Review of Superbad (2007) by Jess L — 06 Feb 2013

Finally Apatow Productions are back in fine form after the horribly over rated Knocked Up here is a movie that lives up to the hype.

I'm not overly familiar with director Greg Mottola; I've enjoyed Undeclared, the Apatow productions TV show which followed Freaks & Geeks in being axed after one season. Mottola directed several episodes of the show, so this collaboration with Seth Rogen along with Rogen & Evan Goldberg's amazing screenplay have created a memorable new chapter in American teen/college comedies.

As I said the screenplay is flawless. It's hilarious at the same time as bordering on disturbing and you can't help but find amusement in the plight of these high school lads about to embark on college.

The story itself is nothing new. We have seen many a film of this nature, most notably the American Pie series which were considered at their time of release to be pushing the boundaries of teen comedies. Superbad has just blown those films out of the water and set a new benchmark. The reason this film takes an overused premise and succeeds triumphantly is because of the incredibly strong and funny team working on this. The acting is superb. The leading duo are wonderful together and compliment one another perfectly. They are likeable characters but above that they are believable, making any unlikely or far fetched scenario which follows seem completely capable of happening in the real world. Rogen and Hader are hilarious as the two cops and this film would not have succeeded without these two players.

I really enjoyed this movie which was a relief. After Knocked Up I was beginning to lose hope that we would see this team back on track again. Highly recommended.