It’s the latest sex comedy, about a night in the life of modern teenage America.
In the tradition of movies from “American Graffiti” to “American Pie,” “Superbad” seeks to find the funny in the pathos of adolescent desperation. Coming-of-age continues to mean aching to get laid, to get wasted and the love/hate bond between buddies. In this lesser variation, with shoddy production values and mostly unfamiliar actors, the humor comes more out of the mercilessness and raunchiness of the gags than their wit.
But the haplessness and hopefulness of the three nerdy central characters make them irresistible. There’s heart to match the filth in this raw farce, as directed by Greg Mottola (“The Daytrippers”) and written by pals Seth Rogan (“Knocked Up”) and Evan Goldberg, supposedly based in their own old high school experiences.
The scripters even name the main characters after themselves.
Roly-poly rude boy Seth (Jonah Hill) and the shy, gangly Evan (Michael Cera) are best friends in the last days of high school about to go to separate colleges — a situation which is increasingly becoming a sore point between them. Hormones are raging and, as unpopular geeks, they remain frantic to be accepted by their peers. Tonight’s graduation party at the home of Seth’s fantasy crush girl Jules (Emma Stone) now appears to be the guys’ last chance to be cool, to party together and, perhaps, even lose their virginities.
Their ticket to the party is a promise to provide the alcohol.
For help with that, they enlist their even dweebier third-wheel pal Fogell (a hilarious Christopher Mintz-Plasse). Unfortunately, the delusional Fogell has no street savvy. After miraculously securing the booze, the buoyant loser finds himself on a bizarre joy ride with a couple of wild cops (played by Rogan and Bill Hader). Meanwhile, Seth and Evan are on their own odyssey, which will eventually culminate in an implied post-party turn of events that is as unexpected as it is perverse.
The nature of the shock humor runs the gamut from a montage of creative cartoon renderings of the male, er, apparatus to an icky menstruation bit. The movie is too long in its relentless search for sidebar comedy skits. But the madness will surely be a delight to its young male target audience.
Because the trio of leads is just so lovable in their weakness, it gives the rest of us a way to not only tolerate but even chuckle occasionally at the gross-out moments. The actors keep the proceedings from actually being “Superbad.”
‘Superbad’
***
Starring: Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Christopher Mintz-Plasse
Director: Greg Mottola
Rated R for pervasive crude and sexual content, strong language, drinking, some drug use and a fantasy/comic violent image — all involving teens
Running time: 112 minutes
