Superbad (Unrated, 2-Disc Special Edition) (2007)

"..."Revenge of the Nerds" redux...  David Ansen, NewsWeek
"An uproarious and touching picture.  David Denby, The New Yorker
"Might be the most provocative teen sex comedy ever made; it is certainly one of the most convulsively funny.  David Edelstein, New York Magazine
"For pure laughs, for the experience of just sitting in a chair and breaking up every minute or so, Superbad is 2007's most successful comedy.  Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
"A funny, boozy, ramshackle party.  Nathan Rabin, The Onion A.V. Club
"It helps that the fun doesn't stop. It helps even more that the pitch-perfect script doesn't step out of character for a joke.  Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
"...achingly funny, brewed from the now-familiar Apatow house blend of go-for-broke slapstick and instantly quotable, potty-mouthed dialogue.  Scott Foundas, The Village Voice

Editor's Note Produced by Judd Apatow and co-written by Seth Rogen--both of 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN and KNOCKED UP fame--SUPERBAD is the story of two horny teenage geeks looking to lose their virginity before college. Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan (Michael Cera) are hoping to end high school on a high note, and when one of their crushes (Emma Hill) invites them to a graduation party, the boys are ecstatic. That is, until they become responsible for supplying the party with alcohol. They hurriedly concoct a scheme to use their friend Fogell's (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) horrendously fake ID, but trouble soon arises when Fogell becomes the victim of a liquor store robbery. The cops (Rogen and Bill Hader) show up, and the evening quickly disintegrates into a hilarious mess of misunderstandings, crackhead sing-alongs, and beer mixed with laundry detergent. Hill is a riot as the wild-haired and foul-mouthed Seth, and Mintz-Plasse is great fun as the uber-geek Fogell. But Michael Cera (formerly of ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT) steals the show as the sensitive and levelheaded Evan. His oddball line delivery and excellent comic timing make for some of the most bizarre but best moments of the film. The sexual humor can be pretty graphic at times, which is no doubt what earned the movie its R rating. Yet, despite gross-out jokes involving menstrual blood and penis drawings, SUPERBAD somehow manages to fly far above frat-boy, AMERICAN PIE-style humor. This is partly due to the comedic skill of the actors, but also because the characters--silly and absurd though they can be--are so well-written. Watching these bungling outcasts is a vivid reminder of the horrific lows and supreme highs of high school life, and their antics rather poignantly capture how age 18 can indeed be super bad, but also super good.

	Bill Hader
	Christopher Mintz-Plasse
	Emma Stone
	Jonah Hill
	Kevin Corrigan
	Martha MacIsaac
	Michael Cera
	Seth Rogen
	Chris L. Spellman - Production Designer
	Evan Goldberg - Writer
	Gerald Sullivan - Art Director
	Greg Mottola - Director
	Judd Apatow - Producer
	Lyle Workman - Original Music By
	Russ T. Alsobrook - Cinematographer
	Seth Rogen - Writer
	Seth Rogen - Executive Producer
	William Kerr - Editor

Rolling Stone
3.5 stars out of 4 -- "SUPERBAD is superfun across the board....It helps that the fun doesn't stop. It helps even more that the pitch-perfect script doesn't step out of character for a joke." 08/23/2007 p.76

Entertainment Weekly
"Apatow directs with an adult understanding of and affection for teen hormonal rhythms....SUPERBAD is cute if you like guys who aren't even remotely bad..." -- Grade: B 08/31/2007 p.110

Box Office
"It's funny, but there's something meaningful going on....[The film] has at its core a certain verisimilitude that is endearing -- even sweet." 09/01/2007 p.112

USA Today
3 stars out of 4 -- "[A]bsurdly comic. Gross-out humor abounds....Side-splitting laughter, along with some powerful cringing, are likely to be audiences' dominant reactions." 08/17/2007 p.11D

New York Times
"[S]weetly absurd....[The] setups and camerawork serve the characters unobtrusively, as do the homey production design and costumes." 08/17/2007 p.E1-E15

Total Film
4 stars out of 5 -- "[A] rapid-fire gag machine....SUPERBAD is a relentless rib-assault that sure-footedly blends gross-outs, flashbacks, fantasy asides and a full quiver of zingers." 10/01/2007 p.54

Uncut
4 stars out of 5 -- "Think AMERICAN GRAFFITI meets AMERICAN PIE at the crossroads where John Hughes meets John Landis....It's embarrassingly funny..." 10/01/2007 p.128

Empire
4 stars out of 5 -- "Think of this best as a younger sibling to KNOCKED UP....The characters are just as well-drawn and the situations as oddly relatable." 10/01/2007 p.46

Sight and Sound
"[A] raucous party movie....The picture is dominated by three plucky young actors." 11/01/2007 p.78

Los Angeles Times
"Wide-eyed and sincere as it is hilariously, unrepentantly profane, the movie aims to express what it's like to stare down the barrel of your first foray into adulthood, and it's not afraid to be honest about it." 08/17/2007

Ultimate DVD
4 stars out of 5 -- "[A] very crass but perfectly judged comedy with a heart of gold, and the leading triumvirate of Cera, Hill and Mintz-Plasse are absolutely priceless." 04/01/2008 69

Reel.com 8 of 10
I wanted to open this review by reporting that Superbad was "supergood." But, despite high hopes for this latest Judd Apatow-produced raunchfest, the truth is it's just "good," an assessment that may be okay for the average teen comedy, but disappointing for a movie arriving on such a tide of comic enthusiasm. Not that Superbad, which was directed from Greg Mottola (The Daytrippers) from a loquacious script by Knocked Up star Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, doesn't have its memorably funny moments--it has many, particularly in the first act. It's also blessed with a trio of superb comedic performances by its young leads that should secure them each long and healthy acting careers...On the flip side, as the adorable classmates who horndogs Seth, Evan, and "McLovin" each set their sights on, Emma Stone, Martha MacIsaac, and Aviva are ideal, with MacIsaac's drunken seduction of Evan a go-for-broke treat...At the film's core is a poignant message about teen male friendships that smartly balances the bawdy nuttiness that surrounds it. It's a testament to Hill and Cera's acting abilities that they pull off their squishy final moments together as nicely as they do. If they're not best friends in real life, you could've fooled me. - Gary Goldstein

ReelViews 8 of 10
What if Quentin Tarantino collaborated with John Hughes on a teen comedy? Superbad is a decent approximation of what the result might be. As with Borat, there are no sacred cows here. The movie, produced by Judd Apatow, written by Seth Rogan & Evan Goldberg, and directed by Greg Mottola, pushes the genre's envelope a little farther than anything before it has done. It recalls American Pie but with less nudity (in fact, there's none to speak of) and dialogue that is more clever and more profane. The movie is frequently amusing and occasionally uproarious...If the movie has a failing, it's a tendency to be long-winded. This is the same issue that has plagued Judd Apatow's excellent directorial efforts, The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up. The denouement feels unnecessarily protracted and the number of scenes with the cops (some of the least comically successful material in the movie) could have been trimmed. Superbad is a very good little 95 minute movie that runs a little over 110 minutes...It takes a brave filmmaker to release a movie called Superbad. Fortunately for Mottola and friends, it's impossible to use the title to describe the quality. - James Berardinelli