Bohemian Cinema By Jonathan Pacheco

I Hope It’s As Bad As Can Be

Tags: Superbad, Apatow, Seth Rogen, Comedy, Classic, Zoolander

I’ve been looking forward to tomorrow for many weeks now, and it’s not difficult to guess why.

Yes, I’ve caught Superbad Fever. The only thing I’m afraid of is whether or not the teen comedy will live up to my expectations. As I mentioned and insinuated before, this year is lacking in comedies, and is almost completely void of significant ones. Sure, Knocked Up was great, but I’m talking about the kinds of comedies that permeate pop culture; I’m talking about the ones that everyone quotes for the next 8-10 years. These are the ones that have stickers, shirts, and lunchboxes at Hot Topic (I know, I know).

Where was this year’s Napoleon Dynamite? Where was this year’s Zoolander? This year’s American Pie (I know, I know)? Or how about last year’s, for that matter? Tell me best comedies of last year. Oh, sure there were great comedies and just plain funny movies (Clerks II, A Prairie Home Companion), but did any reach the “classic” status of the comedy echelon?

The only one that came close, but that I would try to argue against is Borat. I’m trying to put my personal feelings about the movie aside (very funny, for the most part, but that’s about it). The film has reached a sort of level that’s uncommon in movies, but it’s not classic like Zoolander was classic. It’s more classic like the original Jackass episodes or even to some degree, Freddy Got Fingered. By that, I mean that, while the film is fun, it’s more fun because it’s almost a dare to watch it, not because of things like clever writing (honestly, besides trying to nail the Borat accent, what about the film was quotable?).

So along comes Superbad. It’s got sex-crazed teens. It’s got partying and vomiting. It’s got verbal vomiting, from what I hear. It’s got hilarious cops. It’s got Seth Rogen and Judd Apatow involved. It’s got McLovin. This is a recipe for success if ever I saw one!

Yet with Superbad, there’s anticipation, and that’s something I didn’t have when I saw some of these other films. I had never heard of Napoleon Dynamite until a friend of mine invited me to a free screening before it came out. The film blind-sided me, and I walked out of the theater saying, “I’m telling you, this is the movie everyone’s going to be quoting this year.” I hadn’t even planned on seeing Zoolander because it looked so stupid, and it was, but in such a brilliant way. I told everyone about this idiotic film that they just had to see. But with Superbad, everyone sees it coming (or is hoping so). Can a film live up to these expectations?

Some can. Anchorman comes to mind; any Will Ferrell comedy is bound to be hyped, but this one actually lived up to most of it, and has established itself as one of the better comedies in recent years. That leaves me feeling hopeful for Superbad. It would be a shame to be disappointed by McLovin.

I mean, c’mon, if it’s got “Super” in the title, how can it be bad?