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From the days of Porky's and Revenge of the Nerds to present day successes like Knocked Up, vulgar, low-brow comedies have generally fared well, first as cult classics that bordered on mainstream success, to today, where the top comedies tend to be firmly trenched in R-rated territory. Superbad not only is one of the better vulgar comedies to hit theaters in the past few years, but also manages to combine the adolescent coming-of-age motifs of older fare with the more explicit sexual fare of newer films. Although Superbad definitely owes some debts to Revenge of the Nerds and the countless number of John Hughes movies that dominated the eighties, the explicitness of the dialogue makes those eighties classics look like Disney rejects in comparison.

The first five minutes of the movie give the viewer an idea of how the entire movie will go, with high school seniors Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan (Michael Cera) discussing what porn site Seth is going to subscribe to while at college. Seth wants more hardcore fare, while Evan is more practical, saying Seth should subscribe to "Perfect Ten," because the name wouldn't be immediately identifiable on Seth's parent's credit card bill as pornography.

Seth is, above all, that kid that's in every high school: Not popular, not attractive, and yet obsessed with sex and hopelessly trying to get laid before going away to college. Evan, meanwhile, is more grounded than Seth, and is just trying to get a date with classmate Becca (Martha MacIsaac), and is more concerned with trying to forge a lasting relationship than just seeking meaningless sex. Added into the mix is their uber-nerd buddy Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), who possesses the worst fake ID on the planet: A Hawaiian license, with the picture of an obviously underage Fogell going only by the name "McLovin." Although any normal cop would be able to tell that Fogell was not "McLovin," Fogell has the good fortune of having his ID examined by Officer Slater (Bill Hader) and Officer Michaels (Seth Rogen), who probably became cops after watching the Police Academy movies one too many times.

The plot is fairly rudimentary, with Seth and Evan seeking to score alcohol for a year-end party at a friend's house, while Fogell rides around with Slater and Michaels as they attempt to show Fogell that cops can be cool too. It's not the plot that makes or breaks a movie like Superbad, but rather the wit and execution of the dialogue, and luckily the writers Evan Goldberg and Rogen are generally up to the task. Filled with snappy one-liners, an abunce of crass comments, enough profanity to be gratuitously funny but not distracting, and even a hilarious collection of animations at the end of the movie, Superbad works best when the jokes are quick and relentless, relying on adolescent absurdity to propel the movie forward.

Unfortunately, movies that rely on rapid-fire humor are rarely able to sustain that humor over the course of an entire movie. Bordering on two hours long, Superbad probably would've been better had it trimmed ten or fifteen minutes from it's total (the most likely section this should've occurred is when Seth and Evan get dragged to a house out in the country, where they have run ins with older partiers looking for a fight).

Other than the occasional misfire and the somewhat lengthy running time, Superbad should more than appease those who can stand the vulgarity of the jokes.

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Copyright 2008 Benjamin Wood