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Superbad

Review By: Andrea Tuccillo
AndreaTuccillo@TheCinemaSource.com

Superbad is a super-raunchy, super-cool, super-loveable, and, above all, super-hilarious high school comedy. Written by pals Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg and produced by Judd Apatow, Superbad is filled with enough fresh catchphrases, ballsy jokes and one-liners, and relatable teenage awkwardness to transform it into possibly one of summer’s most surprising and unexpected blockbuster hits.

Best buds Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan (Michael Cera)—yes, the writers named the characters after themselves—are graduating from high school, but they both got into different colleges. This bothers them more than they’d like to admit, so when they get invited to a house party they devise a last-chance plan to make it a night to remember. Joined by their nerdy friend Fogell (and with high-hopes for his newly minted fake I.D.), their scheme involves getting the two things every teenage boy wants—babes and booze.

Unfortunately, as I’m sure we’ve all seen by now in the commercials, Fogell’s I.D. isn’t what Seth and Evan were hoping for. The card lists him as the single-named “McLovin”, and it becomes the movie’s running gag that never gets old. Fogell (newcomer Christopher Mintz-Plasse) decides he is McLovin: The 25-year-old Hawaiian organ donor. He slowly morphs into the movie’s unlikely hero, even if his new moniker does sound like it belongs to, as Evan puts it, “an Irish R&B singer.” Mintz-Plasse, in his acting debut, is poised to become an icon for nerds everywhere after this scene-stealing role.

Michael Cera and Jonah Hill solidify themselves as the new generation of comedy. Both are, um, super-talented. Cera was spot-on perfect as the deadpan George-Michael Bluth on the gone-too-soon TV comedy gem Arrested Development. He couples his perpetually frightened-looking baby face with his flair for capturing the awkward moment in his role as the quiet worrier Evan. Jonah Hill, who’s fast becoming a staple in any big-screen comedy these days (appearing in Accepted, Knocked Up and Evan Almighty), is the chubby, foul-mouthed Seth.

As what’s common with most high school comedies, the boys’ antics turn into a wild ride of misadventures and setbacks. It’s one hilarious situation after the next as their schemes to get alcohol and hook up with their girl crushes go awry.

Here’s another likeable fact about Superbad—the teenagers in the movie actually look and talk like real teenagers! That’s a rarity in film and television these days. And while throughout the movie the boys talked big, when it came down to it you could see their true insecurities. Their friendship and their fears of going off to college and leading separate lives were real. Seth and Evan’s drunken declaration of love to one another was an especially priceless moment.

Being that I was a girl watching this testosterone-heavy flick, I also really liked that the boys’ crushes were on realistic girls. They ...