Supergood

>> Superbad is a hilarious teen sex comedy
from the makers of Knocked Up

by MARK SLUTSKY

I don’t know if it’s a good or bad sign that the summer’s second great comedy is brought to you by the guys behind...the summer’s first great comedy. But you know what, it doesn’t really matter: what does is that this summer can even boast two great comedies at all. The first was Knocked Up, and the second, opening this week, is the hilarious Superbad.

The movie features a script by Knocked Up’s Seth Rogen, who also appears, and fellow former Vancouver-ite Evan Goldberg, and while Judd Apatow doesn’t direct this time, he’s onboard as a producer. Directing duties are handled by Greg Mottola, who was behind the under-seen 1996 indie The Daytrippers (which, come to think of it, was also about misfits out for one crazy night on the town), and who, more recently, has helmed episodes of Arrested Development.

Speaking of which, Michael Cera, who played George Michael so brilliantly on that show, stars here, along with Jonah Hill. Hill played one of Rogen’s slacker buddies in Knocked Up, and Superbad might be best described as the kind of movie that Knocked Up would have been if it had focused entirely on those supporting characters.

He and Cera play high school best buds, who, intent on getting laid, concoct a plan to buy booze for a couple of their female friends. As such, they enlist their one friend with fake I.D. (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), but things soon go awry when the kid is picked up by the cops (played by Seth Rogen and Saturday Night Live’s Bill Hader).

I could elaborate on the plot details, but all you really need to know is that this is a classic teen sex comedy misadventure. It harkens back to the ’80s, and even the ’70s (in the movie’s graininess and retro-ish production design), but Superbad is smarter than the softcore romps that are its point of reference, and it never gets bogged down in dumb subplots. It’s just funny, from start to finish, and incredibly foul-mouthed—at the advance screening, I saw a young kid being dragged out by his ear by his shocked mother. Like Knocked Up, it brings a surprising dimension to its characters, and never condescends to the audience. Highly recommended.

Superbad opens this
Friday, Aug. 17

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