Superbad (film)

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Superbad
Image:Superbad Poster.png
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Greg Mottola
Produced by Judd Apatow
Evan Goldberg
Shauna Robertson
Seth Rogen
Written by Evan Goldberg
Seth Rogen
Starring Jonah Hill
Michael Cera
Chris Mintz-Plasse
Bill Hader
Seth Rogen
Music by Lyle Workman
Cinematography Russ T. Alsobrook
Editing by Geritt Moyer
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Apatow Productions
Release date(s) August 17, 2007
Running time Theatrical cut
114 min.
Unrated cut
118 min.
Country Image:Flag of the United States.svg
Language English
Budget $20 million[1]
Gross revenue $166,705,541 (worldwide)
Official website
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Superbad is a 2007 comedy film written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, who began writing the script when they were 13 years old.[2] The film's main characters have the same first names as Rogen and Goldberg. The film is directed by former television director Greg Mottola and is produced by Judd Apatow, previously known for directing The 40 Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up.

The film was a critical and commercial success, inspiring comparisons to Apatow's previous film, Knocked Up, which was released earlier in the summer.

Contents

[edit] Plot

Evan (Michael Cera) and Seth (Jonah Hill) are close friends preparing to leave high school. Seth is invited to a party by Jules (Emma Stone) and agrees to provide the alcohol, using their friend Fogell’s (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) fake ID (McLovin). Evan wishes to attend after talking to a girl in his math class, Becca, about the party.

While purchasing the alcohol, Fogell is punched during a robbery. Two police officers -- Slater (Bill Hader) and Michaels (Seth Rogen) -- arrive on the scene to question the clerk and Fogell about the robbery. They offer him a lift to the party but make numerous stops first. Evan and Seth see the police car outside the convenience store and assume Fogell is being arrested for attempting to buy alcohol. While deciding what to do, Seth is hit by a car, and the driver (Joe Lo Truglio) takes them to a party where they can find alcohol. While there, they are involved in a fight and flee the party, with two laundry detergent jugs-full of beer in hand.

Officers Slater and Michaels are driving around with Fogell in the back when they accidentally hit Seth with the police car, damaging the windshield. They get out and blame it on Seth and Evan, making them lie face down on the ground and hold hands. Fogell steps out of the cop car and sees Seth and Evan and they look at each other deeply confused. Then Evan stands up and runs with Officer Michaels chasing. Then Fogell and Seth run the opposite direction and somehow meet up on the street.

Eventually, the boys make it to Jules' party and Evan tries to get drunk so he can have sex with a drunk Becca. Evan feels as it isn't right for him to have sex with Becca as she is drunk. He turns her down and she gets sick and vomits on the bed. Meanwhile, Seth attempts to pair off with Jules who is sober, but accidentally gives her a black eye as he falls from drunkenness. Fogell and Nicola make their way up to the bedroom.

Officers Michael and Slater come to break up the party and walk in on Fogell while he is just starting to have sex with Nicola. Nicola leaves and the officers tell him that they knew he was underage, but didn't say anything about it because they saw a little of themselves in him. Fogell coaxes the police to arrest him while he pretends to resist, leading onlookers to conclude he's tough. To avoid problems about the damaged police car they make up a story for which Fogell is willing to make a false statement about the car being stolen, and destroy it: first they torch the car, then Fogell shoots multiple bullets at it just for fun.

After the party is over, Seth carries Evan half the way home because Evan briefly passes out just before Slater and Michaels arrive, they decide to sleep over at Evan's house where they drunkenly declare their love for each other and reconcile after tensions erupted due to their impeding separation when college begins. The next day, they meet Becca and Jules at the mall and they finally pair off successfully with Seth going with Jules to get some cover-up for her black eye, and Evan going off with Becca to buy comforters.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Reception

