Superbad: One Last Blast In The Ruins (Spoilers!!!)

You know, Home Ec. is a joke. Everyone takes it to just get an A. Not to disgrace your profession or anything. There's three weeks left in school, just give me a fucking break! I'm sorry for cursing."
-- Seth from Superbad

"All I need are some tasty waves, a cool buzz, and I'm fine."
-- Jeff Spicoli from Fast Times at Ridgemont High

"Imagine how many people out there are fuckin' right now man, just goin' at it."
-- Ron Slater from Dazed And Confused

It was no accident that Harold Ramis was cast as Ben Stone's father in Knocked Up. It was Judd Apatow paying homage to one of his idols of the great subversive comedy genre. Ramis has starred, written or directed some of the best ones of my generation. He co-wrote the best of the best: Animal House, Meatballs, Caddyshack, Stripes, Back To School and the Ghostbusters films. He directed Caddyshack, Vacation, and some recent classics as well like Groundhog Dog. He has starred in many of these films along side Bill Murray-- one of the great poster boys of the subversive comedies of the late 1970's and early 1980's. These were the films of my youth that I have never been able to outgrow. The films have stood the test of time as far as I am concerned. It is only fitting that Ramis would play the father of Seth Rogen's Ben Stone. Apatow has a thing for carrying on the tradition in his television shows and his two directorial features-- The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up. Those two films show more wit, daring and just flat out laughs than I could ever commit to paper. Apatow gets it. Adulthood is a minefield and when you get there-- the inmates running the asylum are usually just as clueless as you. Whether it is Andy Stitzer getting advice on women, dating or love in The 40 Year Old Virgin or Ben getting advice on fatherhood, and life in Knocked Up-- the adults or experts in the films are just as in the dark as our main characters. Although, Catherine Keener has more on the ball than anyone as Trish in The 40 Year Old Virgin.
Apatow's film reveal a world where everyone is in a state of arrested development... forever. Maturity may be a goal, but immaturity is the lay of the land. Sometimes where you least expect it. The films play like the triumph of the slacker. I love it!!!

Superbad is the best film you can end the summer with. Why not? It has all the trappings of Judd Apatow's previous work. He is the perfect person to produce this coming of age story set on one day during the closing days of high school and the dawn of adulthood. Or in the case of the film's main characters-- college life.
If it makes any sense, Superbad is the perfect prequel to Knocked Up. Trust me, while Apatow does not direct, it makes sense that Greg Mottola called the shots this time. Has it been ten years since Mottola's The Daytrippers? Superbad owes some of it manic enrgy to that film and seems inspired from such films as Dazed And Confused, After Hours, Porky's and Fast Times At Ridgemont High. The Ramis subversive genes are here too. I am not sure I would this film this generation's Animal House, but I have a feeling that Jonah Hill's Seth is going to be quoted for many years to come. Jonah Hill has a rapid fire fould mouth. Hill's Seth is a mash up of Eric Cartman and a young Zero Mostel. The first twenty minutes of the film is a non stop barrage of Seth's mouth. Some of the funniest dialogue I have heard in some time. Seth's mouth is a treasure trove foul language, porn and gross out jokes!!! His chemistry with his best friend Evan, Michael Cera, is as real as they come. We believe these two have known each other their lives as soon as we see them in action. We like these two and we want to follow them for the rest of the film. But Superbad is really about a trio and this is where the film gets very interesting. Enter Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Fogell or as his fake I.D. says, Mclovin. First off, I love the fact that Seth and Fogell do not get along. They hate each other. I did not expect that. Seth's manic outbursts toward him had me rolling. But Seth and Evan needs the uber geeky, Mclovin who plays like a cross between a geeked out Phil Silvers mixed with an over confident Spaz from Meatballs. Mclovin has the fake ID which can get them liquor and entrance into Jules' graduation party. Jules is played by Emma Stone and she delivers the goods. Stone's Jules is right up there with Keener's Trish and Katherine Heigl's Alison. Jules could easily grow up to be on of those women in the Apatow universe. The journey to the liquor store takes many unexpected turns. Scorsese's After Hours meets Linklater's Dazed And Confused in the post- American Pie landscape.
Superbad works very well. It would have been a shame if it did not work. The trailer in front of Grindhouse was the shape of things to come. The film has something else that Apatow's films have as well. It does have a lot of heart. In the end, this is a film about friendships and relationships. The film is based on a script by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. Seth was originally written for Seth Rogen, but he is too old to play the part. Instead Rogen plays one of two cops in the Southern Californian suburbs of my dreams. Officer Michaels along with Bill Hader's Officer Slater are the perfect contrast to Seth and Evan. Are they older versions of the two main charcaters? Or are they just two really slacker police officers out to show McLovin a wild night on the town? Some of have complained that the Rogen/Hader charcters are in the film too long. I disagree, these guys and their wild antics give the film a great balance and further advance Apatow's philosophy that no one wants to grow up. Even in law enforcement, cops just want to get wasted and slack off. Hader and Rogen have great chemistry as well. What if Beavis and Butthead became cops-- that is them in a nutshell. Hader's Slater is a delight. And Rogen's Michaels is furhter proof that Seth Rogen is more than just a young Albert Brooks. He is so much more than that. Their interactions with McLovin verge on the ridiculous. Do they believe that he is really who he says he is or are they really in on it? Are they real cops? Who knows, but we are just happy to be along for the ride.

Michael Cera's Evan has a thing for Becca (Marth MacIsaac). She is the wedge between Evan and Seth. The goal for the night as far as Seth is concerned is to be that "mistake" that women make when they have too much to drink. Seth is banking on this with Jules. Evan is not so desperate and is really in love with Becca. The reactions to their missions makes Superbad really stand out. The third act of the film is where Greg Mottola goes back to Daytrippers mode and delivers on a ten year old promise. Evan and Seth reach the breaking points of their lifelong friendship. Truths come out and anyone who has been there will be able to relate. Seth did not get inot Dartmouth. Evan and Fogell did-- like Seth ever had a chance. Maybe if Dartmouth had a Pornography major, but no such luck for him. The film can be seen as their last hurrah as best friends that threatens to unravel on a journey to the ultimate graduation party.

Superbad is the perfect film to end the summer on before some of go back school, college, work or the great unknown. Like Old School before it, I have not laughed out this loud in along time. Sure I had a blast with previous Apatow films, Swingers and Kevin Smith's films, but Superbad is like one huge belly laugh that you have been holding in all summer. Maybe since Knocked up, maybe since Dodgeball or maybe since Clerks II. Is it worth all the hype and buzz? Depending on your mood, it might just be, but regardless, the film is a lot of fun.
This week, I bought The Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters on DVD. That film had me laughing at a fever pitch last spring. It just had me from the time the film started. Superbad had me from the trailer. Superbad also reminds me I have no interest in going back to high school. I doubt Seth, Evan or Fogell will ever want to go back either. Judd Apatow, whether as a writer, producer or director, knows his audience. Judd Apatow gets it.