Superbad

Superbad

Funniest movie of the summer

I went to see Superbad with high expectations. It was highly recommended, highly rated, and everyone was raving about it for like a week now. This is usually a recipe for disappointment, as few movies ever live up to the hype that surrounds them. But it wasn’t. Surprisingly Superbad was as funny as everyone was making it to be. So let me join the chorus of voices saying: if you haven’t seen the movie yet, go see it today. You are missing out.

This is one of these movies that you probably should see twice or three times because you are laughing so hard missing half of the lines. A lot of the humor in this movie is delivered via the snappy, witty profanity filled dialog. It is reminiscent of the “40 Year Old Virgin” style irreverent banter but more filthy, absurd and overflowing with clever, and very graphic and often innovative one liners, and expressions. All the actors deliver these lines with impeccable timing.

Michael Crea – of the Arrested Development fame (and most recognizable of the 3 protagonists) is funny, but he was almost upstaged by his co-stars Jonah Hill and Christopher Mintz-Plasse. Crea is essentially playing his old character, George Michael again but this time less quirky, and more normal in a way. He is funniest when playing a straight man to Hills’s irreverent, sex obsessed, filthy mouthed performance. Mintz-Plasse on the other hand, generates pure awesomeness when paired up with the misfit cops played by Seth Rogen and Bill Hader. In fact, McLovin is now an internet meme. Or so I’ve heard at least.

Don’t think this movie is just a gag reel, or a stream of loosely connected dialog based skits. The plot, while not very complicated is tightly scripted and delivers a lot of situational comedy as well. The story essentially follows the characters of Crea, Hill and Mintz-Plasse – high school geeks, who try to get to buy booze and get to the only house party they were ever invited too – and possibly their only chance to get laid before college. Unfortunately at every step something goes wrong – and they end up having series of misadventures leading them to weird and unexpected places. Sounds familiar? Yes, this is an old and tried setup – but in Superbad it was executed flawlessly.

How do you describe the humor of this movie? I think writers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg are making their own unique brand here. Take the general theme and topic matter from the first American Pie, throw in some dorky awkwardness of Napoleon Dynamite caliber, mix it with the 40 Year old Virgin style of delivery and a lot of original humor and you get Superbad.

I truly think that this is the new cult summer high school teen movie. Superbad is the new American Pie – as filthy, irreverent and goofy, and equally as funny. And possibly even hitting closer to home, because while the characters of American Pie were all moderately popular and liked, the protagonists of Superbad are all miserable dorks. And let’s face it – most of us were probably friends with a “McLovin” rather than with a “Stiffler” back in high school.

My rating: 5.0 stars