I wanted to open this review by reporting that Superbad was "supergood." But, despite high hopes for this latest Judd Apatow-produced raunchfest, the truth is it's just "good," an assessment that may be okay for the average teen comedy, but disappointing for a movie arriving on such a tide of comic enthusiasm. Not that Superbad, which was directed from Greg Mottola (The Daytrippers) from a loquacious script by Knocked Up star Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, doesn't have its memorably funny moments—it has many, particularly in the first act. It's also blessed with a trio of superb comedic performances by its young leads that should secure them each long and healthy acting careers.
The problem is the movie has a dearth of truly original ideas, along with a running time that's about 20 minutes longer than the thin premise can withstand. It's a picture that seems overly in love with every last one of its comic bits, whether they're amusing or merely nostalgic, to the detriment of the stuff in it that's really funny. Rogen and Goldberg first wrote the script when they were teens and it's clearly jammed with autobiography (they even name their leads Seth and Evan), but that doesn't mean Mottola and Apatow couldn't have done a bit more cherry picking and kept things moving more swiftly than they do. For Apatow, at least, that's no great surprise, considering his last two efforts (as writer/director), Knocked Up and The 40-Year-Old Virgin, though filled with big, audience-friendly laughs, were also way more protracted than necessary. Not that it hurt the success of either of those films (as it likely won't affect Superbad)—and the Apatow factory has obviously branded a winning formula—but, once again, it holds true that less is more.
While it's being touted as this decade's American Pie, Superbad's one-day setting makes it more like a genitalia-obsessed American Graffiti, spiked with a boatload of cheerfully vulgar chatter. The movie follows a pair of childhood buds—the chubby, volatile, sex-crazed Seth (Jonah Hill) and the gentle, Dartmouth-bound Evan (Arrested Development's Michael Cera)—on a knuckle-headed mission to lose their virginity before senior year ends. Along with a third pal, the intrepid nerd Fogell (scene-stealer Christopher Mintz-Plasse), these high schoolers muddle their way through a wild, not terribly unique series of obstacles en route to a cool kids' party where said "virginity loss" seems like a sure thing. Too much time is spent on this wacky journey, though parts of Fogell's nerve-wracking assignment to score the evening's booze provides some major guffaws. The film gets so much mileage from this goofball's fake ID, which identifies him as a 25-year-old Hawaiian resident named "McLovin" (don't ask), it's practically its own character.
Far less successful are a pair of asinine cops, played by Rogen and SNL's Bill Hader, who endlessly intersect with Fogell. Even for a comedy this broad, these so-called law enforcers are so irresponsible you hope it'll turn out they're not cops after all (it doesn't). Ultimately, they're tiresome and nowhere near as funny as the filmmakers seem to think.
On the flip side, as the adorable classmates who horndogs Seth, Evan, and "McLovin" each set their sights on, Emma Stone, Martha MacIsaac, and Aviva are ideal, with MacIsaac's drunken seduction of Evan a go-for-broke treat.
At the film's core is a poignant message about teen male friendships that smartly balances the bawdy nuttiness that surrounds it. It's a testament to Hill and Cera's acting abilities that they pull off their squishy final moments together as nicely as they do. If they're not best friends in real life, you could've fooled me.
— GARY GOLDSTEIN
I wanted to open this review by reporting that Superbad was "supergood." But, despite high hopes for this latest 