Sunday, August 19, 2007

Movie: Superbad and the trailers

To say I was buzzed to see Superbad would be an understatement. I am a big drinker of the kool aid of Judd Apatow, who produced this movie. Also, I have become a fan of Seth Rogen, who co-wrote and has a supporting role in the movie.

I guess I would have to say that I am slightly disappointed.

Superbad is not a bad movie. But it's not a great one either.

The plot follows the typical teenage quest movie where the lead characters goal is losing their virginity. The McGuffin in fulfilling this quest is buying booze so the much-to-hot-for-them girls to get them drunk so they would deem it worthy to sleep with them.

The first part of the movie deals with the wacky complications that arise in the leads' pursuit of alcohol. Characters are hit by cars--twice--punched and end up in the party from Hell.

This part is fairly pedestrian. A string of "oh my god, how are they going to get out of this predicament" predicaments. The best part of this sequence are the scenes featuring McLovin/Fogell and the two cops he meets up with (Rogen and SNLer Bill Hader). This is filled with slapstick physical comedy and fairly witty dialogue.

The second part is where the movie shines and finds its emotional core. Some characters don't get what they want, some do, but neither end up satisfied. But all find out what is really important to them. This segment is, yes, funny, but also poignant, heartbreaking, and warm.

I guess the end of movie is so good because of what happened in the first part. I just the whole movie was as good.  

Now, the trailer:

  • Heartbreak Kid: This is the second time I saw this trailer and I want to add to what I said earlier--Ben Stiller looks old
  • The Comebacks: The movie that parodies sports movies. The one that is not BASEkeball. It seems to be more a parody along the lines of Epic Movie than Airplane. Which means that it could very well suck.
  • Walk Hard: Then there is this one, which looks like it would rock. It is a parody of the rock biography movies like Walk the Line and Ray, a genre that is ripe, but difficult to parody. I love the cast and I hope they pull it off.  


1 comment:

  1. I saw this last night, and I actually enjoyed the hell out of it.  A lot of it may have been the energy in the theater, which was high, coupled with my shock that they were able to throw that many utterances of the f word and pictures of giant cartoon phalluses into the first forty minutes of the movie.  I think the emotional core of the movie is pretty strong, and on that front alone it succeeds as a end of high school/teen party movie.  The counterpoint story with the cops and McLovin lacks that weight and dare I say it feels tacked on.  That doesn't keep it from being funny, and it is pretty funny. 

    Aside: the more I see Kevin Corrigan, the more I get a severe Christopher Walken Jr. vibe from him.  I can't watch a Grounded For Life rerun without thinking at least one time that he's an inch away from joyfully slaughtering everybody else on the cast.

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