Superbad
Directed by Greg Mottola
Columbia Pictures, 2007
By Sam Linton
“I’m going to assume you all have crack and guns.”
Wow. Honestly, I have no idea how I’d feel about reviewing this film if I didn’t have a penis (here’s where I yet again clarify as the author that “Sam” is short for Samuel, not Samantha). I know that it’d be completely different, but for better or for worse, I can’t say. What I can say, however, is that this is clearly a guy’s film. Though it may pose as the classic teen sex romp about high-school buddies out to get some, Superbad is first and foremost a movie about male relationships, and a fucking hilarious one at that. Once again the people of The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up (variously) have brought us another comedy driven not by zaniness (which I have nothing inherently against — Airplane! is still awesome) but by character. In Superbad, writers Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg present two characters (coincidentally named Seth and Evan) undergoing some separation anxiety about going to different schools after graduation. This is complicated by a third and obviously “lesser” friend in their triumvirate named Fogell (later, McLovin). Each one suffers through the classic dilemma of trying to get laid before grad, but with the added subtext of knowing that things will never be the same with their male friends. The result is one of the most consistently awkward series of moments committed to celluloid, in the best possible sense of the term.
Anyone who knows their restoration comedies knows that crude and cerebral are by no means separate concepts. (Me? Act pretentious in a review? Never!) Superbad peppers its raunch with enough witty back-and-forth to leave me in hysterics. Rest assured, there is no shortage of physical or sight humour, but the majority of Superbad’s laughs come from the dialogue and the characters’ relationships. The constant swearing, sexual crudity, and straight-up rudeness aren’t used as an affront but as a way to show how comfortable the characters, particularly Seth and Evan, are with each other. Even when the plot was racing all over the place the characters always felt genuine — and also genuinely funny, which made all the awkward sexual chemistry even more excruciatingly hilarious.
On to the performances: great characterizations don’t mean jack shit if they aren’t backed up by solid acting, but Michael Cera and Jonah Hill deliver the goods as Evan and Seth. Bill Hader and Seth Rogen deliver hilarious performances as the two cops who take McLovin (née Fogell) under their wing. And Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Fogell? Though it feels like I’m ripping off every other Superbad review out there to call his performance a “scene-stealing breakout,” it’s true damnit! The romantic interests of Martha MacIsaac as Evan’s crush Becca and Emma Stone as Seth’s would-be summer fling Jules are less developed (as I said earlier, this movie is about the guys), but the actresses do well with what they’re given, enough to make you feel Evan and Seth’s attraction beyond their physical looks. The standout for me was Michael Cera as Evan. He has honed the emphatic awkwardness first demonstrated on Arrested Development to a razor’s edge. Not to give anything away, but the scene of a shirtless Evan making out with Becca has got to be some sort of awkwardness zenith point, and is in my opinion worth the price of admission alone.
All in all, Superbad is not so much a teen comedy as an in-depth study of what it is to have a Y chromosome, but hilarious. All the homoerotic undertones are just icing on the cake.
