Everybody Wants Some!!

In general, I'n not a fan for the films of Richard Linklater, but I will confess to having enjoyed 'Dazed and Confused', a sympathetic account of the last day in high school of a group of Texas teenagers in the 1970s. Aside from its brilliant title, that film was a non-judemental and unforced look at their lives; and in some ways, Linklater is back onto similar territory with 'Everybody Wants Some!!', which follows a group of first year students as they start college. But this movie did not do it for me. The characters are a group of male baseball scholars, and their stereotypical obsessions about sex, love of partying and general jockishness put me off; it's not just that I didn't like them, but also, their story arcs felt exagerrated given the entire film takes place over their first weekend. Also, for a film which is many ways has a realistic feel, eveveryone is far too good looking on average, and the male actors in particular are far too old.

This was put together in an entertaining fashion. Trouble for me is that I'd walk a mile to avoid the kind of people the film is about. Always did, when I was younger, avoid the bullying sexist jock and unless you are enamoured, you may not want some of a film that celebrates them off the Richter scale.

There is also the fact that in this Mudville there are only shiny happy people out of Hollywood wardrobe department and there's little resemblance to reality.

That shouldn't stop those who want college and youth myths big on All American ball-whacking, drinking, weed-smoking, look-how-crazy-we-all-are high spirits. There will be lots of people who want some of that.

This film tells the story of a man who enters college, and stays with his baseball teammates in a communal house. He explores his adult life, with the company and help from his baseball teammates.

Perhaps due to the fact that I am not interested in baseball, I find the story rather non engaging. All I see is a bunch of testosterone fuelled guys doing silly things, having parties, drinking and shouting. It doesn't have a real plot, as there is no central message or moral story to be delivered. We see the lives of these people in three days, condensed in two hours. I don't know what the point of the film is, but i certainly do not find their lives interesting.

Preface, Richard Linklater has a very unique style of directing. In his more spirited films, Slacker, Dazed and Confused, and now Everybody wants Some; Linklater finds a way to make you enjoy a film that doesn't necessarily have a plot. In each of those 3 amazing movies he's directed, the movies just follow the characters as they develop, without a generic or mainstream plot. It's extremely refreshing to get kind of a lackadaisical, orderless and adaptive type plot.

The movie follows a bunch of college baseball players who will fully commit and do anything to have a good time. Everything they do becomes a competition between themselves.

It won't be everyone's type of humor, but this movie is hilarious and it's an easy watch. I highly recommend this movie! It's extremely underrated.

I had great hopes for this, ,knowing Linklater's work. I had great expectations also because I anticipated seeing "my" college era and experience through his lens and view. It did not resonate but I was never a part of a Fraternity or clique. What did sink in and where the movie turned for me was the realization that this was a film about discovery and how this group of misfits are finding their own identity. Once I got over the "Jock Talk" and realized that fact, I started to really like this movie. It was an interesting choice to select a group of Baseball players to serve as the vehicle to discovery and identity. It turned out this film did, in fact, resonate with me as I was a loner in college who had many friends who "belonged" to various groups, never once considering myself a part of any particular group. That diversity was one of the best value propositions I got out of my college experience. The quest for diversity was very well presented in this movie picture show.