Have a Good Time at 'Superbad'

For as long as cinema has existed, it has bred gobs and gobs of productions that, quite frankly, deserve no other description than the one dreaded word: predictable. But out of this humungous nest of film offspring born with this genetic imperfection, some learn to cope with the world of story and originality by making sure that, if the ending is obvious, the means to that ending will certainly not be.

“Superbad” is predictable. “Superbad” is a cliché catalogue. And, despite the presence of a few laugh-out-loud moments, “Superbad” does not produce non-stop, side-splitting comedy.

But in the end, “Superbad” proves more than satisfying, and it does so by the strength of one of its less celebrated qualities: its adventurous nature.

You see, “Superbad” is not just a teen flick about parties and booze and sex and 8-year-olds drawing penises on paper. It’s about a quest. A noble quest, in which three poor high school souls, Seth (Jonah Hill), Evan (Michael Cera) and Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) journey to far-off lands to acquire the sacred treasure known as “alcohol.” With this magical possession the three lovable-losers (hey, I said there were clichés) can win the hearts of their divine loves: Jules (Emma Stone) for Seth, Becca (Martha MacIsaac) for Evan and Nicola (Aviva) for Fogell.

The more I think about it, the more it reminds me of another recent release. In “Stardust,” a young man ventures out into the world of magic and mystery to track down a shooting star and present it to the love of his life. Of course, “Stardust” involves the star taking the form of a woman, murderers and victims hanging out as ghosts in the afterlife, and a really weird cameo by Robert De Niro. Other than that, they might as well be the same movie.

Okay, not quite.

Director Greg Mottola, in his first feature film since the obscure 1996 comedy “The Daytrippers,” employs a great sense of timing with each event. He fleshes each place out enough, but does not allow anything to become stale. “Superbad” overall is an excellent example of time use, keeping everything as fresh as possible in almost two hours, while not riding to many of the hilarious moments into the ground.

Regrettably, humorous moments in “Superbad” do sometimes lose themselves in a sea of situational comedy. Yes, “Superbad,” despite everything else, remains a situational comedy of sorts. A comedy that begins with a question, “What would happen if…?” In this case, of course, it’s, “what would happen if a bunch of “geeks” tried to go to parties and act cool?” Or, “What would happen if a couple of cops just started rambunctiously jamming around town, with one of the “geeks” in tow?” Sure, there have been much worse in other movies, such as, “What would happen if a high-school girl looked like Rob Schneider," but it still feels a little lame.

This feeling runs through the entire relationship between Fogell and the unorthodox cop duo of Slater (Bill Hader) and Officer Michaels (Seth Rogen). The nerdish Fogell (who gets a fake ID with the simple full name “McLovin,” as the movie points out way too many times), a couple of cops, jump around town getting into mischief. It's fun. But at the same time, it can't quite shake that awkward situational feel.

Seth as a whole has no such feel. He is a great character, fully-fleshed out. A fantastic, career-skyrocketing performance by Jonah Hill brings out the full emotional wine list in this bullheaded, yet in the end loyal, aspiring party king.

“Superbad” inspires comparisons to the “American Pie” series almost immediately. Thankfully, the “American Pie” shadow wares off as time passes, allowing “Superbad” to come into its own and establish itself as a clearly superior life of the party.

Grade: B