Movie Review: SUPERBAD
Let me open on a tangent, if you will so kindly allow: I’d been hearing rumours via e-mail for a while now that there was a print of Grindhouse, in all it’s original two-film/three-hour glory, doing the rounds and these sort of “underground” screenings were being arranged for film buffs but for an extortionate amount of money (one rumour was that the entrance fee was as high as £20 a ticket, with a free drink thrown in!). With my girlfriend away in London for the weekend and the rumour-mill heating up over the fact that the next “secret-screening” was in Newcastle, I cancelled every single plan I had and sat tight waiting for the venue and time to be revealed.Hour after hour passed, until an e-mail appeared in my Inbox about a last-minute preview being discovered for Super-Bad a few miles away ahead of it’s early September release. Do I wait and wait just in case this mythical “underground” screening turns out to be true and miss out on seeing Super-Bad early? Or do I throw caution to the wind, head off for Super-Bad and then put an order in for a Grindhouse DVD screener straight from the US?
I went with Super-Bad. Was it the right decision?
Super-Bad is NOT the comedy of the year. Let me say that straight away. Producer Judd Apatow’s directorial entry for 2007, Knocked Up, has that “title” very easily sewn up and in the bag I assure you. Super-Bad runs a very close second with more laughs in any given ten minutes then there is in the entire running time of the mediocre yet passable Adam Sandler flick, I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry. It’s problem is not one of quality per se, more one of “hype”.
This film is great. I can say that. This film is funny, very funny in fact. I can say that too and will most probably reiterate it time and time again throughout this review. This film, amidst it’s profanity and “toilet-humour”, is also exceptionally sweet too. I can say that as well.
But… Jesus Christ… thanks to the likes of AICN, you’d think this film was the second-coming of… well… the dude I just blasphamised about at the start of this sentence! Remember the first time you saw American Pie and you got totally suckered in to it all by the press and the whole “Get this right? There’s a kid right? And he… well you won’t believe this… he, oh my god, he… fucks a pie! Yes, a pie!” but the more you saw it the more you realised that it was nothing more than a bit of pure escapist comedy fun and not the “saviour” of teen comedies! Well, Super-Bad is like that but it’s quality is such is that it will survive, undiminished, the test of both time and repeated viewings, and quite possibly earn itself a place in the Top [insert number] Teen Comedies of All Time.
However, just go in to seeing it with this mantra in mind: “It’s just a teen comedy! It’s just a teen comedy! It’s just a teen comedy! It’s just a teen comedy! It’s just a teen comedy!”
Jonah Hill and Michael Cera are as hilarious as you’d expect having been given free reign to perform and ad-lib, whilst having the pedigree of the likes of Forty Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Arrested Development etc. behind them. In fact, all involved bar none are pretty much hysterical with special, obvious, mention going to Bill Hader, Seth Rogen (the film’s co-writer on whose teenage life this is loosely based) and Christopher Mintz-Plasse (as genius a discovery in the realms of naturalistic comedy as you’ve heard him to be!) in the film’s hugely implausible / bordering on ridiculous / never less than funny as hell main subplot. Freaks & Geeks/Knocked Up actor Martin Starr turns up again in a small role/cameo that pays further weight to the possibility that after Apatow has finished grooming the talents of Seth Rogen into leading man status (that job is now most definitely done now!) he should definitely turn his attention to Martin Starr!
The film is a great, consistent comedy with a surprisingly touching heart. I got a little lump in my throat as our protagonists separated from each other in the film’s finale – then again, that mean’s nothing. I cry at the end of Planes, Trains & Automobiles every time I watch it, so go figure huh? It runs a very close second as a comedy to Knocked Up for me personally, but then – as I was discussing with a friend soon after seeing it – I think how you judge this film is firmly dependant on a lot of things like age and where you are in your life. I would imagine if you’re a teenager teetering on the edge of adulthood then this could well be the best film you’ll ever see! Then again, if you’re in your late 20s like me and staring the prospect of marriage (etc.) in the face then Knocked Up is definitely the film for you and Super-Bad plays as nothing more than a hilarious piece of nostalgia.
Regardless of such introspection though, I’m so glad I took the opportunity to see it! It was a brilliant night! This, most definitely, is well worth checking out and is a really cracking little comedy! Just remember though, that’s all it is 
5 Responses to “Movie Review: SUPERBAD”
I just got the R1 DVD of this through my door on Friday and I have to admit I may have been a little wrong and too laid back when I wrote this review!
On second and third viewing I really fell hard for this film more so then when I saw it at the flicks. I kind of kept pushing it back because of the hype but when you re-watch it you see that it more than surpasses both PORKYS and AMERICAN PIE in the “teen movie” subgenre! It’s up there eye-to-eye with ANYTHING that John Hughes has done!
I think I’m in the minority here but I actually preferred it to Knocked Up (by a tiny amount).
You’re not in the minority. Knocked Up is overrated. McLovin all the way
Exactly, He’s pretty Bad-Ass
One of the funniest movies in the last 20 years by far!
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