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Superbad (2007, Greg Mottola)
I recently watched Superbad. It was alright. I don't much care for the subject matter, but I must admit it was a fresh breath of air to watch a film about high schoolers with actors that do look the age. The bit with the cops was the best thing the film had going for it. I enjoyed how they took stereotypes of police and went with it showing everything a cop should not be. However they took it way too far by the end of the flick. When they burn their own squad car, it was a bit too much.
I didn't find the overall story that engrossing either. Three teenagers attempting to get booze for a party isn't going to be anything remarkable... Nor is the idea that they're doing so in order to get laid by the girls they've got "the hots" for. I understand it's about style and dialogue. But there's only so much you can do with this type of film.
And of course Superbad shows that all teenagers care about is sex and beer. This may or may not be true. For some it certainly is. Certainly teenagers are the world's must sucesptable sponges to garbage and filth deemed "cool" by 40-year olds wearing suits and ties, trying to make easy money off of the consumer power of puberty. It must be fun to market products to dollar-shedding zombies covered in pimples and Hollister.
So it's a matter of both art immitating life and life immitating art. A teenager will see stuff like Superbad and want to fill in their part of how they're categorized. Meanwhile filmmakers observe teenagers and group them into this material. Must be a vicious cycle. I do recognize a lot of the kids I see on a daily basis in this film. Of course I realize the kids I see at work are modeling themselves off the way they're told to be. Shame. Shame. I have seen enough of these walking stereotypes of pop culture enter the classroom to make a person ill.
It would be nice to have a film that deals with high school from a different point of view or angle. So far there really isn't much. Aside from a couple John Hughes films, Rushmore, Rebel Without a Cause, and Gus Van Sant's disturbing Elephant, I can't think of a lot. While Superbad is mildly entertaining at times, especially the moments with the police, it's ultimately very hollow and routine of the genre. Another offshoot of the American Pie film that tries to outgross the previous entry in more ways than one.
Grade: C+
I recently watched Superbad. It was alright. I don't much care for the subject matter, but I must admit it was a fresh breath of air to watch a film about high schoolers with actors that do look the age. The bit with the cops was the best thing the film had going for it. I enjoyed how they took stereotypes of police and went with it showing everything a cop should not be. However they took it way too far by the end of the flick. When they burn their own squad car, it was a bit too much.
I didn't find the overall story that engrossing either. Three teenagers attempting to get booze for a party isn't going to be anything remarkable... Nor is the idea that they're doing so in order to get laid by the girls they've got "the hots" for. I understand it's about style and dialogue. But there's only so much you can do with this type of film.
And of course Superbad shows that all teenagers care about is sex and beer. This may or may not be true. For some it certainly is. Certainly teenagers are the world's must sucesptable sponges to garbage and filth deemed "cool" by 40-year olds wearing suits and ties, trying to make easy money off of the consumer power of puberty. It must be fun to market products to dollar-shedding zombies covered in pimples and Hollister.
So it's a matter of both art immitating life and life immitating art. A teenager will see stuff like Superbad and want to fill in their part of how they're categorized. Meanwhile filmmakers observe teenagers and group them into this material. Must be a vicious cycle. I do recognize a lot of the kids I see on a daily basis in this film. Of course I realize the kids I see at work are modeling themselves off the way they're told to be. Shame. Shame. I have seen enough of these walking stereotypes of pop culture enter the classroom to make a person ill.
It would be nice to have a film that deals with high school from a different point of view or angle. So far there really isn't much. Aside from a couple John Hughes films, Rushmore, Rebel Without a Cause, and Gus Van Sant's disturbing Elephant, I can't think of a lot. While Superbad is mildly entertaining at times, especially the moments with the police, it's ultimately very hollow and routine of the genre. Another offshoot of the American Pie film that tries to outgross the previous entry in more ways than one.
Grade: C+