SuperGrave

The Good:

In the spirit of a horny teenage boy awkwardly confessing his love to his crush of forever, I'm just going to list everything I love about this comedy classic.

The ambiguous time period. Superbad looks, sounds, and feels like the 1970s (hence the title), with warm browns and oranges, a grainy "shot-on-film" feel, and a killer funk inspired soundtrack. Yet, it's clearly a movie set in the 2000s, with the cellphones, and the PS2s and the cars in the background. It's almost as if the movie is sub-communicating how timeless it would eventually become. Which, whether intentional or not, is telling as to how brilliant this raunchy, vulgar comedy truly is.

Jonah Hill and Michael Cera's chemistry in this film is UNREAL. They sound, act, and feel like actual friends and the reality that they've never done another movie together sort of propels their dynamic in this film to LEGENDARY status. There's nothing to compare them to really; they are one of cinema's all time duos in this one, perfectly balancing off one another.

It calls back to another amazing aspect of this film; how realistic the teenagers look and act in this film. Clearly everyone is in their mid 20s, but most of the teens look like seniors on the cusp of graduation. More than that, they ACT realistically. One thing American high school films always get wrong is the "clique." They're really not as rigid as films and TV portray; people frequently talk to, hang out with, and befriend people outside of their clique on a regular basis. Superbad nails how high school isn't a straightforward tribal hierarchy. It's a web of relationships.

I know that sounds like a weird thing to praise this movie for, but it all culminates in one of the best party montages I've seen put to film. It's super satisfying not just to see our heroes finally get to the Promised Land, but for it to be a party filled with generally realistic people. It harkens back to parties I went to back in the day; maybe that's why this movie speaks to me so much.

Speaking of realism, this film managed to impact pop culture going forward with the inclusion of the iconic Christopher Mintz-Plasse as McLovin. It's kind of appropriate he came and went; I'd be surprised if he could ever top this role, to be honest. A testament to exceptional casting throughout this film, there's no one else I could imagine possibly being McLovin than this dude.

What else can I say? The writing is basically perfect, with so many jokes crammed into this that you can watch it dozens of times and still find new things to laugh at. The performances are top notch from absolutely everyone, whether they're minor characters or romantic interests. The movie's real message about friendship and growing up is unbelievably heart warming.

AND THAT ENDING. Would anyone have expected a movie about two horny teenage boys trying to deliver alcohol to a party for the express purposes of getting laid to end like this? For it to tug at your heart strings and wish there was another movie right after? I don't think so.

Bad: It's Super.

The Ugly: I'm going to say it. Superbad is probably the last great American comedy film. There have been good comedies since, for sure, but do any of them even come close to Superbad? It'll be 15 years in 2022 since this movie came out, and honestly, it hasn't been topped. All hail the baddest of them all.

A lot can happen in 24 hours when two best-buddy co-dependent outlier H/S Seniors get an invite to the "big party". Teaming up with a third-wheel friend getting his fake ID with just one name "McLovin" starts the ball rolling down a steep slippery slope of chaotic comic events, and rapidly turns into a day and night that will forever be ingrained in their memories.

One of the best coming of age films of the 2000s, the awkward moments are played with deft skill by Cera, Hill (one of his best performances that opened many doors for him in future films) and Mintz-Plasse (steals the show), with the screenplay co-written by Seth Rogan. A must see film for teens and older.

On my IMDb list of the "Top 25 All-Time Best "Buddy Films" list.

Superbad is a teen movie. It also will draw comparisons to American Pie, in it's "losers try to get laid" themes, and occasional gross-out comedy. But the comparison is unfair - Superbad is a funnier, more subversive and more importantly genuine movie than American Pie or any of it's awful sequels were. The three central characters have a believable, likable relationship, that the film takes time to establish. Cera, Hill (who deserves special praise, for turning what could have been a really unlikeable character into a sweet, if loud-mouthed and crass, teenager) and Mintz-Plasse bounce of each other perfectly. The movie creates some funny situations, and more importantly, hilarious dialogue throughout. Aside from one comedic misfire - an overly long (and poorly judged) gross out sight gag involving a pair of trousers and a dance - Superbad had me laughing constantly. It's sweet, it's funny as hell, and it's established a load of new talent.

Superbad is an incredibly funny comedy that's heartwarming, hilarious and shocking. Jonah Hill and Michael Cera are incredible and have amazing chemistry. Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Emma Stone are great. Seth Rogen and Bill Harder are perfect, consistently hilarious throughout but unfortunately steal every scene even when they're not supposed to. Greg Mottola's direction is great, it's well filmed and well paced. The music by Lyle Workman and the soundtrack are both really good.

Maybe back then you couldn't tell what would become of Jonah Hill eventually (an Oscar nominated actor, playing with/against Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio) ... actually if you told anyone back then this would happen, they'd have written that in the script, because it would have sounded hilarious.

Speaking of hilarious: That's something that can be said about this movie. Of course many will start comparing this with American Pie, Porkys and what not. But the movie stands on its own two feet and has been copied a lot itself. Never to that success and never as good as "Superbad" obviously. If you like your teen comedies to be raunchy and dirty, this is exactly your cup of tea. After watching this, you might also be McLovin (this) ... no relation to any Fast Food chain by the way ...