DVD
REVIEW: SUPERBAD
(2 Disc Unrated
Extended)
11/28/07
“I am McLovin”.
Those are the 3-words said by a dweeb that will forever
immortalize "Superbad", a Judd Apatow produced raunchy teen
comedy. Judd Apatow has been on a roll lately directing "The
40-Year Old Virgin" and "Knocked Up" and producing "Anchorman
and Talladega Nights". With Superbad, Apatow enters the world
of the raunchy teen comedy. This is not an easy genre by any
means and this movie could have easily fallen into the
trappings of many other unsuccessful teen comedies. However,
Superbad is already drawing comparisons to the box-office
hit "American Pie" and the classic "Dazed and Confused". Superbad, is more like a union of these two movies merging
the realism of "Dazed and Confused" with the comedy of
"American Pie" and taking it to a whole other level.
Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan (Michael Cera) are best friends
about to finish high school and go their separate ways,
since they both got accepted into different colleges. Seth
is the loud foul-mouth fast-talking fat kid, while Evan is
the shy reserved kid. Before going to college Seth wants to
gain as much sexual experience as possible, because he
thinks that college girls expect you to be an expert at it.
Michael, on the other hand, wants a girl for more noble
reasons. Seth gets his chance to extend his experience when
Jules (Emma Stone) invites him to her party, after he
promises to bring the alcohol. Michael joins Seth when he
finds out that Becca (Martha MacIsaac), a girl he has liked
since early childhood, is going to be at Jules’ party. They
only have but a few hours to find some alcohol, but where in
the world are they going to get alcohol. Enter Mclovin
(Christopher Mintz-Plasse), a nerdy kid with a fake ID., dressed to kill, Mclovin attempts to purchase the alcohol,
but a couple of cops, played by Seth Rogen and Bill Hader,
get in the way and Seth and Evan are left on their own to
find alcohol and McLovin is set to spend the night riding
around with the cops.
Jonah Hill is a great comedic performer and the man steals
every scene he is in. He perfectly plays the foul mouth fast
talking kid with his pitch perfect timing and hilarious
facial expressions. Michael Cera has got playing awkward
down to a tee. He is the perfect straight man to Seth manic
performance. The funniest parts of the movie are those
featuring Christopher Mintz-Plasse: This kid plays an
arrogant nerd in a way we rarely see done right. It is
amazing that Christopher is making his feature film debut
here and was literally pick out from his high school. He is
perfectly casted as Fogell, A.K.A Mclovin, and totally owes
this character. The scenes with Mclovin and the cops are
hilarious. I couldn’t get enough of them and every time they
left to tell the other side of the story, I couldn’t wait
until they returned to the cops and Mclovin.
It’s not that the other scenes with Seth and Evan weren’t
funny, they are almost as good, but they did seem to drag a
little half way through the movie.
There are three things that set this movie apart from other
teen comedies: The dialogue, which gives a glimpse of the
teenage mind, the performances and the casting. The writers
did a good job showing how kids deal with the anguish of
childhood friendship and the separation of that beloved
friendship. The friendship is perfectly captured in the
movie and cumulated in a drunk inspired brokeback mountain
moment. In the end you see that Seth and Evan have grown and
are beginning to leave childhood things behind.
The DVD is loaded
with bonus features making it the most complete DVD release
for this genre in recent years. Aside from the normal
commentary by the cast and producers, Gag Reel, and The
Making of Superbad, The DVD contains features that shouldn't
be missed. "Cop Car Confessions – A Ride Along with
Clark County’s Finest ",
Press Junket Meltdown and "Snakes on
Jonah" Featurette are just some of those most see features.
Movie
Review
By Milton Brayson
milton@smartcine.com
VIDEO:
1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
AUDIO:
English
5.1 (Dolby Digital)
French 5.1 (Dolby Digital))
Spanish 5.1
(Dolby Digital))
Subtitles - English Spanish
French - Optional
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Deleted and Extended Scenes:
A total of eight deleted scenes all worth watching.(12:36)
Line-O-Rama A
Hilarious collection of the best lines from the film(4:15)
Gag Reel: About five
minutes of bloopers. May be is because of the nature of the
film, but this is the first time a blooper reel make me
smile. (4:28)
Cop Car Confessions – A Ride Along
with Clark County’s Finest . (33:46)
Making-of Superbad
(13:04)
Vag-tastic Voyage
(1:20)
Table Reads:
The production team reads about three of the best scenes
from the film (28:20)
Original Table Read
2002 – Seth Rogen reads for the part of “Seth”
Cast Audition
Footage: Includes the casting of Michael Cera,
Jonah Hill and Christopher Mintz (13:21)
Michael's
Voicemails from Jonah (1:15)
"Snakes on Jonah"
Featurette (4:46)
TV Safe -
Watch Jonah Hill try to record alternate "safe" lines
appropriate for television (3:01)
Dancing Title
Sequence(3:17)
“Everybody Hates
Michael Cera” – The Unfortunate True Story (6:43)
On-Set Diaries
(17:04)
The Music of
Superbad (13:07)
Press Junket
Meltdown (3:31)
Pineapple Express:
Exclusive First Look
Optional audio
commentaries by Judd Apatow, Seth Rogren, Greg Mottola, Evan
Goldberg, Jonah Hill, Michael Cera and Christopher
Mintz-Plasse
RATING BREAK DOWN:
FILM REVIEW |
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VIDEO |
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AUDIO |
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BONUS
FEATURES |
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