SUPERBAD review: more like Superaverage
SUPERBAD review: more like Superaverage
Dec 22
Superbad is a weird movie: retro yet modern, unique yet familiar, vulgar yet sentimental, quotable yet forgettable; it nevertheless made a huge impact on people around my age, who immediately and incessantly began squeaking things about “McLovin” and chuckling about things going “in and around.” Bottomless pit of dick and shit jokes though it may be, Superbad is also a touching but overburdened representation of young male relationships set against the cliche American nightmare of high school.
I come from a country where school uniforms are mandatory across the vast majority of schools. I think this helps level the playing field — you can’t stand out if you’re all wearing the same thing — and takes the pressure off self-representation, especially during those cruel, dark years of puberty when you don’t really know what kind of person you want other people to think you are (let alone what kind of person you actually want to be). It’s endlessly fascinating to see the bizarre American equivalent, where judgment and social isolation are even more apparent, and the high school setting serves as an interesting backdrop to the action.
Our heroes are a couple of quick-tongued nobodies. One is obsessed with but eluded by sex and makes constant reference to sexual organs and practices, to the point that it stops being funny about 80 minutes into the film. The other is quiet, gawkish, shy and entirely useless: my nemesis, Michael Cera, who always plays the same one-dimensional character, rain-or-shine. To be fair he’s cast perfectly here, and pulls off some highly amusing totally-oblivious-to-reality moments. The cast is rounded out by super-unpopular Fogell, a.k.a. McLovin, whose squeaky voice and wiry physique are used as frequent sources of comic relief.
The concept that you need comic relief from comedy is an odd one, but I think it’s applicable here. No matter how annoying, juvenile and stupid main characters Seth and Evan become, Fogell is always even more irritating and useless, so by some fluke of relativism, Seth and Evan seem normal and relatable by comparison. The plot takes place over a single day of our “heroes’” lives, during which they valiantly attempt to make some sort of contact with members of the opposite sex. Seth just wants to bump uglies with improbably-hair-styled Emma Stone’s Jules, while Evan wants to respectfully approach cutesy Becca (Martha MacIsaac) and uphold some awkwardly sincere pretense of honour and nobility while courting her. Their main quest is to secure booze for Jules’ party, in order to secure popularity and a key to their respective prospective’s pants.
Okay, culture shock time again — Americans can drive at a variety of ages from 14 to 17, depending on geography, but can’t drink alcohol until the age of 21. This strikes me as very odd, especially because American colleges are usually thought of as constant party orgies, and everyone who goes to college seems to get totally wasted on a regular basis. Why continue to insist on such a high legal restriction when people from the ages of 16ish to 20-and-364-days are just going to break the law regardless? And why let children drive two-tonne death machines when they can’t even reach the pedals? What a weird place. Sorry, these thoughts were honestly going through my head as I watched Superbad, and as such I thought they should be included in the review.
How does the film fare technically? It looks gorgeous. Even though it’s shot on digital, it’s disguised very well with crisp lighting and spot-on colour grading. Some scenes, particularly the stunning night-time scenes contrasting beautiful greens and browns against consistent black, are downright astonishing. 2012 and Zombieland should pay attention — this is how you shoot on digital and disguise it properly. Sonically we are treated to a lovely 70s-inspired soundtrack that sets a groovy tone but clashes somewhat with the modern setting.
Performances are exemplary. The three young leads carry themselves particularly well, and hold off against the likes of Seth Rogen and Bill Hader comfortably. You get a real sense of closeness between Seth and Evan, and a palpable sense of pathos emanates from the poor character of Fogell, so you’ll probably find at least one character to relate to and root for. The relationship between Seth and Evan is, at times, a little melodramatic and obvious — passive-agressive behaviour coupled with constant Freudian slips alerts us early on that these guys are actually crazy about each other as friends AND NOTHING MORE — but intriguingly sweet and admirable.
Ultimately, the film’s length and density work against it. There are a lot of subversions and what gamers like to call side-quests clogging up the main narrative, and there are a few scenes in the middle that could probably do with a shave, a trim, or even an outright shearing. By the time we get to the party, at the end of the movie, we’re pretty tired. Fogell’s adventure with the cops, while diverting and entertaining, is ultimately pointless. Wouldn’t it have been funnier not to show any of Fogell’s adventures, and instead have him meet up with the main pair at the party, bruised and battered and spouting weird stories about guns and beer and sirens? That way there’d be an undercurrent of tension running through the film (what happened to Fogell??) and Seth Rogen and Bill Hader would be reduced to more-impactful cameos as they storm the party and vindicate Fogell, justifying his weird stories and building respect for him in the eyes of the onlookers. Right?
Like I said, length is the main problem here (that’s what she said … sorry) and the short, snappy dialogue scenes sort of run together and lose their impact over the course of the film’s epic 119 minutes. The characters also suffer, because being around these juvenile, repetitious people, funny and honest as they are, gets annoying after two straight hours of phallic references. Make no mistake, these guys are hilarious and the performances are great, but there is such a thing as too much of a good thing, and Superbad has this.
Overall, if you’ve ever been a teenager before (stastics seem to support this claim) you’ll find something to relate to in Superbad, whether it’s the fraught acquisition of alcohol, the awkward proto-romances, or the optimistic, uncluttered outlook of the young minds on show. Watch it with friends over a couple of beers, but just be prepared for them to start saying things like “Brake yourself, fool!” and “It’s just soccer!” for the next few months.
Score: 67 out of 100
