Funny, Irreverent Superbad Lets Boys be Boys

Superbad is the latest film from the team responsible for recent summer hits such as The Forty-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up. And believe it or not, it is raunchier and more raucous than either of those films, featuring a trio of sex-starved teenagers as its main characters.

Superbad takes place within the span of two days, with a loud high school party (no surprise here) as its centerpiece. It revolves around the desires, anxieties, and misadventures of Seth, Evan, and their freakishly nerdy friend Fogell portrayed by newcomer Christopher Mintz-Plasse. The boys are in their senior year of high school, and Evan and Fogell have decided to room together at Dartmouth. Their lower-achieving and more mischievous ring leader Seth is far less certain about his college plans and wastes no time dismissing anything that is not related to girls and hanging out.

Although it’s their senior year, these three have neither seen nor had much action with the female populace at their high school, and they boldly declare that they are changing this bulletin-board fact before the end of the school year. Lucky for them, they are invited to a party by two pretty girls, who lo and behold actually like them. In the one-tracked minds of the boys the party is the site of lots of booze and an opportunity to “get with some of the girls.” There’s a bit of a catch, though. The boys, newcomers to the “in-crowd,” have to bring the liquor of the girls’ choice, and of course, they are only too happy to oblige even though they are not old enough to buy it. In one of the film’s funniest bits, Fogell shows off his fake photo ID, which identifies him with the single name “McLovin” and naturally, several jokes about his name and the clothes he dons for the big party ensue.

Of course, not all of the jokes work. There is a brief gag about blood from a woman who is in the middle of her period dripping on to the pants of one of the boys that is more gross than funny. In another scene two police officers question an African American woman about a robbery, and in an awkward moment they hesitantly ask her the race of the perpetrator.

There are several memorable supporting characters, some of whom are funnier than others. Seth Rogen and Bill Hader portray two police officers who befriend Fogell and treat him to a fun-filled night in the squad car. The officers are dim-witted and destructive and get their kicks out of turning on their police car sirens before speeding through the city’s red lights. In addition, the film includes a band of pot-inhaling and red-eyed men in a smoke-filled room hell-bent on seeing and hearing Evan sing, and Jules and Becca, the girls whom Seth and Evan have their sights set on.

For the first two-thirds of its more than two-hour running time, Superbad is a trek down memory lane of past high school comedies that got major mileage out of fast-talking characters spewing sexually-explicit jokes that every teenage boy says or dreams of saying. Yet, there is an underlying truth in the script and the performances that prevents the film from deteriorating into just another sexually-driven and derivative comedy that has become such a common product of the Hollywood studio system. Michael Cera, slim, shy, and embodying wide-eyed innocence as Evan, is the perfect counterpart to Jonah Hill, who is loud and almost never at a loss for words. Hill’s Seth is rotund and a loquacious, sex-thinking machine on a mission to lose his virginity and to do what he can to see that his friends lose theirs as well. But in truth, Seth is Superbad’s most vulnerable character, the one who has the most to lose, and ultimately the heart and soul of the film. And he more than Evan or Fogel, two more likable characters, actually suffers from separation anxiety, one of the film’s themes. In one of the most poignant moments in this summer’s movies, Seth admits his true feelings for his friend Evan, who utters the same words of affection for his fellow mate. It’s a moment in stark contrast to the raunchy, uproarious scenes that dominate the first two-thirds of the film and one that sets it apart from most mainstream comedies about American teenagers.

In three films now Greg Mottola, Judd Apatow, Seth Rogen, and the rest of this new “it” team in Hollywood have celebrated and dissected American malehood. Surpassing the Farrelly brothers (There’s Something about Mary and Dumb and Dumber) and to somewhat lesser-extent Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused), the team has produced comedies that combine knee-slapping hilarity with some insightful commentary on human behavior and the psyche of the American male. It took me two complete viewings to fully appreciate all that Superbad has to offer. Now I’m eagerly anticipating this talented production team’s next effort with the hope that it might be even more revelatory than this crowd-pleasing, sure-fire hit and that it challenge easily-amused American audiences to do more than let “boys be boys.”

Grade: B

(Rated R for strong sexual content, mature themes, strong profanity)