Superbad [dir. Greg Mottola]

2007, 114 minutes
w/ Michael Cera, Jonah Hill & Christopher Mintz-Plasse
[Having finally seen the most talked about comedy of the year, I'm late but nonetheless ecstatic to report that it's indeed the funniest film of the year and, at least within its subject matter, possibly since Kevin Smith's Clerks. Recognize the possible bias of me being a high school senior, but this really is what seems to be the decade's timeless high school picture as Dazed and Confused was for the '80s (despite of course debuting in the '90s...). Michael Cera and Jonah Hill give wonderfully contrasting comedic performances and yet still manage to hit emotional notes simply by the tangible fear of the future bleeding from them throughout the picture. Now that that's out of the way, Superbad thrives off sex and alcohol, as do the jokes. And unlike, say, the very funny Mean Girls, every fucking joke is fresh and hilarious and unimaginably quotable. We could have spent ten hours with these two main characters, but pens Rogen and Hader [who star as immature cops in an equally entertaining subplot] decided to throw in a third protagonist, and the most effortlessly funny, Fogle aka McLovin. Oh, and besides being hilarious with its slew of crude humor, Rogen/Hader even throw in Fellini, Coen, and Orson Welles references just in case cinephiles like myself weren't blown out of the water enough. I immediately wanted and still do want to see this again, and probably a third time after that.]

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