The script, written with great wit and both an ear and a memory bank for teenage dialect and mindset by Seth Rogen himself and Evan Goldberg, weaves the film along very gracefully throughout, clocking a day in the life, up until the tacked-on ending, which may just be a product of the intimidating demands of studios and audiences that feel deserted or confused without a film that ends like nearly all the rest of the teen movie bunch. Don't forget what it was like to be a teenager, before we wanted to admit that maintaing strong friendships is more important than partying and sex.