Superbad is SuperGOOD (Ha Ha, get it?)

Labor Day means its back to school and back to not wearing white pants. It also marks the end of the Summer Movie Season. We are now supposed to change gears and start taking in more earnest and arty fair in preparation for awards season (the lead up to which runs about as long as presidential primary season). Knowing that I will be spending the next few months seeing movies with at least an attempt at substance (which can be a blessing and a curse), I saw Superbad this Labor Day weekend.
The true treat of the movie are the performances by Jonah Hill and Michael Cera as high school seniors desperate to fit in. Cera’s subtle, nuanced awkwardness is the perfect match for Hill’s blustering, intense awkwardness. Both tap into an element of young adulthood that is painfully funny and painfully real in the same instant. The chemistry between these two young actors is so delightful that scenes without them feel stunted.
An element of Superbad that is absent from many teenage sex comedies is interesting objects of affection. The boys lust after Jules and Becca (played by Emma Stone and Martha MacIsaac) who are more than just eye candy. The girls get to be cool and funny. By choosing to explore these female characters more fully a rare feat in this genre is achieved. As the characters reveal themselves, the distance between the boys and their crushes diminishes and it starts to make sense why these kids will get together.
The humor will not suit the tastes of all viewers. If jokes anatomical and scatological and intercourse-ical aren’t sitting atop your comedy hierarchy, this film doesn’t offer much else. This type of humor is so pervasive that by the end you almost think you heard the same dirty joke earlier in the movie. I count myself (entirely proudly) amongst people who can have a good hard laugh about bodily functions and the reproductive process. Though presented in abundance, the majority of the crude humor is fresh and entertaining.
Superbad turned out to be a nice bookend to my Summer at the movies. Early in the season I saw and reviewed Knocked Up. Produced by Knocked Up’s director (Judd Apatow) and written by its star (Seth Rogan), Superbad begs to be compared to the earlier release. Superbad is a better film not because it is the product of a better director (Apatow is more skilled than Greg Mottola) nor is it more finely edited (both films suffer from a major reluctance to leave any joke on the cutting room floor). In fact, it cannot be said that Superbad is funnier than Knocked Up (both films produce face cramping laughter if you have a certain sense of humor). Superbad is superior because it achieves what it sets out to do: to be a great R rated comedy with no vital social value.