Superbad is not only the funniest movie of the year, but probably in years, I think it was even better than Knocked up, which was another amazingly funny film.

Superbad stars Jonah Hill and Micheal Cera as Seth and Evan, two high school losers who want to get laid before they go off to college, now this sounds like a typical teenage sex comedy, and it is, but the difference here is that all the jokes work.  

There is a big party that they are invited to because they said they could get some booze because another geek friend of there's Fogell gets a fake I.D, but on the mission to get the booze everything goes wrong.

The character of Fogell AKA McLovin, has got to be one of the funniest and best characters ever in the history of teen comedies, screw that, in any comedy in general, screw that, in any movie ever, he is absolutely brilliant, he is beyond brilliant.   I know this will never happen, but Christopher Mintz-Plasse, who plays McLovin deserves an Oscar nomination, comedies get so over looked by the academy, but this is one of the best performances ever in comedy, he is almost impossible to put into words, the way he looks, act, his gestures, this is a classic comedic performance, it is worth seeing alone for this kid, every line he delivers, every smirk is spot on.

There are also some very funny supporting characters, 2 cops played by Seth Rogan and Bill Hader are very funny as they spend the night with McLovin, there adventure creates numurous big laughs.

Jonah and Micheal are very funny as well, Micheal has a great scene where he is forced to sing to a bunch of coked up bad asses, classic.

The movie has all the foul language one would want, especially the first twenty minutes, some of the dirtiest language I have ever heard, also some of the funniest.

Anyways this is a must see, one of the years best, it has a good heart and a lot of laughs, the best opening titles ever, and it also has McLovin, reason alone to see it.


A little taste of McLovin

http://youtube.com/watch?v=7cNYNlIhVeg&mode=related&search=

I'll agree that the movie is extremely funny and very sweet, but despite Flyboy's rave review up there, Superbad does have its flaws like any other movie. I think it suffers from the same problems that 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up did, in that there is a section in the middle of the movie where it begins to sag. The jokes aren't as funny, the sentimentality became a little too on the nose for me and I started to get a little sick of those two cops.

However, the movie does pick up again, gets some big laugh's (I'm still laughing about the line "it's actually in!") and ends on a high note. McLovin is also incredibly funny, scoring all of the movie's biggest laughs and while I don't think he's the greatest comedic character of all time, he is very funny and likable and without him the movie wouldn't work. I'd like to see a spinoff entitled McLovin Goes to College. Could be great, just like this one.

Overall it is a funny and sweet movie, more than a cut above the average teen comedy offereings. I still maintain that Knocked Up was better, but Superbad has a lot to enjoy. Very highly recommended. Definitely not for the whole family though.


Matt.

I went to see SuperBad this past weekend. Since I still haven't seen Knocked Up yet, I must say that SuperBad was way different than I had expected; the trailer seriously doesn't show the essence of the movie. (Which is a good thing).

I had expected the movie to be a typical Hollywood teen comedie movie along the lines of American Pie, but the first few minutes luckily destroyed that entire notion.
I think I wasn't the only one in the movie theater that was pleasantly surprised. The first few dialogs in the movie got a few "Ooooh's" in the crowd due to the R-rated language.

I must say that I loved the movie, but I agree with the previous posters that at times it started to sag. The dialogs are great and McLovin steals the show. I liked the two cops but I think a lot more could have been done with them. They could have been way funnier, and so could their dialogue. A lost opportunity there, in my opinion.

I didn't like the ending at all. The entire movie is nicely paced, different situations, different trouble, good jokes. And then Seth and Evan come home from the party and sleep in their sleeping bags. From then on, the remainder of the movie blows.  I understand that the end comes with the necessary morality and happy endings, but this one just didn't cut it for me. Nor do we really see McLovin anymore at all.

But overall a very good movie. It was definitely enjoyable.

I saw the other night annd now Mclovin is my inspiration! I will buy this the very day it's released on DVD. Funniest movie of the year, hands down.  Maybe even the best movie of the year...

