The latest to hit DVD from the rising comedy team led by producer Judd Apatow of "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and "Knocked Up" is the fantastically foul-mouthed teen comedy romp "Superbad." The anticipated DVD brings the same gut-busting laughs found in theaters with the addition of hilarious behind-the-scenes revelations in the special features.
Inseparable high school chums Seth (Jonah Hill, "Accepted") and Evan (Michael Cera, "Arrested Development") are coming to the end of their socially awkward high school careers and facing their inevitable separation because of their differing upcoming college plans. Finding solace in each other through their loser status and inability to interact with women, the boys band together to take on one last quest to gain the ultimate male high school objective — sex. The perfect opportunity falls into their hands when quintessential popular girls Becca (Martha MacIssac, "In God's Country") and Jules (Emma Stone, television's "Malcolm in the Middle") ask Seth and Evan to obtain alcohol for their party. The boys find themselves determined to acquire the booze in order to drunkenly dupe the girls into sex. Without any means of getting their hands on the golden key out of virginity, the boys turn to uber-nerd Fogell (newcomer Christopher Mitz-Plasse) and his infamous McLovin ID for the alcohol to complete the perfect nerd trifecta.
"Superbad" follows the erratic journey of these three teens through the course of the night in their desperate plight to combine booze and women. Their consistent encounters with bizarre characters — including two reckless juvenile cops and a sketchy potential convict — keeps the plot rotating in an endless reel of entertainment. Director Greg Mottola ("The Daytrippers") seamlessly blends the raunchy comedy chock-full of period gags and penis jokes with a heart-warming story of friendship. Actors Hill, Cera and Mintz-Plasse also manage to take the typical horny teenager character and encapsulate it in a level of authenticity that makes viewers feel as though their characters don't stray too far from how horny teens act in real life.
The unrated extended DVD release of "Superbad" provides a disappointing four extra minutes to the theatrical version. These uncut minutes are nothing particularly eye-catching, but that's still another four minutes of hilarity for "Superbad" enthusiasts to enjoy. The comical special features found within the disc also continue the "Superbad" super obsession. The "Making of Superbad" feature explains the almost autobiographical storyline the script writers and self-titled main characters Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg wrote as teenagers and their shocking realization that their adolescent gag lines were being recreated on the big screen. The feature also gives viewers insight into the cast's equivalently comedic antics off-screen. The starring cops of "Superbad" (Rogen and "SNL's" Bill Hader) take their call of duty into the special features with Cop Car Confessionals, a gratifying look at their in-character conversations with Judd Apatow, Justin Long and a few other actors. The special features also include a slew of other hilarious footage including a gag reel, deleted scenes and "Line-O-Rama," or viewers can stop to watch the imaginative penis drawings found within each menu screen.
Now available for continual repetition, the intriguing storyline and side-splitting script of "Superbad" will make this film one of the most watched and highly quoted DVDs of the year.
4 1/2 stars out of 5
