Superbad

Superbad is not only supergreat in every way, it's the surprise blockbuster hit of the summer. This blessedly raunchy teen comedy is absolutely fall-down-screaming funny. Breakout stars Jonah Hill and Michael Cera go to the head of the class as two college-bound lifelong buddies whose plans for an end-of-summer shit-faced party extraordinaire full of booze and girls turn into a disaster. This pair is like a live-action Beavis and Butt-Head—and beyond. The two characters are perfectly balanced between Hill's in-your-face foulmouthed ringleader and Cera's wry, low-key counterpart. They may seem like nerdy losers, but they're really just like any average guy obsessed with getting laid before the cold, hard reality of life starts slapping him in the face. The premise comes as no surprise, since the flick is produced by Judd Apatow, who has been down this road before in The 40-Year-Old Virgin and this year's early summer hit Knocked Up. In fact, one of the stars of the later, Seth Rogen, started writing this script with Evan Goldberg when both were actually teens themselves, so much is autobiographical. And as if Cera and Hill weren't enough, there's a third truly nerdy dude, Fogell, a.k.a. McLovin, who serves as an accomplice, only to wind up spending most of the night in a police car with two wacko cops (Rogen and Bill Hader), which is appropriate since Christopher Mintz-Plasse ought to be arrested for stealing so many scenes in this role. Every generation seems to have one iconic movie comedy that gets to a special place, is talked about endlessly, quoted nonstop, seen over and over, and lives on forever as a true classic of its times. For this generation, Superbad is going to be that film.