Review of Everybody Wants Some!! (2016) by 6David K — 21 Apr 2017

1980. Jake is about to start his college education. He has a baseball scholarship and lives in a commune that consists of the entire college baseball team. College starts in three days and we see how he adapts and makes new friends.

Written and directed by Richard Linklater who gave us Boyhood and the Before Sunset/Sunrise/Midnight series this is ostensibly the college version of what is, for me, his greatest film - Dazed and Confused. (Calling a sequel would be pushing it a bit far as there is no link between the characters).

There are some similarities between the two - the dawning of the new phase in young people's lives, new experiences and fitting in - but quality- and feeling-wise the two are quite far apart. Dazed and Confused was wonderfully engaging, and immediately so, and had a great sense of nostalgia. It was also quite profound in the way it dealt with growing up.

Everybody Wants Some!!, on the other hand, starts off rather dully, with Linklater trying too hard to make the characters cool and likable, and in the process making them irritating, and the plot doesn't really go anywhere for a while. The engagement isn't there to start off with and it all seems like Animal House or Porky's without the humour.

It gets better though, with the characters gaining some depth (thus becoming more engaging), some interesting plot developments towards the end and a reasonably profound ending. It just takes patience to get there - I was ready to give up after less than 30 minutes.