Superbad

Starring: Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Bill Hader, Seth Rogen Directed by: Greg Mottola Runtime: 114 min. Rated: R Release date: August 17, 2007 - More Info
READER RATINGS:
7.5 OVERALL	Smart . . . . . . . . 7.3 Sexy . . . . . . . . . 6.2 Funny . . . . . . . . 9

The Nerve Review

Let no one say it doesn't have soul, but Superbad is not super bad (or is that super good?). It's mostly "super script-we-had-lying-around-from-when-we-were-in-high-school." After a thematically familiar, but hilarious, first half hour, it goes off the rails and stays there, mucking around next to the track for another ninety minutes. It's still vastly funnier and more human than American Pie and its ilk, but it's no Knocked Up, even in terms of pure comedy.

Downer, huh? I was looking forward to it as much as I bet you were. After all, Judd Apatow seems to have a Midas touch these days, and Seth Rogen's served him well. Rogen, who wrote the script in high school with partner Evan Goldberg, turns out to be part of the problem, actually—after high-school seniors Jonah Hill and Michael Cera (a classic vulgar guy/sweet guy pair-up) leave school for a year-end party, Rogen and Saturday Night Live's Bill Hader swoop in as a pair of wacky cops. Fair enough, right? Looks good in the previews? But these fucking cops will not go away!

The problem is that the whole joke with the cops partying and misbehaving and blasting "Panama" while they trash their squad car is really misconceived. If you're making a movie where the principal is this grumpy stiff, and then at the end he's partying down with a bra on his head and beers in both hands, you have to set him up as a grumpy stiff! You take one look at these twenty-something stoner comedians playing cops, and obviously they're going to be toking up within five minutes (though you may not guess they'll hijack half the movie away from the more-endearing leads). Get a couple of middle-aged hardasses in those roles and it could be funny, but as it is, it just seems like someone thought drunken cops was innately hilarious as a concept. Jesus, the cops even took over this review! If you think this thing was funnier at the beginning, and wonder why I'm going on and on about the stupid cops, you probably feel much the way you will on the way out of Superbad. — Peter Smith

Other Reviews

Newsweek
Devin Gordon
"The script inexplicably sidelines Cera and Hill for long stretches in the middle of the film, and Superbad loses altitude whenever they're gone. But when the focus is on them, they're a duo for the ages. As a Revenge of the Nerds redux, Superbad isn't perfect. But it's super close."
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The Village Voice
Scott Foundas
"Superbad is a movie about getting wasted and getting laid, but it is above all an ode to the end of teenage innocence in all its wonderful, horrible splendor."
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The Hollywood Reporter
Stephen Farber
"Some of the patter is funny, but the movie lacks the clever plot developments and the character nuances of a classic like American Graffiti. And it's missing the belly laughs of earlier raunchfests American Pie and There's Something About Mary. The film never achieves a hilariously outrageous epiphany like the hair gel scene in Mary — a scene that can turn a teen comedy into a legend."
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ReelViews
James Berardinelli
"The prime requisite of any comedy — that it generate laughs — is amply met. If the movie has a failing, it's a tendency to be long-winded. The denouement feels unnecessarily protracted and the number of scenes with the cops (some of the least comically successful material in the movie) could have been trimmed. Superbad is a very good little 95 minute movie that runs a little over 110 minutes."
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Your Reviews

Each generation has its teen gross-out coming-of-age comedy, and this one -- at least the one a few after my own -- will have SUPERBAD, a film that ups the stakes so thoroughly and frighteningly on the time-honored subject of high school graduation, it makes one never want to leave the nest. So depraved and filthy are the doings of loser buddies Evan, Seth, and Fogell, one wants to bathe afterwards -- but that's the genius of SUPERBAD, a film that wrings good-natured humor out of truly horrific moments, thereby recalling some of the best films of its genre. If you're not still thinking about (and guffawing at) the film's better gags the next day (as I am), you'll at least be humming the songs into which it breathes new life -- "These Eyes" by the Guess Who and Van Halen's "Panama," both of which will never sound the same again.

posted by filmington on 10/28/2007 5:23:31 PM

I was surprisingly disappointed with this overhyped film. Peter Smith's Nerve review was the best review I've read of Superbad. I saw it in a packed Friday night crowd, and they did laugh their asses off. That doesn't mean it was a great movie. The first half hour was funny and established some good characters who were EXTREMELY FAMILIAR. Almost everything about this movie is extremely familiar--vulgar / sweet friend pair, even nerdier third friend, hot girls falling for all three of them for no reason except plot device. Some great moments, mostly from Michael Cera, but I was counting the minutes till it was over by the end. I loved loved LOVED 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up, but this one's a slight mess. Thanks for the great movie coverage, Nerve.

posted by greatgatsby1 on 8/27/2007 11:28:22 AM

I really saw a ton of hype before even seeing the previews for this film. NIne times out of ten when I see this much hype the movie never lives up. But the opening interaction of the two guys Evan and Seth just set the tone perfectly.
The whole charm of this movie I think is that there's a lot of trash talking and agression but its towards themselves. The 3 main characters arent plotting revenge again the bullies or teachers or hackneyed crap like that. They are so laser focused on getting laid that they dont even mind that the high school thugs are picking on them. They reserve all thir rage for each other - which alows them to perfect their trash talking.
The pace and the tone and pretty much eevery apect of this film are flawless. People have said that when the bad cops enter the picture that it veers off into an unessesarily dark area. But as I read that Rogan and his partner wrote this as a mostly true remeberance of how highschool actually was for them. For kids seeking underage alcohol your most feared ememy WOULD be the police. And attiude the police take when busting up the underage parties are just as I remeber my suburban experinces with teen summer parties. Mclovin I think moves up in rank even higher than the dudes from 16 CANDLES or Revenge of the Nerds becuase he is utterly likable. He doesnt have any creepy aspect to him - he's just trying with all his might to get some beer and women.
Even the homosexual fiendship angle they take is classic. No one in the movie is gay but they bond so much through their ordeal that they hunker down like army buddies in the heat of combat.
There's way too much hilarity in this movie to put inot detail. But beyond the jokes they whole overall arch of the film just works - it never strays off into some lame subplot thrown in by a scatterbrained screenwriter. Its just pure undistilled bedlam in the pursuit of women and booze. And even though the character are involved in some pretty hardcore situations, they come accross as believable. And at the end of the movie you can see the three main guys realistically grow up to be upstanding productive adults. The movie avoids treacle but still allows the benevolennce of the guys come through.
Wish I could wipe it all from my mind so I could see it again for the 1st time. Great film.

posted by willemdefoam on 8/23/2007 3:23:18 PM
nerve personals profile: willem defoam

I think that whenever a movie makes a packed audience laugh so hard that nobody can breathe, that's a great movie. By that standard, Superbad is a great movie. (And I liked the cops.)