The Cinema of the Four

Superbad

As a young man, I often felt strong ties of blood and logic to Great-grandfather Holmes. Those ties were never so stongly recognized, however, as in that moment that I read Dr. Watson’s words, “He was, I take it, the most perfect reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a lover he would have placed himself in a false position.” So it is with many intelligent and capable young men, when it comes to the fair sex, they are suddenly out of their element, a truth as eternal as the genders themselves, and one that provides the core of my latest cinematic investigation, “Superbad.”

From the look of the preview, one might suspect that “Superbad” takes place in the seventies, but it is pure 2007. Cell phones and internet porn are staples of a young man’s life – those are what make the movie current. Making it eternal, however, is the fact that as wordly as a young man might be in the anatomical details or techniques of sex, he can still be just as baffled at starting a relationship with a young lady as his great-grandfather ever was. There is truth in all good comedy, and “Superbad” is definitely a good comedy.

“Superbad” follows two friends (and one side-friend) as they go through a life-changing night about the time of their high school graduation. They’re trying to get girls, and to get girls they’re trying to get booze, and to get booze, they’re trying . . . well, you get the idea. And while main characters Seth and Even provide the main plot, the show definitely gets stolen by their friend Fogell, as he gets befriended by two nerdy, irresponsible cops and improbably begins to take on the identity on his fake I.D., “McLovin.”

Summer is quite the topsy-turvy thing when compared to days of yore: August is bringing us much better movies than May or June!

What Great-grandpa Sherlock would have said:
“It must have been a young man, and an active one, too, besides being an incomparable actor.”