Superbad (2007)
Director: Greg Mottola
Writers: Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg
Genre: Comedy/Romance
Story
Superbad follows the lives of three immature students who are about to graduate high school. All Seth (Jonah Hill), Evan (Michael Cera), and Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) care about is alcohol and girls. Seth and Evan have a plan to get the girls by providing the alcohol for the party they are all going to. Now they just have to get the alcohol, but that is not very easy since they are only 18. Fogell has a fake ID and thinks he can get the alcohol, but when the cops show up things get out of hand. The rest of the film follows the three as they continue their journey to the party and try to keep from getting arrested while still getting the alcohol.
Everything Else
Greg Mottola does a typical dirty teenage movie directing job here. There is nothing more disappointing than a movie which has so much potential and yet falls flat on its face because of having obscene content which is completely unnecessary. There were plenty of parts of Superbad that were funny, but there were also so many scenes that were not funny and just downright offensive that the movie ends up being just ok. This is a shame considering how funny it could have been if they had only left out a few choice words and unnecessary parts.
The movie seems very realistic in some regards though. The teenagers act just like some teenagers did in high school. The only problem is that only about 5% of high schoolers act like that, but Superbad would have you believe that all high schoolers are like that. Aside from the obvious problems, the concept is overused in comedies today. Even if the gross humor and profanity are what seems to be popular today, I can’t help but think I have already seen this movie and it just looks ridiculous compared to more original comedies such as Juno.
The acting in Superbad was decent. The star here is really Michael Cera even though Jonah Hill has the more overbearing role. Hill doesn’t even come close to providing the humor which Cera is able to provide, but they would likely both be out of place if they had not been together. The two work well together with the opposing comedic styles.
The Real Deal
I would have liked to see a Superbad without all of the dirty jokes and foul language. It could have been as good as Juno possibly if they had added good dialog. This is the biggest problem when making a gross humor comedy these days. There is just no original dialog so the movie feels like dirty laundry from the start. This is exactly why I compared Superbad to Juno. Juno was just as popular, but actually created something unique at the same time. Sure Cera was almost the same character in both, but Juno can be liked by such a wider audience that the gross humor of Superbad can not be justified. I still found Superbad funny, but sadly because of its crudeness and unoriginality I can not recommend it to anyone.
The Short Version
Raw Score: 732,483
Sharon Movie? No
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Dave’s Movie Reviews
The founder and senior editor of Dave's Movie Reviews. Currently working in the online benefits management industry while maintaining Dave's Movie Reviews. Dave has written over 275 film reviews since the site was established in June 2007. 
I agree completely. This had some very funny moments and it could’ve been a really great comedy, but it was way to crude to be good and I also would not recommend it. I know this isn’t the place, but I just got back from my honeymoon and haven’t had a chance to look at all your reviews… Are you planning to review the HULK movies? I absolutely can’t believe they’re making another one so soon after the first and it’s not even a remake or a sequel but a REDO! I’d be interested to hear what you have to say about that!
Mike –
The Hulk movies are definitely on the list, and in fact I have the new one reviewed now. I will do a comparison after I review the older one as well. After watching both, it seems almost like the second one is more of a sequel than a remake. I will do the full run down soon though. Things are a bit busy around here with my car breaking down and all.