Superbad

Review by:  Alejandro Arbona Date: 08.14.2007

Rating:

The teenagers Evan (Michael Cera) and Seth (Jonah Hill) are nerdy, uncouth and a disaster with the ladies. When the objects of their affection invite them to a party, they come up with a plan to buy alcohol illegally, get the girls drunk and lose their virginity.

An extremely immature premise, to be sure, but this is a comedy produced by Judd Apatow, the writer/director of “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up,” seemingly dumb, immature comedies that turn out to be very sweet and adult, about the discovery of wisdom and maturity. And “Superbad” is the best and the funniest of the three.

Laughing along with the humor, you don’t spot the emotional investment until it suddenly comes to collect. The events of this one night will be critical for the boys; at the tensest moment, they must decide if failing in their goal means utter disappointment, or whether it’s more important to remain friends.

Evan and Seth are surrounded by truly infantile adults, which is what they risk becoming if they don’t survive this crossroads. The stupidity they exhibit is essential to give them something to achieve in themselves; if they’re to become men, they must fundamentally grow. When the sun rises in the final scenes, only by having survived the changes of the past 24 hours will they succeed.

This is the same as affecting a pompous tone of voice and saying, “This movie is intelligent and wise, take it seriously.” But this movie is HILARIOUS. The comedy might be too over the top for some, but the effect is a masterpiece about the suffering and frustration of overcoming adolescence.