Superbad

The new teen-comedy Superbad (Greg Mottola, dir.) breaks away from its juvenile categorizations because of the onscreen chemistry of leads Jonah Hill and Michael Cera. Their dialogue focuses on important topics like life after high school, friendship, social phobias, popularity, and sex. I suppose the majority of their dialogue focuses on sex but sex is used as the vehicle that organizes Superbad's other areas of inquiry. Throughout, Hill's brazen, deadpan delivery functions as the perfect counter to Cera's thoughtful, intelligent musing, and the two carry the script with an energetic willingness that leaves us wishing they could continue suffering through high school forever. Along for the ride is Fogell "McLovin" (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), Hill and Cera's fake id bearing friend who spends most of the film galavanting around with Officers Slater (Bill Hader) and Michaels (Seth Rogan), the most inept and jaded comic policepersons this side of Supertroopers. If you need proof of the effort and time that was put into Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg's quality script, you perhaps need look no further than the name McLovin itself, a name which resonates trivial destiny, paradoxically managing to remain both contemporary and historical. Superbad is definitely written for men, which could make it all the more appealing for women, it being a rare clinical evaluation of the American teenaged male, an evaluation which can be thought of as both lucid and gross. Come for the camaraderie, stay for the shenanigans, note that if you're looking for an entertaining hour and a half comedic break you're in luck, and, when it’s over, if there's time, pull out that old high school yearbook, and sigh.