According to Box Office Mojo, the film opened at #1 at the U.S. box office, grossing $33,052,411 in its opening weekend in 2,948 theaters with an average of $11,212 per theater.[3] The film stayed at #1 the second week, grossing $18,044,369.[3] As of January 3, 2008, the film has grossed an estimated $121,463,226 domestically, and $48,101,378 overseas, for a total of $169,564,604 worldwide. Compared to the relatively small budget of $20 million, the film was a huge success. [1] The film is the highest grossing high school comedy of all time. [4]

As of October 11, 2007, the film-critics aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes listed 87% positive reviews based on 174 reviews (151 "fresh", 23 "rotten") with the consensus that it was "an authentic take on the awkwardness of the high school experience." It also has an 86% Cream Of The Crop rating. [5] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 76% based on 36 reviews.[6].

Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle called it 2007's most successful comedy.[7] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3 1/2 stars (out of 4) and said "The movie reminded me a little of National Lampoon's Animal House, except that it's more mature, as all movies are."[8] Carina Chocano of the Los Angeles Times said "Physically, Hill and Cera recall the classic comic duos -- Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello, Aykroyd and Belushi. But they are contemporary kids, sophisticated and sensitive to nuance"; he added, "I hope it's not damning the movie with the wrong kind of praise to say that for a film so deliriously smutty, Superbad is supercute".[9] Sean Burns of Philadelphia Weekly said "2007: the year Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen saved movie comedy", a reference to Knocked Up which was released in June.[10]

Several film critics have compared the film to other movies and television shows. Nathan Rabin of The Onion said, "This is the Citizen Kane of dick-joke movies."[11] Devin Gordon of Newsweek said "As a Revenge of the Nerds redux, Superbad isn't perfect. But it's super close."[12] Richard Horgan of FilmStew.com said "after seeing Superbad, one has to wonder how co-writer and co-star Seth Rogen did not make it into the comedy cavalcade that was The Aristocrats" and also, "one can almost imagine the characters portrayed by Hill, Cera and Mintz-Plasse growing up to be the Lebowski unholy troika of Bridges, Turturro and Goodman".[13] James Sanford of the Kalamazoo Gazette said Rogen and Goldberg "are attempting to create a teen-angst comedy along the lines of Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Risky Business"[14] Bill Gibron of PopMatters said "If you ever wondered what Sixteen Candles, the John Hughes teen comedy from the mid-‘80s would look and sound like fashioned after the aesthetic mindset of someone like Kevin Smith, Superbad is the answer."[15] Kyle Smith of the New York Post said "American Graffiti, Sixteen Candles and Dazed and Confused, bow to your new master".[16]

Stephen Farber of The Hollywood Reporter, conversely, compared the film to the similar single-day structure of American Graffiti and Dazed and Confused, but that "it doesn't have the smarts or the depths of those ensemble comedies".[17] Adam Graham of The Detroit News said, "the cops belong in a bad Police Academy sequel, not this movie", and also that the film "falls short of teen-classic status."[18] Roger Moore of the Orlando Sentinel called the film "super-derivative", "super-raunchy", and "Freaks & Geeks: Uncensored". Moore went on to say the film shamelessly steals from movies such as Can't Hardly Wait and American Graffiti. He also said, "Like Knocked Up, this is a comedy they don't know how to end. The energy flags as it overstays its welcome."[19] Wesley Morris of The Boston Globe said the film "has a degree more sophistication than Revenge of the Nerds and American Pie, and less than the underrated House Party". Brett Tingley scorned the movie for its homosexual overtones, asking "What, are they gay?". Morris also said, "the few smart observations could have come from an episode of one of [Apatow's] TV shows" and "I wanted to find this as funny as audiences did".[20]

[edit] Release

[edit] Soundtrack

Main article: Superbad (soundtrack)

Original music for the film was composed by Lyle Workman. A soundtrack to the film was released on August 7, 2007.

