Superbad - Preview & US reaction
Preview by Jack Foley
JUDD Apatow and Seth Rogen are currently two of the hottest names in US comedy. Following the success of The 40-Year-Old Virgin, they then blew US audiences away with Knocked Up earlier this summer (that film opens in UK cinemas on August 24 and should not be missed).
Well, following hot on the heels of Knocked Up is Superbad, the unstoppable duo’s next offering. Apatow produces and Rogen co-stars in this “semi-autobiographical” cautionary tale of two socially inept teenage boys about to graduate high school.
Theirs is a ridiculously dependent friendship – but now, they’ve gotten into different colleges and are forced to contemplate life apart. Evan (Michael Cera) is sweet, smart, and generally terrified. Seth (Jonah Hill) is foul-mouthed, volatile and all-consumed with the opposite sex.
Over the course of one night, they attempt to approach the objects of their affections, buy alcohol for the ultimate party and maintain an element of cool in the process. But when their ultra-nerdy best friend Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) gets involved, they also have to deal with two inept cops (Rogen and Bill Hadder) who seek nothing better than to have a good time themselves.
The film, which is directed by Greg Mottola and co-written by Rogen with Evan Goldberg, opened in US cinemas at the weekend (August 17-19) and drew a favourable response from critics who hailed the new comic dream team of the people behind Virgin and Knocked Up.
The New York Times, for instance, wrote: “Horny is as horny does in the sweetly absurd high school comedy Superbad.”
While Roger Ebert, of The Chicago Sun-Times described it as “a four-letter raunch-a-rama with a heart”. Variety, meanwhile, stated: “The bawdy jokes score big points, but it’s the rueful acknowledgement of adolescent embarrassment and humiliation that most distinguishes Superbad.”
And New York Magazine opined: “Superbad might be the most provocative teen sex comedy ever made; it is certainly one of the most convulsively funny.”
There were some reservations, though. The Hollywood Reporter was less impressed, pointing out that “like American Graffiti and Dazed and Confused, the film all takes place during a single day and night. But it doesn’t have the smarts or the depths of those ensemble comedies”.
While Time Magazine didn’t buy into the “avalanche of d*** jokes and strenuous slapstick”.
But Philadelphia Weekly declared 2007 to be “the Year Judd Apatow And Seth Rogen Saved Movie Comedy” and Box Office Magazine noted: “The point is that while Superbad is just as dumb as it looks in every way, there’s also something fairly sophisticated going on, which is always a pleasant, and genuine, surprise.”
But the final word goes to USA Today, which concluded: “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.”
Superbad opens in UK cinemas on September 14.