Review: 'Superbad' Is Naughty, Geeky, Fun

'Superbad' (R)(out of four)

"Superbad" is destined to be one of a high school cult classics like "American Pie" or "Fast Times At Ridgemont High." It most definitely has elements that "Napoleon Dynamite" fans will find appealing.

The film captures the absolute angst high schoolers feel over heart-ripping situations that at the time seem like the world will crumble, like figuring out how buy booze when you're underage for the year's biggest party and scoring with the ultimate chick.

Most everyone's now heard the story that the screenwriters created the film when they were in high school, which gives the film its ragged edges and true bird's-eye view into what actually happens when your friend's fake ID will probably never get him past the liquor store front door and what it's like to really be part of the geek squad.

Seth Rogen, who plays a goofy cop in "Superbad" and was just seen as the slacker lead in "Knocked Up," penned the movie with Evan Goldberg. In fact, the main characters are named after the duo.

Brace yourself for the film's frankness. The F word is used as liberally as the spermicidal lube tossed around in the film. References to sex are explicit and lead characters Seth and Evan only care about two things: getting drunk enough to have sex and getting girls drunk enough to have sex with them. Go figure. The characters are 17-year-old boys. And although this is a teen comedy, it's probably not suitable for teens. Heed the R rating.

Jonah Hill has no shame as the chubby, cargo-pants wearing Seth. He spills out the dialogue as if he wrote it himself. And the hilarious predicaments Seth gets into are made all-too real by Hill and make for laugh-out-loud hilarity.

At times, the graphic and torrid descriptions of the teenagers can be a bit shocking, but its what to expect from a movie produced by the potty-mouthed loving Jude Apatow who is cut from the same cloth as "South Park" creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker.

The film is a slice of life in the quest for alcohol to take to hot girl Jules's party. Seth, Evan (played by Michael Cera, best known for his role as George-Michael Bluth on TV's "Arrested Development) and the geekiest of all geeks, Fogell (played by Christopher Mintz-Plasse, a newcomer still in high school himself), figure out a plot to secure everything from beer to the prized possession Goldsilver, a gold-flecked vodka that Evan has to nab for the girl he's hoping to score with, Becca (Martha MacIsaac). As is expected, there are plenty of mountains for the trio to climb before party time arrives.

Fogell's fake Hawaii ID isn't going to fool Mindy, the liquor store clerk, who questions the name on the identification, MacLovin' and tries to fathom how bug-eyed, glasses wearing Fogell could be a 25-year-old organ donor. But when a robber storms in and steals the cash, punching "McLovin' " in the face, all is forgotten. He ends up teaming up with the two Keystone Kops who show up at the store and end up giving McLovin' a "ride along" with Clark County's finest (wherever that is).

Meanwhile, Seth and Evan have some run-ins of their own, including catching a ride with a pedophile who takes them to a biker party where they are unwelcome guests. More calamity ensues, but all's well that ends well.

The plot isn't much different from tried-and-trues "Dazed and Confused" and "American Graffiti," with a couple of tweaks here and there, but what sets "Superbad" apart is the way the story is told with a lot of raunch and a lot of reality.