Superbad (2007)

Superbad (2007)
Directed by Greg Mottola
Written by Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg

Well, this is the ultimate example of marketing making a movie work. I saw the trailer back in April when it first appeared on Apple.com and knew it was an instant hit, but I also thought it would be a smaller, geek-oriented hit. On the back of Knocked Up and Judd Apatow's recent overtaking (by the way, where the fuck were these people when Freaks and Geeks was on the air?) of Hollywood, this quickly got promoted the point of it becoming a number 1 movie with no big stars, purely on the trailer, word of mouth, and internet hype. Who says the internet has no power?

In light of all that, I think I was slightly disappointed, I guess mainly by the fact that I just don't buy Michael Cera as a main character. In anything. Yeah, he's the super-weird kid that always says the wrong thing. Hmm, I've seen this before, and done better. Oh yeah, it was John Francis Daly on Freaks and Geeks. I guess he's too old looking now, or maybe he's not interested in acting anymore (I heard he was writing and making his own films now) but still, Michael Cera is a let-down, although I love Jonah Hill, I think his over-the-top vulgar character is perfect, he's the biggest loser and although he knows it, he does everything possible not to let it show. Then there's Fogell, or in other words, Bill from Freaks and Geeks. I guess that's my main problem with this movie, it's so much like a really vulgar Freaks and Geeks episode that I lost sight of the fact that the movie is indeed really funny. But seriously, they even did an alcohol party episode of F & G.

Barring all that, this is definitely the funniest movie of the year, even in a year where Mr Bean's Vacation and Knocked Up came out. Watching Knocked Up again, I guess I really forgot how actually funny the movie is, and how the writing stands up to the likes of stuff like 40 Year Old Virgin. Superbad has that slight edge over other gross-out teen comedies in that it is well written, the characters are actually heartfelt and likeable, instead of like 9 Stiffler's running around on screen. I also guess that's what pulls the biggest draw of the mainstream audience, this is an entirely new concept to them. What's sad is, all teen comedies should have been like this already, I guess that's another part of my disappointment with it.

But still, there are so many funny moments, and everyone has been so inundated with them already I won't go spoiling the fun here, but Fogell/McLovin really lives up to the hype that was created for that character, and there are constant zingers that not only aren't in the trailer, they COULDN'T be in the trailer, which is something I completely loved about this movie. 


8.8/10