why all the "Superbad" hate?
The_Hook_Up
8,182 Posts
kept reading bad review after bad review for this film...just got back from seeing it and I thought it was funny as hell...Cera is an amazing straight man like he was in Arrested Development...funny script, likable characters, some good slapstick, great soundtrack...funny movie..and yes, Im gonna say it, better than American Pie...
Comments
Per my recent (and raer) myspace bulletin:
American Pie > Superbad
What killed it for me was all these damn tv, movie and (R-rated) internet previews. I had already seen all the funny parts! Going into American Pie I knew absolutely nothing about the movie, though.
Soundtrack was dope, though.
Not sure what you're reading. The movie got a 75 rating from metacritic with positive reviews from all the major natl critics including Ebert. From what I've seen, most folks really like this film.
I loved it.
Superbad > American Pie
Knocked Up>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Superbad
well, the press around here(the local entertainment rag, newspaper, TV-news movie reviewer person) didnt like it...so that is what I was going by. The Ebert/Roeper show was the only postive review I saw...
for example, one of the reviews:
http://www.memphisflyer.com/memphis/Content?oid=oid%3A32222
i thought knocked up was perfect, every damn joke was hit out of the ballpark. this had some long periods of not-funny between the really funny moments, IMO.
Yeah, there was a whole section in the middle where it seemed to drag on. If they had cut out about 30 minutes worth of footage from the cops & the secondary party after the liquor store scene, the movie would've been much tighter as a whole. The beginning & ending were great though & very funny. There were several times where I missed a joke because I was still laughing at the last one.
btw, whats the track in this clip?
jean knight "do me"
I haven't seen Superbad yet but I found 40 Year Old Virgin to be considerably funnier than Knocked Up. I liked both films but thought 40 was executed better. Plus, I had a hard time believing that Heigel would go out with Rogen. Then again, I thought the same thing about Keener and Carrel.
Def. looking fed to Knocked Up.
I felt exactly the opposite... I'd only seen a few brief clips from Superbad (out of nearly two hours of material) and found myself laughing pretty much continuously... American Pie I felt had been really milked by the advertisements etc (granted I didn't see it until it was on DVD) and didn't have much to offer beyond what I'd already seen...
edith and debar do have a point - it did seem like it wasn't edited the way movies normally are and parts that would've normally been much shorter dragged on... my only complaint. I didn't end up holding this against it though, I get bored by movies pretty easily and there wasn't much that I would've chopped out...
All Judd Apatow movies could be at least 10 minutes shorter, and considerably funnier. I wish he would higher a stronger editor.
What ODub said... NPR's synopsis of all the major movie reviews on Friday was universally positive... sounds as if its just your local media thats salty...
This wasn't Apatow directing though so I'm not sure the editing issues can be attributed to him. I thought 40yov was edited pretty well, Knocked Up less so.
I guess story editing is what i'm looking for, and i definitely thought 40 YOV was too long.
word? Any scenes you found esp superfluous?
been a while since i saw it...maybe just less of the stoned hanging out/dudes sitting around ripping on each other. some is fine, but it got carried away.
not to mention, that dance scene at the end. . . :ehhhhhhhhhh: all over the place.
In general, I wanted a movie like that to be in 90 minute range. that was clocking in around 110 minutes, and i got bored, waiting for something to happen in the middle.
Of Note: saw on DVD, not in the theatre.
???The Apatow comedy machine itself is a brand now, and it???s a brand that has created movies that appeal to older audiences who now follow whatever he does, even in the teen genre, which is very unusual,???
There's really no comparison. Knocked up was bassically a rom-com diguised as a pro-life statement.
Superbad was so fuckin insanely funny...i really couldn't stoip lauhging!
This fucking kid killed it!
definite star.
I assume you meant this the other way around.
In any case, I think what's interesting about Apatow's last two films - and this may speak to its popularity with older audiences despite its juvenile humor - is that the basic relationships are pretty conventional if not downright conservative (this isn't a new observation). I always thought there was something almost strange about Carrell's character waiting until he was married to have sex and Hiegel's decision not to have an abortion barely merits a moment in "Knocked Up" even though, for most people, you'd think the idea would have been more relevant. I personally thought they should have cast someone who was in their late 20s rather than early 20s but then that would mean they'd be older than Rogen, blah blah blah.
Of course, all this traditional family value shit is buried in profanity that'd make a drunk sailor blanch so I guess they balance it out.
"I kind of felt bad for the donkey too."
It was weird to hear George Michael swear though
Oh give me a break.
40 Year Old Virgin >>> Knocked Up >>> Superbad
The movie had some very funny moments of dialogue but I agree that it ran too long (or wasn't edited/scripted very well to fill the time) and there were long passages (esp. the scenes with the cops and Fogel) that dragged on without much of a point. To me, the film worked best when it was staying on focus with the central point - these dudes trying to get laid - but the hunt for alcohol was actually a distraction and became, at times, pretty dull no matter how much scenery Jonah Hill is capable of chewing up (which is to say: a lot).
Compared to other teen sex comedies...I dunno. It's definitely much wittier than something like "American Pie" or "Can't Hardly Wait" or anything else ex-"Buffy" actors might have appeared in circa-2000. You have to hand it to Seth Rogen and the other writers - they write some funny fucking stuff. And I thought, like other Apatow-directed/produced film, this one had some real heart to it; it's not all raunch - and that's always a nice surprise. I just didn't think it held together as well compared to "40YOV" or "Knocked Up", even joke-wise.
That said, loved Michael Cera even if his role largely reprised his character from "Arrested Development" - he just exudes awkward sweetness so well that it's hard not to feel for him.
One last thought: the movie to me, was like 17 Year Old Virgin. The two films are very similar in the ways where there's both a hyper-emphasis on sex (namely: having it) but also an intense male anxiety around it. It's very notable that all the women in BOTH these films - whether they're sexy grandmothers (Keener) or preciously mature high schoolers (Stone) - are very clear about what they want, about their sexuality and desires - whereas it's the men who are fucked up seven ways about it. I'm not saying Apatow and Co. invented this - I'm sure you can find similar themes in other comedies - but here, it's less about "getting the girl" (ala films of "Can't Hardly Wait" ilk) and far more about, "ok, what the hell am I supposed to do once I actually "get" the girl?" and watching these juvenile men (Carrell) or mature juveniles (Cera) express every neuroses they have around what they're supposed to do and feel. I find it an interesting trend even though, as noted, I felt like those two films actually mirror each other a lot. It's like Cera replaced Carrell and Hill replaced Malco and the two turned it into a buddy film rather than ensemble piece.