~Zack~

SuperBad is SuperAwesome. This is one of the few movies that actually exceeded my expectations, even when my expectations were exceedingly high. Fucking hilarious movie and pretty smart too. Never thought I'd hear an Orson Welles joke in a movie about two kids trying to score booze and get laid. The name calling was beyond cracking up as well. Both these guys (Michael and Jonah) are already on their way to becoming comedy legends and, of course, McLovin is the man!

This is a must-see movie. Just go out and buy the damn thing!

OMG...we tried to watch this last night, it was maybe the worst piece of sh*t I'd seen in years. From the beginning it was foul and unfunny...the two main characters, who sad to say did not die horrible painful deaths, were SO unlikeable, SO annoying and crass and foul...I don't get the audience for this, do you have to be 16 years old to enjoy it?

The writing was so...bad...it was something a 16 year old would churn out and think it was cool or hip. After 45 minutes we couldn't take any more and just turned it off. I mean this was garbage.

People need to learn, foul language does not equal funny. You can be foul and funny, but this didn't do it. The key is, your characters have to be likeable if you're writing a teen sex comedy. You have to want to follow the leads. I only wanted to follow them to push them under a bus.

I'm stunned that A: the script for this got a green light and B: it found some success. This was just needless , crass garbage. It was so painfully unfunny...

I'd contest Superbad has one of the most realistic portrayals of teenagers in movies ever. They talk about dick, pussy and whatever "crass" and "foul" things enter the conversation. There are so many truths in that film, which is why it resonates with audiences and which is why it's funny. Because people recognize themselves in the characters and the things they talk about.

But you'd have to have been a teenager once to fully appreciate it I guess.

If you want smart, precocious, clean-cut and ridiculously adept teenage rhetoricians watch Gilmore Girls or reruns of Dawson's Creek.

I agree.  I was gonna throw "The High school movie" into the cliche thread, but this movie was pretty much identical to my high school experience.  

And the things me and my friends have talked about in the past would put this movie's dialogue to shame.

9/10 for me and it's gotta be the second funniest movie every made (behind The Big Lebowski, of course).

I really have to admit that I did not like this movie at all, Just like Knocked up I found it incredibly unfunny and quite boring. I like to think I have got a sense of humor, but never saw much to laugh about in this movie.

I have to disagree with the line from Death Monkey that maybe you had to have been a teenager once to full appreciate, that just makes no sense at really. I have been to the toilet before after eating a particular hot curry but I do not think for a second that that needs to be turned into a movie. Just because something is based on real life scenarios does not for a moment mean that it automatically should worthy of a movie. Or to put in another way, sometimes childish dialogue is best left where it belongs, in the school or on a boys night out or whatever but there is nothing clever about its use in this movie.

Superbad was bad not because of the dialogue, god I am in my 30's and I still talk like that with my friends, I have no issue with that. Superbad was bad because it is just not funny, If there was a story that was worth watching and some funny dialogue to go along with all the grossness and homophobic references I would have enjoyed in much more. In true Death Monkey style I can tell you the pitch for this movie...

Film Studio: So what is it about.

Producer: Well nothing really, a bunch of white kids getting drunk.

Film Studio: Cool, so what, like Porky's?

Producer: Sort of, but without the talent, and the story, and the laughs.

Film Studio: So what happens?

Producer: People say faggot a lot and lots of cock jokes.

Films Studio: Faggot? Well why didn't you say so?, we're on!


I will never ever understand why movies like this are such huge hits. Why Meet the Spartans is at number 1 in the US Box office. Why people who write this garbage are hailed as geniuses while there are some very good, clever and funny films being made all the time that will be lucky to ever get to be shown in any cinema at all.

The movie world is sometimes very strange to me.