[edit] Blu-ray Disc and DVD release

The film was released December 4, 2007 on both high-definition Blu-ray Disc and standard DVD in rated (113 min.) and unrated (118 min.) editions, and in an unrated extended Blu-ray Disc two-disc edition with special features including deleted scenes and bloopers. The Blu-ray edition has a feature "SuperMeter" that counts the obscenities while you watch the movie. The Blu-Ray version also includes a special scene during the credits in which the character Fogell displays a phone number written on cardboard most likely as a producer prank.[21]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Superbad (2007). Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2007-09-24.
  2. ^ Dylan Callaghan (2007-08-17). It's Funnier With People. Writer's Guild of America. Retrieved on 2007-11-05.
  3. ^ a b Superbad (2007) - Weekend Box Office. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2007-09-24.
  4. ^ Box Office Mojo: Charts - High School Comedy
  5. ^ Rotten Tomatoes: Superbad Retrieved 2007-09-03
  6. ^ Metacritic: Superbad Retrieved 2007-09-03
  7. ^ Mick LaSalle (2007-08-17). Review: Teens on a mission to buy booze in 'Superbad'. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved on 2007-08-19.
  8. ^ Roger Ebert (2007-08-16). :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews :: Superbad. Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved on 2007-08-19.
  9. ^ Carina Chocano (2007-08-17). 'Superbad's' teen raunch isn't what's shocking; it's the love story. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved on 2007-08-19.
  10. ^ Sean Burns. Geek Outlook. Philadelphia Weekly. Retrieved on 2007-08-19.
  11. ^ Nathan Rabin (2007-08-17). Superbad. The Onion. Retrieved on 2007-08-21.
  12. ^ Devin Gordon (Aug. 20-27, 2007 issue). Revenge of the Nerds. Newsweek. Retrieved on 2007-08-21.
  13. ^ Richard Horgan (2007-08-17). Ball, Stick, Ball. FilmStew.com. Retrieved on 2007-08-21.
  14. ^ James Sanford (2007-08-17). James Sanford reviews Superbad. Kalamazoo Gazette. Retrieved on 2007-08-21.
  15. ^ Bill Gibron (2007-08-17). Short Cuts - In Theaters: Superbad (2007). PopMatters. Retrieved on 2007-08-21.
  16. ^ Kyle Smith (2007-08-17). “Superbad” Review: It Super Freaking Rocks. New York Post. Retrieved on 2007-08-21.
  17. ^ Stephen Farber (2007-08-07). Superbad. The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved on 2007-08-21.
  18. ^ Adam Graham (2007-08-16). Laughable roles. The Detroit News. Retrieved on 2007-08-21.
  19. ^ Roger Moore (2007-08-17). 'Superbad' is super-derivative. Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved on 2007-08-21.
  20. ^ Wesley Morris (2007-08-17). "It's a nerd, he's in pain -- it's Superbad". Boston Globe. Retrieved on 2007-08-21.
  21. ^ http://www.dvdactive.com/news/releases/superbad.html

[edit] External links

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Superbad (film)


Preceded by
''Rush Hour 3'' 		Box office number-one films of 2007 (USA)
August 19-26, 2007 		Succeeded by
''Halloween''
v • d • e
Judd Apatow
Feature FilmsThe 40 Year-Old Virgin (2005)  · Knocked Up (2007)
ScreenplaysHeavyweights (1995)  · Celtic Pride (1996)  · The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005)  · Fun with Dick and Jane (2005)  · Knocked Up (2007)  · Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007)  · Pineapple Express (2008)
ProductionsHeavyweights (1995)  · The Cable Guy (1996)  · Celtic Pride (1996)  · Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)  · Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie (2004)  · The 40 Year Old Virgin(2005)  · Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)  · Knocked Up (2007)  · Superbad (2007)  · Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007)  · Drillbit Taylor (2008)  · Pineapple Express (2008)  · Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)  · Step Brothers (2008)
Television CreditsThe Ben Stiller Show (1992 - 1993)  · The Critic (1994 - 1995)  · The Larry Sanders Show (1993 - 1998)  · Freaks and Geeks (1999 - 2000)  · Undeclared (2001 - 2002)
de:Superbad

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