Review of Everybody Wants Some!! (2016) by Rob A — 30 Jul 2016

At this point, Richard Linklater has mastered the art of storytelling without an actual story. This time around, Linklater delivers Everybody Wants Some!!, a spiritual successor to his ever-famous Dazed and Confused. It follows a group of Texas college baseball players as they engage in all kinds of 80s debauchery in the three days before the semester begins. There's really nothing more to it.

The real draw here is the chemistry between all of these baseball players. Following along with newbie Jake (Blake Jenner), we're introduced to the colorful cast of characters (a group of mostly unknown actors: Linklater has a knack for that as well) and each of their distinctive quirks. Linklater has proved time and time again that he knows how to write realistic characters, and this is no exception. Characters that could easily become antagonists in any other version of this movie are instead oddly likeable in spite of their (overly) competitive natures. They're all likeable in their own way, and by the time it's over, you really hate to have to abandon these friends that feel like friends of your own.

A lot of the philosophy of some of Linklater's other works is toned down here, which is a bit disappointing, but it's not gone entirely. A fair share of it comes when Jake stumbles across Beverly (Zoey Deutch), a painfully cute theater student who takes an interest in Jake's quieter personality in comparison to his baseball groupies. The two share conversations akin to those of Jesse and Céline. Perhaps on a lesser level, of course, but it works: they're in college, after all.

Like Dazed and Confused, Linklater perfectly recreates the 80s for the film's setting. Not only is it decked out with an impressive soundtrack full of hit songs, the costumes, the cars, the clubs, the lingo, and the hairstyles all transport us to the college in the film with am impressive level of authenticity.

Linklater's done it again. Everybody who's even remotely a fan of his work should get some of Everybody Wants Some!!