Super-Ehhhh....
For months, I have been anticipating seeing the movie "Superbad." So I went by myself on Friday night, determined to brave the teenie crowd in search of hearty laughs.
And while it wasn't the epic laugh-o-rama that I had expected, it was still pretty solid. If you're among the throngs of YouTube viewers enthralled by the dirty trailer, then you've already seen about 80 percent of the movie's best lines. The whole McLovin/cops storyline is hilarious, despite the underlying joke being wildly overused months before the movie even opened.
The main storyline dealing with the relationship between Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan (Michael Cera) is a little less inspired. I'm certainly not allergic to profanity, but swear words alone do not a joke make. The first 15 minutes is just a profane diatribe without any actual punch lines or clever commentary. I guess you're supposed to laugh at the familiarity of the topics (friends of mine and I discussed the "tuck and cover" maneuver decades ago), but it just seems like empty calories.
And I do have to admit that at my advanced age, all this sex talk by high schoolers is a little unsettling. Sure, I know that's how it really is. But when they actually show some of these high school girls in certain sexual situations, I felt kind of creepy. I thought they might slap a GPS ankle monitor on me on the way out of the theater. Girls that young just can't be having sex. I refuse to believe it. At that age, they certainly didn't have sex with me. Maybe that's why I'm having so much trouble picturing it.
That's not to say that I wouldn't recommend it. Michael Cera can't help but be funny every second he's on the screen. But beware of those who might say this is their generation's "American Graffiti" or "Sixteen Candles." It's good enough, but doesn't touch the classics.
And while it wasn't the epic laugh-o-rama that I had expected, it was still pretty solid. If you're among the throngs of YouTube viewers enthralled by the dirty trailer, then you've already seen about 80 percent of the movie's best lines. The whole McLovin/cops storyline is hilarious, despite the underlying joke being wildly overused months before the movie even opened.
The main storyline dealing with the relationship between Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan (Michael Cera) is a little less inspired. I'm certainly not allergic to profanity, but swear words alone do not a joke make. The first 15 minutes is just a profane diatribe without any actual punch lines or clever commentary. I guess you're supposed to laugh at the familiarity of the topics (friends of mine and I discussed the "tuck and cover" maneuver decades ago), but it just seems like empty calories.
And I do have to admit that at my advanced age, all this sex talk by high schoolers is a little unsettling. Sure, I know that's how it really is. But when they actually show some of these high school girls in certain sexual situations, I felt kind of creepy. I thought they might slap a GPS ankle monitor on me on the way out of the theater. Girls that young just can't be having sex. I refuse to believe it. At that age, they certainly didn't have sex with me. Maybe that's why I'm having so much trouble picturing it.
That's not to say that I wouldn't recommend it. Michael Cera can't help but be funny every second he's on the screen. But beware of those who might say this is their generation's "American Graffiti" or "Sixteen Candles." It's good enough, but doesn't touch the classics.