Hola all. Massawyrm here.

There's a small part of me that has felt guilty all summer for not reviewing this film months ago when I first laid eyes on it. But as I set about formulating my thoughts on exactly what I was going to say about the film, I realized just how relieved I am that I waited this long to talk about it. You see, when I first saw Superbad, I loved it. I thought it was funny, cute and just the right kind of perfect feel good movie that you keep around on DVD when you need a pick me up. But now that time has passed, and I can reflect back on what I saw, I realize that this has easily become my favorite movie of the summer.

There are no giant robots, no pirates, no high-speed chases through New York City and absolutely no number after its title whatsoever. It is just a simple, straightforward, high school comedy… but it is a simple, straightforward, high school comedy that I've quoted all summer long. And when I've run into friends around town or on vacation, and I've gotten "the question", you know, what movie should I go see, Superbad invariably spills out of my mouth at some point in the conversation. You gotta see Superbad when it comes out. It's fucking hilarious.

And it is.

Superbad is something akin to what would happen of John Hughes tried to make his own version of Dazed and Confused and brought in Kevin Smith to punch up the dialog. Contrary to the impression it initially gives off, Superbad is very tightly constructed, smart and incredibly sharp. This is far from being some low rent, teen sex facsimile. This is the real deal, an adorable blend of genuine teen awkwardness and hilarious chaos. I can honestly say I laughed constantly throughout.

Now I'm not the biggest fan of Judd Apatow (who produced this), and it took me a long time to finally find the words that explain just what didn't sit well with me. Ultimately I realized that it is his adherence to getting comedy from the moment – writing interesting scripts but letting his casts improv the comedy, that left me feeling like something was missing. And that works for some people – hell, a lot of people. But I'm one of the ones for which it doesn't. What Seth Rogen and writing partner Evan Goldberg do here, however, is take that Apatow brand of humor, and rather than just throwing a lot of jokes at the wall and seeing what sticks, they composed a carefully honed script and focused that comedy like a laser. Every joke set up in the first act pays off in the last. The ball gets rolling and it gets funnier and funnier until you're howling through the third act.

And it has enduring teen classic written all over it. John Hughes produced and directed two types of teen comedies in his day. There was the goofy, silly, off the wall NEAR CLASSICS, films like Better Off Dead and Weird Science, films that were very funny and are still very much around, but never quite carried a lot of emotional weight. These have been met in equal task by more recent efforts like Can't Hardly Wait, 10 Things I Hate About You and Accepted. But then there's his holy trinity of teen perfection. Sixteen Candles. Pretty in Pink. The Breakfast Club. Movies that defined the teen lives of a generation (or at least how we wish our teen lives were.) No one has quite recaptured that magic. A few have gotten close, but never has a film quite mixed high school comedy with the painful truths of growing up, seasoned just right with just a tiny little bit of teen wish fulfillment. Until Superbad.

Superbad is the heir apparent to the teen comedy legacy left vacant by the vanishing of John Hughes from the teen movie scene. It's got an immensely big heart, but refuses to let its characters off the hook easy – putting each character through their own personal coming of age rites of passage and letting us laugh not just because of the writing, not just because of the performance, but because we can relate. Because we've been there. Superbad is the last ride of two amigos who are afraid of having to go it alone in the big scary world after High School. And everything is in perfect balance, the humor and heart each in proper measure preventing it from ever become trite or overly cheesy.

Jonah Hill is my new must watch guy. If he's in it, my ass is in a seat watching it. He was easily one of my favorite parts of Knocked Up and he worked amazingly opposite Justin Long in Accepted helping to elevate that material and proving to be one of the very best things about it. Now with Superbad he has finally cemented his comic timing, wielding a brutal sarcasm mixed with the ability to speak honestly from the heart of his character and make it ridiculously funny. And likewise Michael Cera meets with equal intensity the task of playing the nervous and shy straight man, that gets laughs but really adds the humanity to the soul of the film. And McLovin'. If you don't walk out of this film completely in love with McLovin', then I don't even want to know you. This kid has some genuine Revenge of the Nerds DNA floating around in there somewhere. Such is the power of McLovin'.

I cannot recommend this movie enough. I don't think folks are quite ready for just how surprisingly awesome this little film is. Grab some friends this weekend, truck on out to the nearest theatre showing this and find out just what it means to be Superbad.

Until next time friends, smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em.

Massawyrm

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