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Superbad

year 2007decade 00sdirector Greg Mottolagenre Comedy

113 minutes

Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Jonah Hill Seth
Christopher Mintz-Plasse Fogell / McLovin
Bill Hader Officer Slater
Seth Rogen Officer Michaels
Emma Stone Jules
Joe Lo Truglio Francis
Aviva Baumann Nicola
Carla Gallo Jacinda
David Krumholtz Benji Austin
Martin Starr James Masslin
Joe Nunez Liquor Store Clerk
Ben Best Quince Danbury
Jody Hill Tut Long John Silver
Kevin Breznahan Patrick Manchester

Superbad | The Rewatchables

host Bill Simmonshost Chris Ryanhost Sean Fennesseyproducer Craig Horlbeck format 200th Episode
Explore episodeClose episode

Roger Ebert's review

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 00:22:10Read transcript
  • Roger Ebert gave the movie three and a half stars; no rating scale is spoken.
  • Ebert always loves story, character development and deepening relationships, and the movie has all of them.
  • Ebert said it reminded him a little of National Lampoon's Animal House except that it is more mature; the reply is that all movies are more mature than Animal House.

Most Rewatchable Scene

First 32 minutes; Coke party; liquor-store-to-car-accident stretch

In the discussion (18)
Approx. transcript time · 00:25:07Read transcript
  • The first 32 minutes are called unassailable: everything during the day is rewatchable until they get in the car with the guy who hits Jonah Hill and the movie shifts to night.
  • The opening phone call is smart and well crafted; Michael finishes the call five feet away before getting in the car, classic best-friend stuff from the call-only era before texting.
  • The Vagtastic Voyage debuts here, with a co-host joked to be its patient-zero, platinum-club subscriber.
  • Planning which porn site to subscribe to once he gets to college, including the line about who directs the porn he watches, is singled out as funny.
  • The mom cameo and the tits/teeth exchange are called very high-schooly.
  • A favorite comedy mode, traced to Chevy Chase, is someone doing something inappropriate behind a person who does not know; Jonah's home ec monologue about never needing to make tiramisu is the example.
  • The dick-drawings confession goes all in; Evan Goldberg's brother drew hundreds of them, and the Ghostbusters lunchbox treasure chest is a classic.
  • The driver's license scene unleashing McLovin is so funny; it was also the screen-test scene on YouTube, and Jonah's anger ("between that and Muhammad") makes it.
  • A Ringer piece says Jonah was mad at Mintz-Plasse, who did not care and stepped on his lines.
  • Seth telling Evan he got invited to the party has the most great Jonah Hill lines in two minutes: calm down Greg it's soccer, iron chef of pounding vag, Seth's own dressing, DTF.
  • Worked-up Jonah is compared to Chris Farley's energy; he could have done 20 more years of it and does some in Funny People.
  • The whole liquor store sequence could go in; the Seth dream sequence buying vodka is proposed, and at the party Seth coins the verb "perioded."
  • A favorite Hader scene is his bar explanation of his marriage and group sex on the wedding night, guessed to be ad-libbed; McLovin getting cockblocked by the cops, the cops generally, and the ending are also praised.
  • The Coke party with Kevin Corrigan's brother-from-Scottsdale speech is called the most rewatchable scene, better than Boogie Nights, with Cera singing These Eyes compared to Damian Lillard in a fourth quarter.
  • After an invitation to Sean, the dream sequence is chosen for Jonah's line readings such as "That would be lovely."
  • The stretch of McLovin buying booze, the robbery, Michaels and Slater interviewing Mindy and McLovin, the Seth-Evan lube fight and Joe Lo Truglio hitting Seth is called a favorite 15-minute stint.
  • The following party scene captures the high school feeling of being somewhere with older kids where you are not supposed to be.
  • Agreement on the 15-minute stretch, adding the breast-reduction and "warlocks" riff and the plan to go down on her for several hours.

What’s Aged the Best?

