The Movie Nut

"Superbad"

Directed by: Greg Mottola
Starring: Jonah Hill, Michael
Cera, Christopher Mintz
Plasse, Seth Rogen, Bill Hader
MPAA rating: R (for adult
language, adult situations, un
derage alcohol use, drug use)
Running time: 114 minutes
Best suited for: those under 25
Least suited for: those over 25

For better or for worse, nothing defines a genre film more aptly than the label "teen sex comedy." Parents usually stay away en masse, and that crucial demographic, those 14- to 19-year-old movie junkies, throng to theaters to be moderately entertained by massive doses of juvenile humor and age-old gags involving body parts, bodily fluids, alcohol consumption and the usually unrealistic hope of sexual conquest.

Well, "Superbad" is a teen sex comedy involving endless doses of juvenile humor, with all the body-part gags, the juvenile humor, the alcohol bingeing and sexual angst firmly in place. And, yes, it's funny for people who like to laugh at body-part gags and all those juvenile pranks.

But "Superbad" also happens to be funny on a deeper level. The film may even work for those not usually prone to spend their money to see a trio of geeky, underage nerds try to buy booze for a weekend party. Since they've proclaimed that one of them has a fake ID- meaning liquorprivileged- for the first time in their lives they're the center of attention for all the right reasons.

I won't go so far to suggest that "deep" in this case might be a Dostoevski or Nietzsche type of inner awareness. "Superbad's" depth is that kind of realistic recollection (for those of us over 25) of high school angst, when trying to fit in mattered more than God or country. When school tormented lives in numerously torturous ways that parents simply never understood.

"Superbad" puts those days under a farcical limelight that reveals only the lighter side of such torment.

Seth and Evan (Jonah Hill and Michael Cera) are lifelong best friends on the eve of their last summer together. Evan's strictly Ivy League, and Seth's barely state-school material. But the forced termination of their codependent friendship is weighing heavily on each of them, even though they'd never admit it to each other.

Enter Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), the crown prince of geekdom. Although Fogell appears beneath even Seth and Evan's meager standards of sophistication, he's managed to score a fake ID (with the unusual moniker "McLovin"- no first name, just McLovin). So the three head off to secure liquor for a weekend party and for the anticipated night of their lives.

That's the film; that's the movie- the trio's improbable, angst-filled attempt to buy liquor and to be cool, to finally be accepted, if only for one night.

The height of the film's absurdity is when McLovin finds himself confronted by two police officers (played by Bill Hader and the film's writer, Seth Rogen). Taken along on a joyride by the two oblivious cops, McLovin finds himself in nerd heaven. Sure, it's outright farce, so blatant that the film is free to parody the implausibility of such an encounter and maximize to the hilt its improbable humor.

Yet the banter is sharp enough, so astute and crisply honed that there's little room for the type of lame jokes and crude humor that can bog down lesser efforts. Sure, the chatter is often crude, but it's intelligently crude, articulated goofiness.

Believe it or not, it matters.

The film is rated R- unusual for a teen sex comedy hoping to cater to a younger audience. But by freeing the writers from the usual dose of suggestive innuendo, "Superbad" actually stretches the envelope. Recent sexually themed farces like "Wedding Crashers" and "Knocked Up" (also written by Seth Rogen) have used their "R" rating quite effectively- and "Superbad" doesn't shy away from more adult-themed nonsense. For people who can take the heat and like the humor, "Superbad" is a marvelous experience.

A few recent geekfests have likewise managed to hit this stratospheric level. Films like "Napoleon Dynamite" and "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle" have taken similar themes and produced wonderfully fresh and inventive results. In fact, there are more than a few similarities between "Superbad" and "White Castle." Not that "Superbad" is a ripoff by any means, but at its heart is a film sensitive to the importance of friendship as it reminds us that "normality" is an utterly unrealistic perception.

Ultimately, "Superbad" has us laughing at our similarities, not at our differences. Not a bad quality for a bawdy "teen sex comedy."