'Superbad': The young and the dateless
MOVIE REVIEW
by KEN BARTOLOTTA Reporter

You really can't make this sort of thing up, this movie "Superbad" and its three components existing of a fat man, a skinny man and odd-looking fellow named simply McL ovin.

The awkwardness of the film and the less than attractive appeal of its gawking leading cast is pure cinematic gold, and in all honesty I've never seen anything like it in my life.

There's something going on in Hollywood with the success of "Superbad" producer Judd Apatow with his "The 40 Year Old Virgin" and this summer's "Knocked Up" - it's as if the nerds are finally running Hollywood.

In the formulaic teen movies of the past, I've always slouched in my seat and groaned at the contrived characters who muttered out predictable dialogue that actual kids would never think of speaking.

But director Greg Motolla gives "Superbad" a new level of funny that relies almost wholly on experience, as if the writers, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, had been readying this script ever since their first painfully awkward day of freshman year.

The story follows the antics and misadventures of three teens on the cusp of graduation, nerds who have been ignored throughout the majority of high school, seeking some sort of adolescent redemption in the face of the onslaught of college and inevitable adulthood.

Nerds run rampant in "Superbad." Pictured are Michael Cera, Jonah Hill and Christopher Mintz-Plasse.

The plot is cliche, the story is cliche but it's the characters and the ongoing back and forth between two good friends, Evan and Seth, that make this movie so good.

The two are operating in the realm of the classic fat man skinny man angle that has been present since the creation of the genre, perfected by Laurel and Hardy and revitalized by Farley and Spade in the '90s.

In every other movie about high school these characters would be playing the comic relief, the sort of jester to the trials and tribulations of the more beautiful, but in this movie they finally get the recognition they deserve.

And in that way the movie caters to a specific niche of an audience, it's not a stretch to any that you have to be a bit of a nerd to truly get this movie.

Sure the comic gags will make anyone laugh, but to get at the heart of it, it's probably best if your high school years weren't the most enjoyable of experiences.

What the film seems to capture in a way that no other movie like this has ever done is that sometimes, despite how cool we want to be and how nonchalant we may all try to act, there are things we encounter in our formative years that we're just not ready for.

The film wraps up nicely and its the friendship between Seth and Evan that ultimately survives, but still, you can't help but get that often familiar sense as in real life, that things may never be the same.

e-mail: kenb@beenews.com