Superbad

Superbad (directed by Greg Mottola)

Actor Seth Rogen (Freaks & Geeks, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up) has had a pretty good summer, with Knocked Up being a surprise hit at the box office, and now Superbad, a script he started working on as a teenager with his friend Evan Goldberg.

Superbad makes the wise decision not to rely solely on gross-out humor, although there is undoubtedly a fair share of it. If the movie seems relatively anticlimactic in parts, it's because there is more focus on the way these kids talk, act, and think--too many teen comedies are blissfully unaware of the fact that adolescence is a painful and awkward time, and Seth (the biting and sarcastic Jonah Hill) is pissed off at pretty much everyone. His best friend, not surprisingly named Evan (Michael Cera), is more withdrawn and shy, but has the same objective as his friend: to score some beer, get the girl, and get laid. Or does he? Cera's character is an interesting one, because in a conventional script, he would be the token sidekick. In Superbad, he's the one that contemplates the silliness of it all.

The real comic relief is delivered by the uberdork wanksta Fogell (newcomer Christopher Mintz-Plasse), from here on known as McLovin. McLovin has a fake ID, you see, so he's summoned by Seth and Evan to get alcohol for the big end-of-year party being thrown by Jules (Emma Stone), whom Seth is intent on hooking up with.

Naturally, the alcohol plan goes awry, and McLovin is treated to an all-night "patrol" with two of the local goofball cops (Rogen and SNL's Bill Hader). Meanwhile, the friendship between Seth and Evan is put to the ultimate test, and that's where the film's true poignancy lies.

While Superbad isn't a great movie, I admired the respect Rogen and Goldberg had for these two main characters, and their contempt for standard plot devices and reliance on teen movie cliches. Instead, they find a way to make a joke out of menstrual blood.