Superbad

The Good:

In the spirit of a horny teenage boy awkwardly confessing his love to his crush of forever, I'm just going to list everything I love about this comedy classic.

The ambiguous time period. Superbad looks, sounds, and feels like the 1970s (hence the title), with warm browns and oranges, a grainy "shot-on-film" feel, and a killer funk inspired soundtrack. Yet, it's clearly a movie set in the 2000s, with the cellphones, and the PS2s and the cars in the background. It's almost as if the movie is sub-communicating how timeless it would eventually become. Which, whether intentional or not, is telling as to how brilliant this raunchy, vulgar comedy truly is.

Jonah Hill and Michael Cera's chemistry in this film is UNREAL. They sound, act, and feel like actual friends and the reality that they've never done another movie together sort of propels their dynamic in this film to LEGENDARY status. There's nothing to compare them to really; they are one of cinema's all time duos in this one, perfectly balancing off one another.

It calls back to another amazing aspect of this film; how realistic the teenagers look and act in this film. Clearly everyone is in their mid 20s, but most of the teens look like seniors on the cusp of graduation. More than that, they ACT realistically. One thing American high school films always get wrong is the "clique." They're really not as rigid as films and TV portray; people frequently talk to, hang out with, and befriend people outside of their clique on a regular basis. Superbad nails how high school isn't a straightforward tribal hierarchy. It's a web of relationships.

I know that sounds like a weird thing to praise this movie for, but it all culminates in one of the best party montages I've seen put to film. It's super satisfying not just to see our heroes finally get to the Promised Land, but for it to be a party filled with generally realistic people. It harkens back to parties I went to back in the day; maybe that's why this movie speaks to me so much.

Speaking of realism, this film managed to impact pop culture going forward with the inclusion of the iconic Christopher Mintz-Plasse as McLovin. It's kind of appropriate he came and went; I'd be surprised if he could ever top this role, to be honest. A testament to exceptional casting throughout this film, there's no one else I could imagine possibly being McLovin than this dude.

What else can I say? The writing is basically perfect, with so many jokes crammed into this that you can watch it dozens of times and still find new things to laugh at. The performances are top notch from absolutely everyone, whether they're minor characters or romantic interests. The movie's real message about friendship and growing up is unbelievably heart warming.

AND THAT ENDING. Would anyone have expected a movie about two horny teenage boys trying to deliver alcohol to a party for the express purposes of getting laid to end like this? For it to tug at your heart strings and wish there was another movie right after? I don't think so.

Bad: It's Super.

The Ugly: I'm going to say it. Superbad is probably the last great American comedy film. There have been good comedies since, for sure, but do any of them even come close to Superbad? It'll be 15 years in 2022 since this movie came out, and honestly, it hasn't been topped. All hail the baddest of them all.