Featured Movies
Partners
SuperbadClaudia PuigThis is the summer of Judd Apatow. First the very funny Knocked Up, which he directed, and now its hilarious younger brother, Superbad. Though Apatow is the producer on Superbad (as he was on Anchorman and Talladega Nights) and not the director, this ribald coming-of-age comedy with an underlying core of sweetness bears his unmistakable stamp. Greg Mottola (TV's Undeclared) is at the directing helm. Over a decade ago, Mottola wrote and nimbly directed the low-budget, little-seen and very witty The Daytrippers (starring Hope Davis, Stanley Tucci and Campbell Scott). Superbad follows a similar, if rowdier, style: Everything that can go wrong over a period of about 24 hours does - in outrageous and unpredictable fashion. Though extreme in some of its situations, Superbad is believable primarily because of the highly interdependent friendship of two very different teenage boys. Evan (Michael Cera) is kind, intelligent and decent. He is preparing to attend Dartmouth. His longtime best pal, Seth (Jonah Hill), is foul-mouthed and obsessed with sex. He didn't get into Dartmouth. They share lifelong social ineptitude, which affects their dogged and desperate attempts at scoring with the ladies. Superbad focuses on Seth and Evan's efforts to attend a party thrown by one of the cooler girls in their class (Emma Stone). The events that befall them would be nightmarish if they weren't so funny. Superbad writers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg must have vivid memories of the awkward yearnings and frustrations of the teen years. The dialogue they create, as well as the situations, is absurdly comic. Gross-out humor abounds. Humiliation, fear and occasional elation are the dominant emotions for these bumbling but oddly likable young men. Side-splitting laughter, along with some powerful cringing, are likely to be audiences' dominant reactions. ?? Copyright 2007 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc. |
