a truly and unabashedly immature teen-sex/party comedy, and it's 100% irresistible to the 15 year old in me

Rating: 9/10 (20 August 2007)

I know these guys, or at least feel like I do. Superbad isn't about simple clichéd figures of teenage angst and pent up sexual frustration, or with goofy nerdy stereotypes (though maybe for the latter there is almost that). Somehow Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, who name the two lead characters after themselves, just know what it is about these guys, and that teenagers can be foul-mouthed and witty and naive and awkward and stupid and smart and crazy all in some equal measures with the levels put just right. It's low-brow to the max, but it never looks down on the audience but plays always to it, as if the same people right on the poster (McLovin included) are right in the audience, and are damn proud to see themselves up there. It's pretty damn near close to a teen classic comedy, with as much strengths in the dialog as a Dazed and Confused, and more outrageousness than an American Pie would think to go for. Even the cops in the movie are like the teenagers, only a few years old, and with guns, and lots of beer. It's the most fearlessly vulgar comedy of the year.
Seth and Evan (Jonnah Hill and Michael Cera, the former from producer Judd Apatow's Knocked Up and the latter from Arrested Development) are best friends in high school, seniors soon to part way for separate colleges, and it bothers Seth that this is happening. Nevertheless, the partying must go on! But where seems to be the question, as they're both not exactly 'hip' amongst most, and don't get invited. Yet there is a change, as Seth is asked by Jules (Emma Stone) to a party with the condition that he bring the booze. A problem? Not quite- McLovin- a.k.a. Fogel (Christopher Mintz-Plasse, one of the great teen movie nerds) has a phony ID with said name, and goes through his own crazy adventure in first getting the supplies, then punched out by a random looter, then riding along with cops (Seth Rogen and Bill Hader) who wan't just as much a good time as he does; what better way to bust a crime than at a bar- some beers on the way! Then comes the party, but first a detour at another party, then some mishaps with a stain (big whoops), and finally some good times at the main party, though it may depend on your definition of "good" in terms of drunken would-be sex and letdowns.
It's all very outrageous, every step of the way, and there's not a scene that goes by that doesn't contain the laughs that the actors, writers, and director go for. Even stuff that should be just crude and insane, like the many, many, many drawings of genitalia (and more if you stay through the end credits) from the 4th grader Seth, or the near Raising Arizona-like chase scene with the cops sloppily on route following a sudden hit and run with Seth and Evan, or puke jokes, or the 'stain' joke (where you can hear the collective groan from the audience, a great sign that people in the demographic can still be shocked or disgusted at least), or even the fate of the cops and McLovin as they tear up the cop car. All of it somehow connects completely, because Rogen and Goldberg, as well as the actors, don't pass by the truth that is within much of the scenes. Through all the antics they're just guys who have equal anxieties at their age regarding sex and friendship (not to mention that perfectly gay scene when they're snuggled drunk in the sleeping bags), and there's even a sweetness to their ambitions and disillusionment.
Like Knocked Up, it's relatable as long as there's a given amount of suspension of disbelief. But Superbad goes even further than that film- and rightfully so- at combining physical comedy with what must be improvisation, hinging to the Mel Brooks credo to "rise below vulgarity", and at the same time not getting scared off to add some fantastic one-liners and pop culture goofs in the mix (that a goof like McLovin stays fresh all the way to the end is a testament to the longevity of a one-note gag played right). Look at it this way, where else will I find a flick with joke about Orson Welles and the Coen brothers in between lots of talk about d***s and p*****s?