Today is Thursday but it’s not just Thursday. Today is Teen Movie Thursday and I’m reviewing the movie ‘Superbad’. A movie that can be best described as a very immature and stupid movie. Teen movies can be a lot of fun but on the other hand they can be frustrating and tiresome. This movie kind of falls somewhere in between.
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So what is ‘Superbad’ about? Well, of course, it’s about guys trying to get laid and it’s about big house parties with lots of alcohol. ‘Superbad’ is a movie that’s also a little bit about friendship and every now and then it’s about growing up and growing down.
‘Superbad’ follows the exploits of Fat Loser and Awkward Nice Guy and their kind-of-friend McLovin. They’re just about to graduate high school and go to college but so far none of them have got laid. Tonight is the night of their last ever high school party and while they don’t usually get invited to these parties tonight they have a secret weapon. McLovin has got a fake ID and they’re going to use it to buy alcohol for the party. Far Loser and Awkward Nice Guy promise to buy the girls of their respective dreams alcohol for the party so that they can all get drunk and have sex. The plan should be simple.
The movie takes a turn for the worst when McLovin is punched in a robbery. Fat Loser and Awkward Nice Guy see the police (played by Seth Rogan and Bill Hader) and assume McLovin has been busted. They ditch him on a chance to get free alcohol with a stranger who looks a lot like a paedophile and begin their own adventure on the way to the paty. McLovin’s roller-coaster ride takes him from the liquor store to a drunken bar fight and out to shoot a stop sign with his two drunken police friends.
Fat Loser and Awkward Nice Guy, on the other hand, get stranded at the wrong party and Awkward Nice Guy made to sing for some wannabe Mafia types snorting coke. Eventually they escape as a fight breaks out but they find their friendship being put under strain as their opposing personalties put a strain on things.
An accident brings them together again and then Fat Loser, Mclovin and Awkward Nice guy make it to the right party with the alcohol safely in hand and things are looking up. The movie ends the next day as everyone recovers from the night and have learned their valuable life lesson for the movie and realise that sex isn’t as important as blah, blah, blah, blah – good stuff!
Right. Now we’re clear on the very clichéd teen movie plot I have to say it’s pretty well written and manages to weave a lot of sub-plots and events together for the different characters on the night the film takes place. While it might not be the best teen movie there is (and it certainly isn’t) it is one that shows a higher degree of writing and that’s always good!
The actors are your regular teen movie nobodies who all fit the archetypes well and the movie is thankfully lacking in fat jokes. I’m more than a little over fat jokes. The first season of South Park really killed them for me. So despite Fat Loser being central, we don’t hear about his weight very much. They all look and play the parts well and I think McLovin deserves a special mention for playing his character with such style. I found myself most interested in him – unusual for me as I generally find it difficult to tolerate any character in a teen movie except Awkward Nice Guy.
I mentioned earlier that Teen Movies can be frustrating and tiresome or a lot of fun. Well this movie is a little bit of both. Fat Loser is very tiresome and all the protagonists lack of a spine gets pretty frustrating. This is especially bad as none of them ever really do grow a spine and I don’t know how big the life lesson of the movie is. I guess this is more realistic for a movie but saying a Teen Movie is an accurate portrayal of any teen’s life is a real stretch so there’s no need to make it anyway realistic. Kevin Smith has proved that point more than once.
On the other hand this movie is a lot of fun. Every time I felt like turning it off something would happen that made me laugh and got me interested again. There’s a lot happening in ‘Superbad’ and possibly the best scenes are the scenes involving McLovin’s two frat-brother police friends. I don’t think I’ll be watching this movie again any time soon – maybe not ever – but it’s definitely worth watching once. It may be that I’m outgrowing the genre or that I’ve got expectations that are too high.
Whatever the case I give this movie 2/5 little bottles of lube. I won’t call ‘Superbad’ a bad movie but it’s not especially great either. The writing is good but the plot isn’t anything new; the actors are adequate but none of them are the next Sean William Scott; The movie makes you laugh but there’s plenty of time to breathe in between and even time to lose interest and almost enough to get tired, but not quite.
So all in all it’s an okay movie and if you like Teen Movies then check it out. But given the choice I’d pick up ‘Sex Drive’ or ‘Mallrats’ because this movie just doesn’t hold up.
