Superbad (Mottola, 2007)

Even though I viewed Superbad a number of days ago, it remains a perplexing film for me. It starts off as a standard teen sex comedy with two socially ill friends (the hilarious Michael Cera and Jonah Hill) seeking booze and guts in an attempt to impress their hot yet out of reach love interests. During it’s second act, Superbad crafts some serious moments – a character gets hit by a car, a number of fights break out – which feel jarring. Whether or not this was the filmmakers intent, these scenes certainly left an impression on me, but not in the way I expected from the film. Superbad returns to it’s American Pie roots, rather unsuccessfully I might add, but it ends on such a high and true note, dissecting adolescent male relationships with sharp razor wit, that I couldn’t help forgiving the whole mess. Superbad relies on it’s hilarious characters, but it’s the honest place they reach which makes it a memorable text.