Superbad

'Superbad is only somewhat good'

In life, most elitist film people tend to disregard teen comedies and coming of age stories unless they are told with a serious bent due to the lackluster teen films that came out in the 90's including Can't Hardly Wait, and the spoofs that followed such as Not Another Teen Movie. Of course, before that there were many classics like Clueless and Ferris Bueller's Day Off. So where does the recent film Superbad fall? I would place it as a good film that most people can enjoy, except the conservative. The plot? Easy, three dorks in high school scheme to get alcohol and sleep with the hot girls of their choice and along the way grow up some and come to terms with their lives. So why is this film better than most? Because of Judd Apatow. Judd also helped to create 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up, two very funny films with a lot of heart, the main ingredient. See, teen comedies and films are made to relate to teens as well as adults by making people relive the angst and anxiety felt during those pitiful years and as times have changed the purpose has been mostly to share lessons of learning with other students who could relate to the experiences in the film. Superbad, unfortunately, gets a lot of the social scene from what I remember in high school correct. The big difference is two fold: The language is much worse and the patience of the females are much higher. If two girls at my old school had liked such young fellows, they would have saved their face after the embarassment caused by the drunken party at the end. As for language, well, my friends know I am do enjoy me some coarse language but man, this is the first time I have blushed at hearing things. I mean, damn, do kids really talk this frankly and coarsely about everything nowadays? Anyhow, a break down of got it rights:

Good: The movie has a lot of heart and the actors play the characters with enough honesty to be completely passable in their beliefs and issues. Also, it doesn't hurt that the bad police cop routine is mapped out and put to such great use. Why are they bad? Because they want to look cool. Also, the humor for most of the people is fresh and interesting despite some of its toilet roots.

Bad: The humor is so crude it feels put on sometimes and the story is a basic coming of age friends tale. Plus, the weird Frodo-Sam undertones Jonah Hill places in the story is a bit odd.

Conclusion: If you like to remember high school years and enjoy fresh interesting comedy with loads of crude humor, then this is the film to see. If you find language "shocking" or "ill-mannered" then stay at home with your life support system. And if you are on the bench, nothing is funnier than the tons of hand-drawn animated penises in the film. Yes, I said that correctly. It's damn funny.

3.8 out of 5