Over the weekend I checked out the latest flick from Judd Apatow, the creator of “40 Year Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up”. In a lot of ways Superbad gives you exactly what you expect in a silly, ranchy teen movie, but there’s plenty of originality as well. Apatow definitely has a penchant for making coming of age movies, he just keeps tweaking that age from film to film. In this installment the awkward male leads plot to score booze and girls before finishing high school.
Foul mouthed Seth (left) delivers most of the movie’s hilarious lines, and Evan (right) plays a good straight man to his antics. They are joined by uber-geek, ‘McLovin’, who steals most of the scenes from the man-child cops played by Seth Rogen (Kocked Up) and Bill Hader (SNL). Much like “Harold and Kumar”, the movie plays like collection of skits all loosely threaded together in a overall journey. And as with all journey movies, it’s the trip, not the destination, you remember. Between the stellar moments of home ec tirades, Superman lunchbox stashes, and liquor store dream sequences, some of the movie’s scenes fall flat. The interjection of the adult characters (the cops, the creepy driver) sometimes works for a laugh, but mostly feels like it pulls the movie off course. But as soon as you figure the best parts of the movie are behind you, Seth gets hit by a car, and things are right again.
All in all, Superbad is a fun time, and you should check it out when you’re in the mood for vulgarity and slapstick. No, I don’t think it’s the “Fast Times” for the iGeneration, but it is one of the best comedies of the year.
Tags: Movies