Quoted from Murphy I really have to admit that I did not like this movie at all, Just like Knocked up I found it incredibly unfunny and quite boring. I like to think I have got a sense of humor, but never saw much to laugh about in this movie. I have to disagree with the line from Death Monkey that maybe you had to have been a teenager once to full appreciate, that just makes no sense at really. I have been to the toilet before after eating a particular hot curry but I do not think for a second that that needs to be turned into a movie. Just because something is based on real life scenarios does not for a moment mean that it automatically should worthy of a movie. Or to put in another way, sometimes childish dialogue is best left where it belongs, in the school or on a boys night out or whatever but there is nothing clever about its use in this movie. Superbad was bad not because of the dialogue, god I am in my 30's and I still talk like that with my friends, I have no issue with that. Superbad was bad because it is just not funny, If there was a story that was worth watching and some funny dialogue to go along with all the grossness and homophobic references I would have enjoyed in much more. In true Death Monkey style I can tell you the pitch for this movie... Film Studio: So what is it about. Producer: Well nothing really, a bunch of white kids getting drunk. Film Studio: Cool, so what, like Porky's? Producer: Sort of, but without the talent, and the story, and the laughs. Film Studio: So what happens? Producer: People say faggot a lot and lots of cock jokes. Films Studio: Faggot? Well why didn't you say so?, we're on! I will never ever understand why movies like this are such huge hits. Why Meet the Spartans is at number 1 in the US Box office. Why people who write this garbage are hailed as geniuses while there are some very good, clever and funny films being made all the time that will be lucky to ever get to be shown in any cinema at all. The movie world is sometimes very strange to me.

Haha touch�, Murphy. But stuff actually happens in Superbad, contrary to The Life Aquatic.

Here's how the pitch really went down (I have my sources):

Producer: I've got a great idea for a movie. You know how shows and movies about teens like Beverly Hills, American Pie and Dawson's Creek raked in, like, a gazillion dollars?

Studio: Another sex-comedy? I love it!

Producer: Yeah, well except we thought instead of gloryfying the high-school experience and have late-twenty-somethings pretend to be 16, instead of throwing in a punk-rock soundtrack and have the mandatory sex-scene where the hot (lesbian?) girl gets naked for no reason, instead of having the kids muse about life and love in overwrought philosophy 101 style and be up against the stereotypical evil jocks and cheerleaders...instead of that we thought we'd do a movie about how we remember high-school.

Studio: Right. But someone superglues their dick to the copier, right?

Producer: Not really?

Studio: But surely there's a token black guy who says funny things like "Damn!" and "Dat is Wack!"

Producer: We've got a chubby Jewish guy?

Studio: ...



But come on, you thought Porky's had story, talent and laughs? I thought the only reason people watched that was because of the t-i-t-s. I know I did.

What is nonsensical to me is that you set it up as if I'm saying that if something happened in real life it's funny. That's ridiculous of course. I was talking about truths about adolescence that this film depicts honestly and accurately, like the way you're not always "cute" when you mess up in front of girls, like buying alcohol waiting to be carded and it's a matter of life and death, like the obsession with porn, like friggin Home Ec! And done in a way that's not exploitative like American Pie, but that's real, that makes (most) people go "Yeah that's exactly how it was!"

Honestly it seems to me like your beef is with teenagers in general and that movies are being made about them, rather than the film's premise, aesthetic or methodology.

And isnt' your likening it to Meet the Spartans just a provocation? I mean, the two films are 84% apart on Rotten Tomatoes. Obviously they're not the same ilk.

It might be up to personal experience, but I AVOIDED kids like these in school, lol. And I was one of the horror movie lovin, soundtrack buying, comic book reading crowd. To me...and YES I was a teenager...this was agony to watch. I think indeed someone DID pitch it as how they "remembered" high school. But they remembed it through "wouldn't it be cool IF" glasses.

