Superbad: 2-Disc Unrated Extended Edition
Genre: DVD, Movies, New Movies
Cast: Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Bill Hader
Director: Greg Mottola
Rated: NR
Review By:
Rocco Passafuime
School:
SUNY Purchase '05
Quote:
"I don't compromise my values and I don't compromise my work. I won't give in." -Michael Moore
Superbad: 2-Disc Unrated Extended Edition
Review By: Rocco Passafuime
RoccoPassafuime@TheCinemaSource.com
Click Here to Read the Theatrical Review!
Superbad (2-Disc Unrated Extended Edition)
Most Hollywood comedies have been based more on getting laughs than really developing the story. Filmmaker Judd Apatow has proven to not only do gags that not just come out more organically, but are just as hilarious, if not more so, but to create really great stories in his films, which include The 40 Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up.
Now, Seth Rogen, one of Apatow's breakout comic actors, teams up with Da Ali G Show writer and childhood friend Evan Goldberg to create a comedy film loosely based on their own geeky and awkward high school misadventures. The end result is none other than Superbad, now available on DVD in a 2-Disc Unrated Extended Edition.
Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan (Michael Cera) are lifelong friends, but suffer at the mercy of their peers of being amongst the geeks of their high school. As the year ends for them with the two on the verge of separating as they go on to college, the two hatch a last-ditch effort to get laid with the girls of their dreams before graduation.
When Seth and Evan offer to deliver liquor for a raucous end-of-the-year party for the girls, they team up with friend and fellow geek Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse). He brings to the table a trusty fake ID he makes, which hilariously gives him the false name of "McLovin"Â.
However, after a robbery goes down in the liquor store, Fogell finds himself with two rowdy cops Officer Michaels (Seth Rogen) and Officer Slater (Bill Hader) and offer him a lift to the party, which gets detoured when he ends up riding along on the cops' nightly rounds. Thinking the cops have arrested Fogell, Seth and Evan's journey also ends up detouring when they hitch a ride from a geeky adult named Francis (Joe Lo Truglio) and end up at a wild adult party. Now, the three friends have to somehow escape their predicaments and get to the party before the night ends.
Superbad is nothing short of one of the most pleasant surprises of 2007. Producer Judd Apatow's penchant for spotting under-the-radar comedic talent as each of the actors who play the three main characters really get to show great comedic and charismatic presence on screen, particularly Hill and Mintz-Plasse, who both make a huge impact here in their first lead roles.
Adding to the humor and the excitement are Rogen and Hader, who are not only hilarious, but are incredibly fun and endearing here as cops. While film's language and sexual content takes vulgarity to new, incredible heights to the point of overwhelming the film, the script's fairly, honest, sweet, nostalgic, and just incredibly enjoyable core story is some of the best and at points touching to emerge in a mainstream comedy. This manages to endure even through the film's fairly overlong
The DVD's picture quality is presented in the 1:85:1 widescreen aspect ratio, with the sound quality in Dolby Digital Surround 5.1. This "Unrated Extended Edition"Â DVD also comes packed with special features that span across two discs.
On the first disc is audio commentary with director Greg Mottola, producer Judd Apatow, executive producers/writers Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg and actors Jonah Hill and Michael Cera. The commentary is not only fairly informative, but is also delightfully fun to the point of it turning into one big party.
Disc two begins with seven deleted and extended scenes cut from the film, which are pretty funny. "Line-O-Rama"Â features many of the alternate dialogue used, which reveals how much of this film's dialogue was constantly improvised, with many of them, often enough, being just as funny.
The "Gag Reel"Â contains some hilarious outtakes and bloopers. "Cop Car Confessions"Â are series of amusing short vignettes featuring Rogen and Hader's cop characters picking up a variety of interesting people including Chris Kattan, Kristin Wiig, and Justin Long.
"The Making Of Superbad"Â is a lengthy look at the film's conception, production, and casting, including interviews with the cast and crew and behind-the-scenes footage. "The Vag-Tastic Voyage"Â is a rather bizarre vignette in which a male, who could not be indentified, ends up with two scantily-clad women in a limousine.
There are also several of the film's original table reads, including the original from 2002 which features Seth Rogen as his namesake character in the film. The special features exclusively for this uncut extended edition include the original audition tapes for Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse in their respective roles.
Also exclusive to this edition are a series of amusing and deliberately funny featurettes. The first is "Michael's Voicemails From Jonah"Â, which features some fairly amusing voice messages left by Hill on Cera's voicemail machine. "Snakes On Jonah"Â features some behind-the-scenes goofing off as the crew exploits Jonah Hill's fear of snakes.
"Dancing Title Sequence"Â is a behind-the-scenes look at how the elaborate opening credits sequence was shot. "TV Safe Lines"Â features Jonah Hill's amusing frustration as he shoots alternate scenes intended for a TV-broadcast-friendly cut of the film.
"Everyone Hates Michael Cera"Â is another deliberately amusing featurette, in which the crew expresses their alleged frustrations with said actor's apparent annoying behavior. "On-Set Diaries"Â features in-depth behind-the-scenes footage into the film's shooting, which is often fairly amusing and revelatory of how much the cast and crew enjoyed working together on it.
"The Music Of Superbad"Â goes into the film's score and songs chosen for inclusion in the film. Rounding out the special features is the featurette "Press Junket Meltdown"Â, which features Hill and Cera being interviewed by an annoying British journalist in a press junket, which causes the former to hilariously lose his
All in all, despite the level of constant vulgarity and the film's fairly lengthy running time, Superbad is one of the best comedies of the year. Not only does the film manage to be extremely hilarious even in its most vulgar moments without once ever feeling forced, but succeeds due to its great cast, even greater characters, and its incredibly fun, deep (for a mainstream gross-out comedy), and even nostalgic and touching story.
Movie Grade: B+
DVD Features Grade: A
Overall Grade: A-
