Superbad

“Superbad” wasn’t nearly as bad as I feared it would be. In fact, I liked it quite a bit, despite reservations about the length and some contrivances involving two cops.

The film was produced by Judd Apatow, and my intense dislike of his “40-Year-Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up” left me convinced I would equally hate this film, but I went in with an open mind and was pleasantly surprised.

“Superbad” deals with three teenage boys played by Michael Sera, Jonah Hill and Christopher Mintz-Plasse who are seniors in high school who are determined to drink lots of beer and get laid before they go off to college. They offer to bring beer to a local party where they hope to accomplish their mission. Of course, being underage, this is easier said than done and I don’t think Gregory Peck, David Niven and Anthony Quinn attempting to blow up the Guns of Navarone experienced as many difficulties as these guys do trying to obtain alcohol for the party.

In the process they find out things about themselves and the women in their lives, which will hopefully serve them well in life.

The kids are very well cast and likeable while being immature, crude and vulgar as most teenage boys are. I think I found them more tolerable than Apatow’s previous child-men because they are teenagers and don’t know any better. They’re supposed to be stupid and immature. The adult characters in “40-Year-Old Virgin” are shockingly shallow, immature, annoying and people I wouldn’t want to know on a bet. (It must be stressed this is a minority opinion of these films).

I especially liked uber-nerd Mintz-Passe, who gets a fake ID with the immortal name of McLovin. He runs into two cops played by Apatow favorite Seth Rogen and Bill Hader and its here that the film goes off rails. These two act like two cops you wouldn’t find anywhere and in a film that strives to be a funny yet realistic depiction of teen life, they stick out like a sore thumb and make the film longer than it should be.

Rating for “Superbad”: Two and a half stars.