Review of Superbad (2007) by Steven W — 15 Feb 2016

It's fairly rare that a high school movie hits really close to home. Superbad is a teen comedy that captures the high school atmosphere near perfectly. The story follows two seniors Seth and Evan, two nerdy kids that are trying to find someone they can get with by the end of their senior year.

When they get invited to a popular girl named Jules's party, they get involved in a hilarious string of events that lead to a lot of difficult situations. To start off, I thought the acting was really good for the way this comedy portrayed itself to be.

Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Emma Stone, Seth Rogen, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and Bill Hader all gave memorable performances. Characters like McLovin, Seth & Evan, the two cops and many more make the movie the great comedy that it is.

I don't think any character was left out of a funny line or situation. People that weren't on camera very much (like Joe Lo Truglio) were memorable and he was there for like 8 minutes! To bounce off this aspect, all of this movie was hilarious.

There were tons of laugh out loud moments, some worthy clever jokes, others not so much but they were still funny. The cops and Fogle were clearly the funniest people in the movie. Not only did they have really funny moments together, but they created a really good bond together.

They had surprisingly good chemistry, as did Evan and Seth. I thought the writing for this movie was very well done, it was done by Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen and it really shows that it was because of his signature brand of stoner humor.

The film had a really good story to tell too, even if it does draw plot lines from films like American Pie, it felt like I was in their shoes. They didn't feel like they were really playing characters but like they WERE that character.

Michael Cera may be the only exception since he's kind of a one trick pony sometimes but he meshes well with everyone else. The film is shot very well, the cuts were smooth and felt big budget at times which kinda bothered me but other than that it had good production.

The thing that puts me over for this movie is its sense of moving on after high school. It's kind of like their last hurrah after being together for such a long time. The way that they show characters interact with each other also felt real because they didn't act like scripted jocks or nerds.

They capture that aspect very well. Overall, Superbad is a lot better than I expected. It made me die of laughter while telling a hilarious story about moving on to college and getting through the stress and stereotypes of high school.

B+.