Superbad (2007)
Directed by Greg Mottola
Two co-dependent high school seniors are forced to deal with separation anxiety after their plan to stage a booze-soaked party goes awry.
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41 films that influenced Superbad
What critics say influenced Superbad
It echoes all kinds of earlier teen flicks, from "American Graffiti" to "American Pie," and it has the lumpy construction of an oft-reworked script that's been knocking around for a long time with no takers.
Many movies about this theme have focused on male camaraderie on this quest, including American Graffiti, Dazed and Confused, and American Pie.
For all its R-rated talk about porn and genitalia, Superbad is part of an honorable ah-when-we-were-young tradition encompassing Richard Linklater�s Dazed and Confused, George Lucas� American Graffiti, Rob Reiner�s Stand by Me, and the granddaddy of them all, Fellini�s I Vitelloni (1953).
Like “American Graffiti” and “Dazed and Confused,” all the action takes place in one day.
If those crazy cops hadn’t shown up every 30 seconds to drag the movie off into the realm of the ridiculous, Superbad could stand as this decade’s American Graffiti.
Like American Graffiti and Dazed And Confused, Superbad condenses all the cruelty, mixed emotions, angst, fun, and insanity of high-school life into a single night of kinetic mayhem.
Apatow is the writer-director of "Knocked Up" and "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," but "Superbad" -- for all its outrageous action and crude sexual content -- owes as much to such time-compressed films as "American Graffiti," "Dazed and Confused" and even Martin Scorsese's "After Hours" as to Apatow's previous work and such frank predecessors as "Fast Times at Ridgemont High."
His movies "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and "Knocked Up," on the other hand, dealt with superannuated Beavises and Butt-heads stuck in a state of loutish arrested adolescence.
He wrote and directed "Knocked Up" and "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," and produced this movie.
Having found myself unable to join in the unstinting praise heaped on anything touched by Judd Apatow—I sat stone-faced throughout The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005) and laughed sporadically during last year’s Knocked Up (not believing its supposed serious side for a second)—I approached this Apatow-produced film with grave misgivings and gloomy foreboding.
The reason this and "Knocked Up" and "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" (Apatow's previous film) strike such a chord with viewers is that the movies' basic premises are plausible and the characters are believable -- and yet they're hysterically funny, too.
But unlike his recent megahits "Knocked Up" and "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," not to mention other recent buddy comedies such as "Blades of Gory," the movie doesn't require the suspension of disbelief that more high-concept comedies do.
The nerds are the heroes here, like they were in “Revenge of the Nerds,” and there’s even a nod to “The Hollywood Knights,” thanks to a couple of bumbling cops played by Seth Rogen and Bill Hader.
Short version: Funny, with echoes of Revenge of the Nerds and believe it or not, a bit of heart.
Set in a virtually unparented American everyburb, "Superbad" has a degree more sophistication than "Revenge of the Nerds" and "American Pie," and less than the underrated "House Party."
If Seth Rogan has his way, the real "Revenge of the Nerds" will come to pass, where the experiences of our landscape's social rejects pass as the rule and not the exception.
Like the hyperactive spawn of "Revenge of the Nerds" and "American Pie" born in the era of "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and "Knocked Up," Greg Mottola's "Superbad" hits the screen spewing vulgarity, bodily fluids and antiauthoritarian rebellion in all directions.
Many movies about this theme have focused on male camaraderie on this quest, including American Graffiti, Dazed and Confused, and American Pie.
For all its R-rated talk about porn and genitalia, Superbad is part of an honorable ah-when-we-were-young tradition encompassing Richard Linklater�s Dazed and Confused, George Lucas� American Graffiti, Rob Reiner�s Stand by Me, and the granddaddy of them all, Fellini�s I Vitelloni (1953).
Like “American Graffiti” and “Dazed and Confused,” all the action takes place in one day.
Though not as consistently funny as June’s jocular Knocked Up, this far more ephemeral farce turns the last days of high school (ala Dazed and Confused) into a wickedly wild walk on the decidedly drunk and horny side of adolescence.
