Superbad (2007)

There is a particular kind of comedy that belongs almost entirely to one moment in American cultural life: the last-gasp-of-high-school film, where every decision feels enormous and every embarrassment feels permanent. Superbad, released in the summer of 2007 through Columbia Pictures and Judd Apatow's production company, plants its flag firmly in that territory. The basic premise is simple enough: two best friends, facing the impending split of going to different universities, cook up a plan to supply alcohol for a party and use the chaos that follows to finally get close to the girls they like. What could go wrong, and does, at considerable length across a brisk 113 minutes.

The film was directed by Greg Mottola, whose subsequent work you can see in my review of Paul (2011), and the script came from Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, who had reportedly been working on it since their own teenage years. That biographical roots story is well documented and gives the whole thing a slightly rough, lived-in quality that polished but unremarkable studio comedies of the same era simply lack. Apatow's production company had already been on a strong run by this point, and Superbad sat comfortably within a run of R-rated comedies that were taking the genre more seriously than many critics expected at the time. The result landed as one of the defining studio comedies of the 2000s, alongside a very different slate of films from the same decade (a decade that gave us everything from Phone Booth (2002) to Transformers (2007), which tells you something about how wide the net was cast).

The cast is worth pausing on. Jonah Hill, whose later career took him into considerably darker territory as you can see in my review of The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), plays the louder and more abrasive of the two leads with a confidence that makes the character's insecurities readable underneath all the bluster. Michael Cera, by contrast, brings a nervy, mumbling awkwardness that works as a reliable straight-man counterweight. Then there is Christopher Mintz-Plasse, making his screen debut as the memorably nicknamed McLovin, alongside Bill Hader and Seth Rogen as a pair of police officers whose subplot has no real business being as funny as it is. The combination of a relatively inexperienced cast and a script rooted in genuine adolescent anxiety gives the film an energy that is difficult to manufacture from scratch.

Probably the funniest movie of all time. Superbad is one of my guilty pleasures. I've probably watched it a few dozen times. It's one of those films you can just stick on when there's nothing else to do and you're not in the mood to absorb information. McLovin is the showstealer here. An iconic performance that is even more outstanding with the fact it was his acting debut. It goes beyond other "raunchy teen comedies" like American Pie or Road Trip purely because it remains funny even long into your 30s.

I stand by that completely. There is something telling about a comedy that keeps working twenty-plus viewings in, because most jokes have a shelf life and these ones simply do not seem to. The McLovin arc in particular has the rare quality of getting funnier the more familiar you are with it, which is not something you can say about many performances in any genre. Whether it holds that same power for someone coming to it fresh now, I genuinely do not know, but for those of us who grew up alongside it, it has become something close to comfort viewing. Some films you watch, some films you revisit, and some films you just put on. This is one of the latter.

Rating: ★★★★½  | Year: 2007  | Watched: 2025-04-07

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Trailer

▶ Watch the official trailer for Superbad (2007) on YouTube

Where to watch

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Related on Movies With Macca

More from Greg Mottola: Paul (2011)
More with Jonah Hill: 22 Jump Street (2014) · 21 Jump Street (2012) · The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
More from the 2000s: Kirikou and the Wild Beasts (2005) · Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) · Daredevil (2003) · Apocalypto (2006)
More comedy: The Eagle (1925) · The General (1926) · Americana (2023) · The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)