I mean, what was fresh about this? It was on the same level of every teen movie I've seen. People raved about how "sweet" the characters were. WTF ?  They were as annoying as any other stock teen characters.  Ok, we had the scene were the one kid who was kinda likable says to the other who needed to die " I'm tired of putting up with you". Ok, then then they make up. Then at the end magically find girlfriends. I say magic because the fat kid with his outlook would never hook up with a real girl lol. The ONLY interesting twist was how the percieved roles of the girls actually switched in the final reality.

I guess it's a generational thing. I mean, John Hughes movies had more a connection to reality. Hell Savage Steve Holland's movies were better. But today, humor is greared more to a lower common demoninator, Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell, etc. So natually they substitute profanity for comedy.  I can understand what you mean about how some scenes "ring true" , being an oaf in front of the girl you like, etc. But the execution here was so lowbrow - offering nothing new. And the least said about McMuffin or whatever the hell his name was, the better.

R rated teen comedies arent a bad thing overall. Heck, I liked Harold & Kumar. But the unrelenting unpleasantness of Superbad wore me down.

Quoted from mikep It might be up to personal experience, but I AVOIDED kids like these in school, lol. And I was one of the horror movie lovin, soundtrack buying, comic book reading crowd. To me...and YES I was a teenager...this was agony to watch. I think indeed someone DID pitch it as how they "remembered" high school. But they remembed it through "wouldn't it be cool IF" glasses.

No, that's exactly what all the American Pie and Bandcamps do. Wouldn't it be cool if teenage girls look like supermodels and take their clothes off to engage in lesbian skinnydipping. Wouldn't it be cool if someone stole the principal's toupé and put laxatives in the school lunch? Wouldn't it be cool if the Swedish/Slovakian/Russian exchange student is insanely hot and/or just insane and does crazy things (no need for incentive or motivation - they're EUROPEAN!)?

Obviously since this was written during and just after high-school this was not the case with Superbad and that's probably why it feels so much more genuine. It's not written by some 40-year-old hack who confuses his own adolescence with that of the O.C. or Ferris Bueller.

Have you ever seen Freaks and Geeks?

Quoted Text I mean, what was fresh about this? It was on the same level of every teen movie I've seen. People raved about how "sweet" the characters were. WTF ?  They were as annoying as any other stock teen characters.  Ok, we had the scene were the one kid who was kinda likable says to the other who needed to die " I'm tired of putting up with you". Ok, then then they make up. Then at the end magically find girlfriends. I say magic because the fat kid with his outlook would never hook up with a real girl lol. The ONLY interesting twist was how the percieved roles of the girls actually switched in the final reality.

Are you kidding me? What was fresh about it? Just about everything. There's never been a teenage sex comedy quite like it. Our heroes are unpopular non-heartthrobs, not particularly courageous and valiant, unsuccessful in most of their ventures and end up NOT getting laid. It basically strips apart the myths of the high-school sexcapades that are "remembered" by inferior movies.

Quoted Text I guess it's a generational thing. I mean, John Hughes movies had more a connection to reality. Hell Savage Steve Holland's movies were better. But today, humor is greared more to a lower common demoninator, Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell, etc. So natually they substitute profanity for comedy.  I can understand what you mean about how some scenes "ring true" , being an oaf in front of the girl you like, etc. But the execution here was so lowbrow - offering nothing new. And the least said about McMuffin or whatever the hell his name was, the better. R rated teen comedies arent a bad thing overall. Heck, I liked Harold & Kumar. But the unrelenting unpleasantness of Superbad wore me down.

Oh so it's a generational thing and my generation just has a lower common denominator when it comes to humor? What is this, Smug 101?

I think it's hilarious that you talk about Superbad being out of touch with reality and then subsequently namedrop John Hughes (and Harold and Kumar??? WTF?). Maybe your childhood was like Sixteen Candles or the Breakfast Club - who knows maybe when you play golf a pesky gopher pops out of the ground to laugh manically as Rodney Dangerfield parties on the green. For us mere mortals though this is pure fantasy.