Like American Graffiti and Dazed And Confused, Superbad condenses all the cruelty, mixed emotions, angst, fun, and insanity of high-school life into a single night of kinetic mayhem.
“American Graffiti,” “Sixteen Candles” and “Dazed and Confused,” bow to your new master. ”Superbad” made me laugh so hard my pancreas came loose.
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It echoes all kinds of earlier teen flicks, from "American Graffiti" to "American Pie," and it has the lumpy construction of an oft-reworked script that's been knocking around for a long time with no takers.
Many movies about this theme have focused on male camaraderie on this quest, including American Graffiti, Dazed and Confused, and American Pie.
It recalls American Pie but with less nudity (in fact, there's none to speak of) and dialogue that is more clever and more profane.
Not only is “Superbad” one of the funniest movies of the year, but it also ranks up there with “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” “Risky Business” and “American Pie” as one of the best teen sex comedies ever made.
While American Pie may claim the status as first film to make girls as gonzo as the guys pursuing them, Superbad is equally refreshing in this regard.
Set in a virtually unparented American everyburb, "Superbad" has a degree more sophistication than "Revenge of the Nerds" and "American Pie," and less than the underrated "House Party."
(There is one affectionate moment between Seth and Evan in a sleeping bag that suggests a suburban "Y Tu Mama Tambien," and one disagreement between them evokes the wounded spats in Barry Levinson's "Diner.")
In spirit, “Superbad” isn’t so different from “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” (1982) and other rude teen comedies made years ago.
The press that’s been coming out so far keeps comparing “Superbad” to the 1982 teen classic “Fast Times at Ridgemont High.”
Not only is “Superbad” one of the funniest movies of the year, but it also ranks up there with “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” “Risky Business” and “American Pie” as one of the best teen sex comedies ever made.
It’s another iteration on the Fast Times at Ridgemont High clone genre, another story about a pair of losers who want to get laid before they leave high school and set off for college.
As Good As: Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Sixteen Candles, Clueless and any other teen comedy you love.
Apatow is the writer-director of "Knocked Up" and "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," but "Superbad" -- for all its outrageous action and crude sexual content -- owes as much to such time-compressed films as "American Graffiti," "Dazed and Confused" and even Martin Scorsese's "After Hours" as to Apatow's previous work and such frank predecessors as "Fast Times at Ridgemont High."
Along with some unconscious echoes of the similarly crude Tenacious D In: The Pick Of Destiny, the film embraces the edgier comedies of the early 1980s like National Lampoon's Animal House and Porky's (especially with the vintage Columbia logo that opens the film, and the hilariously retro title sequence), as well as Apatow's fabulous (if little-seen) 1999 TV high-school drama 'Freaks And Geeks'.
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If you ever wondered what Sixteen Candles, the John Hughes teen comedy from the mid-‘80s would look and sound like fashioned after the aesthetic mindset of someone like Kevin Smith, Superbad is the answer.
As Good As: Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Sixteen Candles, Clueless and any other teen comedy you love.
“American Graffiti,” “Sixteen Candles” and “Dazed and Confused,” bow to your new master. ”Superbad” made me laugh so hard my pancreas came loose.
In the tradition of the great high-school party movies of the past quarter-century— American Graffiti , Sixteen Candles , Dazed and Confused —it follows its heroes through one embarrassing day’s journey into an even more excruciating night.
(There is one affectionate moment between Seth and Evan in a sleeping bag that suggests a suburban "Y Tu Mama Tambien," and one disagreement between them evokes the wounded spats in Barry Levinson's "Diner.")
As a result, the film finally achieves a pretty intense emotional resonance—in a way that’s almost a less guilt-tinged variation on the ending of Alfonso Cuarón’s Y Tu Mamá También (2001).
Probably not since Y Tu Mama Tambien has a movie taken such a close look at the dynamics of male friendship, including its homosocial subtext.