Superbad (2007) * 1/2

Directed by:  Greg Mottola

Starring:  Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Seth Rogen, Emma Stone, Bill Hader, Martha MacIsaac

Superbad has one funny joke in it, a fake ID with the name "McLovin" on it.    No first name.    Just "McLovin".   The teen who had the ID created was supposed to use it to buy booze for a party, but this development may ruin the entire plan.     Before and after that, Superbad is a slog through wild parties, bodily fluids flying everywhere, and the requisite amount of slapstick humor.     Jammed in there somewhere is a supposedly touching dynamic of two lifelong friends who will soon part ways after being accepted to different colleges.     That is suppose to somehow give Superbad a heart.    We need more than a heart to bail out this mess.

Written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, (Rogen also plays a cop in the film), the film no doubt has autobiographical underpinnings which would've been interesting if the movie chose to touch on them for longer than 10 seconds.     Make no mistake, Superbad is a gross-out teen comedy designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator.     Comedies like these are very tricky.    Most times, they are simply gratuitous and we grow weary of having to flinch in repulsion instead of, you know, laughing.

Seth (Hill) and Evan (Cera) are the lifelong friends soon to be separated since they will be going to different schools in the fall.     There are only a few weeks left until graduation and the two guys would like to make a move from being unpopular geeks to popular party animals.    Seth has the hots for Jules (Stone), while Cera has had a crush on Becca (MacIsaac) since grade school.     If there was a time to try and hook up, now would be it.     Their mutual friend Fogell (Mintz-Plasse) is tasked with securing a fake ID and helping them buy booze to endear them to their potential girlfriends.     Fogell, of course, comes back with the McLovin ID and things go awry.   

After this setup, the movie flies off the rails in a hurry.    McLovin is knocked out by a thief who robs the liquor store just as he is about to get away with using the ID.    The two cops who respond to the call (Rogen and Hader) inexplicably choose to bring Fogell, er, McLovin along for a ride in their squad car as they go about their shift.    The cops explain their actions later, but, the explanation still doesn't make much sense.     I know I'm barking up the wrong tree by expecting Superbad to make sense.

Seth and Evan have problems of their own.    Seth is accidentally hit by a car and the driver chooses to make it up to him by bringing him to a party and allowing him to walk off with some booze, which also doesn't go as planned.      Superbad becomes one huge morass of complications and not much else.    Seth and Evan try to open their hearts to each other and their intended girls, but these scenes don't feel like they belong in the same movie.    

It would be a relief to say that Seth Rogen has moved on from such fare as Superbad, either as writer, producer, or star, but, aside from occasional movies like Steve Jobs, Rogen is content to stick to the same tired routine.     I picture him really amusing himself writing movies like Superbad.    In 2007, he did what he had to do to get his foot in the door in Hollywood.     But, nearly 10 years later, he is still making the same immature junk like The Night Before.     I would like to seem him grow.    Jonah Hill has stretched himself and received two Oscar nominations for Moneyball (2011) and The Wolf of Wall Street (2013).    Surely, Rogen can too, if he could just stop cracking himself up.