Generally mainstream comedy is geared towards a low common denominator, but don't act as if this is something new. The basest form of humor is manhole-slapstick which is considered classic these days. Go figure. That's why Superbad was such a huge success, critically and otherwise, because it dared to be different. Because it relied on dialogue instead of the falling down antics they usually call in Seann William Scott for. Because high-school wasn't idealized. Because of all the details they get right, that NO OTHER MOVIE has bothered with.

But you hated it. You couldn't see yourself in it. You were part of the comic book reading, soundtrack-buyin horror-lovin' crowd. That's cool. However, until they make a movie about your people (oh wait...) if you're gonna attack a movie's craftsmanship that's almost universally lauded, you need better arguments than circular logic like: "the characters are unlikeable because they are unlikable because they are unlikable."

Why don't you name a few of the teen movies you've seen these so-called stock teen characters in?

The one thing I actually do agree with you about is the ending. The opted for fantasy, when they'd gone for authenticity all the way through. In real life the chubby bitter kid does not get the cute girl.

I'm siding with Death Monkey on this one. So you didn't think it's funny... not everyone will. So you didn't identify with the characters... not everyone will. But lumping Superbad in with the likes of American Pie and all its knockoffs just doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I really think Superbad was a lot more realistic than those movies. They seem the same in that sex, drugs, and alcohol are glorified to the max but Superbad definitely struck me as more about growing up than the majority of "teen movie" garbage. I can see at this point that what I'm saying still might not sink in. Here's how I see it: in American Pie, the filmmakers glorify sex, drugs, and alcohol. In Superbad, the characters glorify the same things. But in the end, both movies have different results as the filmmakers have different agendas going on.

I'm not here to convince anyone that Superbad was funny. I thought it was funny but humor is subjective. Period. As for the characters, I identified with them. I wouldn't say I was just like them in high school but I saw parts of myself in both of them. Not everyone is going to. Everyone in high school is different and thus their experiences are different. What I will say is that Superbad has a helluva lot more merit compared to American Pie and the way the two movies are written and directed are completely different, whether or not the subject matter is the same. I don't think you have to like the movie (you can even hate it if you want) to acknowledge what sets Superbad apart from the rest.

The big difference between reading reviews here and anywhere else is that on this site people are much less anonymous. I mean that when people like Death Monkey or James have a strong opinion on a movie it is worth listening to regardless of whether I agree or not. This is because that due to other posts on this site, scripts they have written etc.. At least I know that at the end of the day that the reviewers on here are just movie lovers like the rest of us on this site.

It has worried me that I never found Superbad or Knocked Up funny, I replied to an email a few weeks ago when asked my a friend if I had seen it as he loved it and said something like "I am worried there is something wrong with me, Why can I not find these movies funny?" He agreed that I have probably lost my sense of humor!. That worries me, I like to think I have got a great sense of humor - problem is I think the older I get the more subtle my taste in humor becomes.

Anyway, cutting to the chase what I meant at the start is that if people like Death Monkey can so passionately defend a movie then there must be something good about it, And that makes me think that I maybe need to see it again. Maybe if I wait till the weekend and after a few drinks. But I will try and watch this again over the weekend and see if I can see what everyone seems to find so great about it.

Can't say fairer than that?

I was pretty lukewarm to this one as well -- although I certainly could appreciate McLovin'.  That was pretty funny.

I wonder if the people who found it so sidesplitting saw it in the theater?

Alot of times a movie is much funnier with a big audience than at home on your couch.

I thought Austin Powers was hilarious in the theater -- and then, later at home -- I was like, meh, it's OK.

I'll bet that is what is happening here.  Superbad felt like a movie that would be much funnier at the movies than in my livingroom.

