Since Judd Apatow launched himself into Hollywood mainstream with the 40-Year-Old Virgin, foul mouthed, adults-behaving-badly comedies have been going from strength to strength.
They've branched out to not just male-pubescent behaviour, with films like Bridesmaids and Bad Moms showcasing that ladies can do the potty mouthed pubescent comedy thing too. The guys behind Superbad take it one step further this time, into animation, a genre that's been securely cornered by Disney and kid friendly movies. But does it work? Let's dig in...
Seth Rogen and his buddies Michael Cera, Jonah Hill, Judd Apatow and basically one third of the current popular comedians in Hollywood have discovered gold in creating adult situation movies, with humour that would cater to teenage sensibility.
Superbad is a classic example of that. Up until now animation since the 60's has been grossly without "offensive" adult humour.
Yeah, once in a while you'd get a reference in a Pixar movie that is aimed at adults but nothing that would make the kids and adults in the cinema uncomfortable. So trust Rogen to take something as simple as food and make it vulgar, over sexed and a helluva lot of funny.
The puns and references in the movie are
chocka-block with sexual innuendo, sexual slang and yes explicit language. Yet to Seth Rogen's credit, (he co-wrote, produced and lends his voice to the film's protagonist), the film has other ambitions aside from making fun of Disney/Pixar and traumatising kids with sex jokes and expletives.
Beneath the gags, the pop reference and teenage jokes, not subtley hidden, is a message about morality as it relates to our perception of Our Creator. In a sense, what if there's no God? Will it nullify half of the stuff we believe in and try to live up to and be? Therefore half our problems?
Rogen answers that question and gives us the answer in a very audacious 3rd Act that would make Bertolt smile. Does the movie feel like a teenager's wet dream in parts? Yes. Will it offend people? Most definitely. Is it lame for having a lot of teen humour? No. How you feel about the 3rd act will define the movie experience for you. In my case I thought it was fun and surprisingly intriguing.
Verdict:
***1/2
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* rubbish **meh ***its aight ****almost perfect *****Classic