Ahoy, squirts! Quint here.
I can’t claim to have been the earliest fan of the creative team behind SUPERBAD. I jumped on board the Seth Rogen/Judd Apatow bandwagon after FREAKS & GEEKS, around the time they started putting out movies. I still haven’t fully explored the show, but I’ve loved all their movies so far.
It’s odd… they keep getting better and better. I love 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN. KNOCKED UP is hilarious and now I’ve seen SUPERBAD, which is the glowing angel on top of the Christmas tree, the big ape on the tall building, the pinnacle… at least for me.
The movie is a geek’s movie. Not in the way of “Oh, they’re wearing Star Trek uniforms” or “Sweet, they quoted Star Wars.” That’s not this movie.
This is a movie about geeks that feel so well drawn and true that if you’re at all like me, you’ll recognize them immediately, feel like you’ve met them before. You’ll feel like you stayed up playing the PS2 or Xbox with them, suffered through PE together.
SUPERBAD wears its heart on its sleeve. These characters are all likable, relatable… and the funny thing is that even though it has all this heart, it’s one of the most vulgar comedies made in recent times. You get a Lebowski number of F-bombs, but much like Lebowski the movie is so full of heart that you never consider it vulgar.
The three leads represent the three different types of geeks. You have Jonah Hill’s character, the fat kid with a smart mouth. His sense of humor and personality stems from his weight, him trying to compensate, to get people to look past his stomach.
Christopher Mintz-Plasse’s character is on the opposite side of geekdom. He’s more of a dweeb character. Rail thin, annoying, but sweet. He doesn’t have a mean bone in his body.
Michael Cera’s character is in the middle. He’s not too thin, not too chubby, is good looking enough to easily get girls, but is incredibly awkward, no self confidence.
Like I said above, I related to every one of these characters in at least a small way and I especially projected myself onto Jonah Hill’s character.
The thrust of this movie is simple. Two best friends, Cera and Hill, are about to graduate high school. They’ve both harbored crushes and the powers of the universe cause them to move on them before they leave high school. They just fall into a scenario where they’re responsible for getting booze for a big party. Of course, we get two cops (Rogen and Bill Hader) who are almost more irresponsible than the underage kids.
When they come in the flick branches and we follow two storylines. This can be dangerous in a comedy and fatal in one that’s already working strong, but in this film the cops and McLovin’s adventure is just as funny as Cera and Hill’s. The film didn’t just survive this plot structure, but benefited from it. The chemistry is always changing so it never gets to the point where it feels old or tired.
The movie isn’t really about the plot, but the characters and the adventure. It’s like if John Hughes’ geek characters existed in a Coen Bros world, but with the comedic timing of the Rogen/Apatow team.
If you saw that red band trailer that hit, you’ll have an idea of the type of comedy you’re in for come August.
It’s been around two months since I saw the film and I’m dying to see it again. It’s been a fantastic couple of years for comedy. In the time since seeing this I’ve also seen HOT ROD, which is a different branch of the funny tree, but funny nonetheless. I’ll have a review of that one up later today if I can.
The big wrap up is this movie is a launching board for all involved. Michael Cera, McLovin’ and Jonah Hill are fucking hysterical and now they’ve proven they can carry a movie. If there’s any justice in this world, SUPERBAD will be as big as KNOCKED UP and continue the reign of power this group is holding over comedy right now.
It’s only good for us. I think their excellence is pushing comedy to be better and that’s why we're seeing more quality work. Keep up the good fight!
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
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