Quoted from Murphy The big difference between reading reviews here and anywhere else is that on this site people are much less anonymous. I mean that when people like Death Monkey or James have a strong opinion on a movie it is worth listening to regardless of whether I agree or not. This is because that due to other posts on this site, scripts they have written etc.. At least I know that at the end of the day that the reviewers on here are just movie lovers like the rest of us on this site. It has worried me that I never found Superbad or Knocked Up funny, I replied to an email a few weeks ago when asked my a friend if I had seen it as he loved it and said something like "I am worried there is something wrong with me, Why can I not find these movies funny?" He agreed that I have probably lost my sense of humor!. That worries me, I like to think I have got a great sense of humor - problem is I think the older I get the more subtle my taste in humor becomes. Anyway, cutting to the chase what I meant at the start is that if people like Death Monkey can so passionately defend a movie then there must be something good about it, And that makes me think that I maybe need to see it again. Maybe if I wait till the weekend and after a few drinks. But I will try and watch this again over the weekend and see if I can see what everyone seems to find so great about it. Can't say fairer than that?

Whoa now. You don't have to like it. Like James said humor is subjective. I was just looking for some acknowledgement that at least Superbad wasn't JUST another teen movie. It tried different things. Whether they worked out or not is for the viewer to judge.

Btw, if your sense of humor turns subtle with the alarming rate right now maybe in ten years this is what you find funny


The Simpsons watch intellectual stand-up comedy.

  Man: [quietly] Well, sir, it has been an uneventful week in Badger
       Falls...where the women are robust, the men are pink-cheeked, and
       the children are pink-cheeked and robust.
        [Audience laughs loudly]
Homer: What the hell's so funny?
  Man: At the Apple Biscuit cafe, where the smiles are free, don't you
       know, Sven Inqvist studied the menu, and finally he ordered the
       same thing he has every day.
        [Audience laughs and applauds]
Bart: Maybe it's the TV.
Homer: Stupid TV.  [Hits it] Be more funny!

Woah, everybody take 5 *waves a white flag*

D Monkey, I did NOT mean for the "generational" remark to be smug or condescending at ALL. No, not in the least. Peace, truce, agree to disagree but it wasn't my intent to come off as such. So no harm, no offense, no foul.  :p

Quoted from James McClung I'm siding with Death Monkey on this one. So you didn't think it's funny... not everyone will. So you didn't identify with the characters... not everyone will. But lumping Superbad in with the likes of American Pie and all its knockoffs just doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I really think Superbad was a lot more realistic than those movies. They seem the same in that sex, drugs, and alcohol are glorified to the max but Superbad definitely struck me as more about growing up than the majority of "teen movie" garbage. I can see at this point that what I'm saying still might not sink in. Here's how I see it: in American Pie, the filmmakers glorify sex, drugs, and alcohol. In Superbad, the characters glorify the same things. But in the end, both movies have different results as the filmmakers have different agendas going on. I'm not here to convince anyone that Superbad was funny. I thought it was funny but humor is subjective. Period. As for the characters, I identified with them. I wouldn't say I was just like them in high school but I saw parts of myself in both of them. Not everyone is going to. Everyone in high school is different and thus their experiences are different. What I will say is that Superbad has a helluva lot more merit compared to American Pie and the way the two movies are written and directed are completely different, whether or not the subject matter is the same. I don't think you have to like the movie (you can even hate it if you want) to acknowledge what sets Superbad apart from the rest.

Well thought out James, thanks. I agree with your points that the filmmakers wanted to do something more. For me they failed, but yep I will say there was the attempt to stand apart from the crowd.

I liked Superbad for a couple simple reasons. It was fun, entertaining and that's all I look for in movies since they can't "go back and change them"

You get what they give you and frankly this is better than a lot of the other stuff they give us.

The characters (To me) feel like friends and family I have known over the years.

Quoted from mikep Woah, everybody take 5 *waves a white flag* D Monkey, I did NOT mean for the "generational" remark to be smug or condescending at ALL. No, not in the least. Peace, truce, agree to disagree but it wasn't my intent to come off as such. So no harm, no offense, no foul.  :p

All right, I'm sorry I misinterpreted then.