Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here. I’m not sure if you read my set visit report for this film, but I’m dying to see the finished film. I heard from another friend who saw it that he really enjoyed himself but thought it needs some tightening up. That’s what this process is for, of course, so I’m curious to see what this spy thought of it in its present form.
Hey Harry, this is the first time I’ve written in so I guess I have to pick some name to be referred to as but I kind of hate internet monikers so I’ll just use my name Jordy. I went to a test screening of Super Bad a few days ago and have been waiting for the reviews to come in so I could read other people’s take on the movie but I guess no AICN contributors were there. Which is a shame because this movie was fucking hilarious. I think as more test screenings happen it’ll build a huge buzz sort of like Knocked Up is doing and Borat did last year. I’ve also seen Knocked Up and I think it’s damn near perfect. Seth Rogen has a way to make nearly every line he says funny and the supporting cast backs him up perfectly especially Rudd, Mann, and Jason Segel. Super Bad is the same way. Jonah Hill and Michael Cera are the leads and also have a way to make every line funny. The supporting cast steps up huge. Rogen, Bill Hader, and this new kid Christopher Mintz-Plasse who might as well legally change his name to his character’s nickname McLovin cause he’ll be celebrity cat called it for the rest of his career. The movie isn’t high concept or wacky much like Knocked Up isn’t. It’s insanely well written by Rogen and his writing partner Evan Goldberg. The director Greg Mottola really knows how to let actors just be funny and the actors know how to deliver the lines in a way that doesn’t make them sound written. I don’t really want to write out all the plot beats cause some things probably won’t translate until you see how they’re executed. It’s not a comedy formula screenplay like Employee of the Month or some shit where the character fucks up and loses his friends to start act three and has to earn them back by winning a race and prove he’s responsible enough to be a father and a good boyfriend. It’s about one day with two teenage friends who talk like really fucking funny teenage friends trying to get alcohol to bring to a party. It’s not about them getting alcohol to get INTO a cool kid party or anything. It’s not really about wanting to be cool kids and thank god cause it easily could have been. This movie could have gone wrong in so many ways it’s amazing it didn’t. Normally it would have been called Party of the Year! with one of the friends constantly pining for popularity but then come around to see that being cool ain’t all it’s cracked up to be when the popular kid barfs on his stereo. I think we can thank Judd Apatow who has the pull to produce a movie that doesn’t have to follow that kind of formula. Apatow’s non-corny heart also rubbed off on the script. Which comes from Hill and Cera’s characters being best friends but going to different colleges soon. Which is something that I think a lot of people can relate to and is resolved in a decent non-corny way. I’m pretty sure that Super Bad will find a huge audience especially after Knocked Up blows up, at least I hope it will. The test audience seemed to like it as much as I did and I’m betting it tested well. Even if it doesn’t find an audience in theaters it will be huge on video and has a good shot of being a classic comedy people reference years from now. On second thought call me Teen Lycan5.
