2007 comedy
Rating: 12/20
Plot: Three maladjusted high school seniors find themselves invited to a party, partially due to their promise to provide alcohol. They see it as their last chance to get girls to like them before they go off to college. They share misadventures along the way, become separated, and then get all gay by the end.
Like Virgin, this attempts to combine really lowbrow comedy with a slightly more artistic edge, and it fails. The characters are funny and they frequently say funny things (especially the police officers), but I don't think this has the depth it seems to think it does. In fact, the plan seemed to be to make a movie that college kids could endlessly quote. Those college kids, ya know, really dig the dick jokes, and Superbad might have more dick jokes than jokes that aren't dick jokes. To be fair, one of the funniest gags, repeated during the credits, involves an affliction the fat character shares with 8% of kids in the world--an uncontrollable urge to draw penises. There were also enough f-words flung around to rival Lebowski. When the "message" behind the madness comes in, I really felt like I was being hit over the head with it. There was a certain genuine feel to parts of this that I really liked, but at the same time, there were far too many Hollywood teen-movie moments. Although better and funnier than most comedies that are like this (and definitely worth my time), there's nothing new, nothing classic, and nothing all that special about this. I do like that Michael Cera, however. He's the next Jimmy Stewart!
Here I am, slightly underwhelmed:
I don't think this film was trying to achieve any great depth. It tries to throw as much tasteless humor at the wall as possible to see what sticks. I liked it. The McLovin' character and his goofy friends along with the fascist/insane/idiotic cops made me laugh out loud (I will NEVER use LOL!) many times, and my favorite moments were when the humor was so tastless that I was literally cringing while laughing. I would give it a 15 while warning any discerning adult to stay far away from it.
ReplyDeleteIt is what it is...I just lose patience with these movies pretty quickly.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Apatow-related movie is 'Dewey Cox'...have you seen that one?
The term "laugh out loud" has been ruined by "lol"...I'll tell my students that something made me "laugh out loud" and they'll ask if I mean "lol" and I'll say, "No, you morons. I don't speak in abbreviations," and they'll say, "Geez, Mr. B. don't get defensive about it," and I'll say, "Shut up, morons! Shut up or die!" But yeah, "laugh out loud" is a phrase that has been destroyed, and I blame Al Gore for inventing the Internet.
You crack me up. I have seen Dewey Cox and found it pretty funny. Maybe a 14. I blame Al Gore for a lot of things, primarily for losing his home state and giving me George W. Bush.
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