While I was at Comic Con acting like Queen Geektra of the multiverse, parading around Nerd Valhalla in a wookie backpack, and fighting my way through mile-long lineups I got a chance to put down my light saber, take a breather and sit in on Quint’s interview with Judd Apatow and SUPERBAD director Greg Mottola, but it wasn’t until tonight that I actually convinced myself to go see their movie. You’d think I would have rushed out right away to see it. After just one Comic Con screening the flick had already hatched a gaggle of early-bird Superbad superfans that could put the Napoleon Dynamite one-liner quoters to shame, not to mention Apatow and Mottola were hands down two of the funniest and coolest dudes I’ve ever met. But, as hard as it was to decide which of my new con exclusives should stay in their packages, and which ones I should display free of their cloudy plastic domes (Stan Lee out of the polyethylene, that’s a no brainer) I found it even harder to decide whether or not to go see the “teen comedy” of the millennia. Usually I leave the theater after these types of movies feeling the same way I used to feel around all the 17 yr old boys in high school; like I was just a soulless walking pair of jugs and muff. That my sexuality only existed to be the butt of their locker room jokes or a dirty mental snap-shot that they could file away in their sleazy brain rolodexes to use as source material for their next hot date with a sweaty tube sock and a bottle of hand lotion. But, to my surprise, I didn’t feel that way at all with this one. Even though the girls in Superbad were introduced into the storyline in typical teen comedy fashion as the coveted, unattainable mysteries that the male protagonists are in sexual pursuit of, they were authentically portrayed having diverse personalities, appearances and values. As the story evolved, so did the female characters, and by the end of the film they were no longer simply male fantasies but fully fleshed out characters equal to their male counterparts. Actually, every character was fully developed, delivering spot-on dialog authentically and shamelessly. There were moments in Superbad when I actually couldn’t stop laughing at just how completely pervy and painfully awkward some of the characters were. I cringed, shook my head and covered my gaping mouth a lot during this film. It was like having some really long flashback of witnessed awkward teenage sexual mishaps, drunken nights I wanted to forget, and meaningless potty humor. Even the infamous “period on the pants” scene made me laugh out loud. It was nice to see a guy get caught with ‘menses’ on his pants at a party for a change. Lord knows most of us girls have enough horrifyingly embarrassing high school period stories all our own. At first glance you might think this film is about some horny boy’s quest for booze, and pussy, who spout out perverted dialog like fifth-graders learning about vaginas and penises for the first time, and you wouldn’t be that far off. But, trying to pass as 21 at the liquor store and making awkward attempts at getting laid are just the comical plot points that drive the whole story. At the heart of Superbad is a tale of friendship, self-discovery and growing up. If I had seen Superbad before I sat in on the interview with Apatow and Mottola I would have thanked them for helping me remember a time and place I tried so hard to forget, just so I could look back and laugh at it. Oh! And I would have thanked them for not making the pursuit of pussy the most important thing in the world… although I must say it is flattering to be so wanted. -Midol Girl