Title sequence and 1976 funk song; 70s funk soundtrack; the title; DTF; drunk-women theme; Slater and Michaels; Seth's lines; Cera's performance; McLovin's store terror; slow-motion catch trope; homeless guy

In the discussion (16)
Approx. transcript time · 00:36:52Read transcript
  • The opening title sequence uses Too Hot to Stop, a real 1976 funk song that was licensed rather than written for the movie.
  • The mostly 70s funk and disco soundtrack and title reflect 90s kids trying to be 70s cool in a 2007 movie; confusing if you think hard, and the stars were often asked what super bad means.
  • "One Crazy Night" would not have the same feel; one theory is kids who played the Pulp Fiction soundtrack a lot, and the shirt he wears suggests a setting around 2001.
  • Superbad is just a good title.
  • Rogen tweeted on the 10th anniversary that the movie invented DTF; Jersey Shore people said they got it from the movie and the Situation trademarked it on shirts.
  • The theme that you should not take advantage of drunk women was ahead of its time in 2007, unlike 70s and 80s comedies with Animal House the worst offender; the guys are horny but have a decent moral compass.
  • Rogen and Hader are in their own buddy-cop movie that intersects this one; a Slater and Michaels show or where-are-they-now movie would be watched and crowdfunded.
  • Seth's lines, including anti-poon, the back located on his cock, cargo shorts, who directs his porn and the lube line, are part of his 20 great lines.
  • A request to let others say some lines, followed by the police car running red lights, doing donuts and shooting it while on fire.
  • Officer Michaels on having a gun: like having two cocks if one of them could kill someone.
  • Cera's line about conversing with adults and a man who climbed five mountains cuts to Jonah chugging.
  • Who won between Jonah and Michael is interesting; Cera redefines his one-pitch persona with perfect, singular line readings and facial expressions.
  • The movie nails McLovin's fear in the store, with the camera zooming in on his abject terror.
  • Added late: the slow-motion leap to catch something soaring through the air, like the Risky Business egg, with the Goldschlager bottle here.
  • Also added late: the homeless guy attacking McLovin behind the restaurant and later recognizing him on the bus as McMuffin.
  • Watching with subtitles reveals a line in the bar as they arrive: someone yelling at the bartender to get these nuts out of their shells.

What’s Aged the Worst?

Language; MySpace; Dan Patrick Show McLovin; rogue cops; fake IDs for booze (disputed)

In the discussion (11)
Approx. transcript time · 00:44:23Read transcript
  • The language and material that would not fly now, though it came out in 2007; MySpace also stood out.
  • The Dan Patrick Show guy co-opting McLovin has always bothered one host; it belongs to Superbad.
  • Rogue cops, entrapment and police brutality made more sense as a theme in 2007.
  • Buying booze with a fake ID may be antiquated since Euphoria never mentions alcohol, only ketamine.
  • Craig, 27, producing the pod, is asked about fake IDs; the answer is a best friend had one, fake IDs still circulate, and Euphoria is the least accurate high school depiction.
  • One host would react to his son having a fake ID with pride, then pretend to be mad; he used a classmate's lost ID as "Bart Osmond" for two years, slouching to hide the height gap, until a Worcester state liquor store clerk sized him up.
  • Long Island beer distributors sold to kids 80-90% of the time without fake IDs.
  • Working the door at the Middle East in Boston meant seeing lots of Hawaii IDs judged on the hologram; others had Maryland and Jersey IDs, and Rhode Island was the big one in the late 80s and early 90s.
  • Kids with a lookalike older brother had it made; one host's brother used his IDs for years.
  • High school movies rely on parents leaving for the weekend; a single mom going out and a friend, Jim Grady, whose mom was often at her New York City apartment made parties possible, like having a good big man in the NBA.
  • Alcohol delivery now scans IDs, probably making it harder to buy liquor; the lube question for Ben gets the four-inch line as an answer.

Casting What-Ifs

Shia LaBeouf as Seth; Jennifer Lawrence as Jules; Kyle Gass as Officer Michaels

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 00:51:59Read transcript
  • Rogen was meant to be Seth but got too old and became Officer Michaels; after about two years without a Seth, Apatow on the Knocked Up set told Jonah to read into a camera and within an hour he was Seth, per a Ringer piece.
  • Shia was circled for Seth but was offer-only; it could have been the best thing for his career or the worst for the movie, with Transformers in 2007 changing his path and a bad wig needed to dork him up.
  • An unconfirmed internet claim says Jennifer Lawrence was considered for Jules, the Emma Stone part; she may have been a little young.
  • Officer Michaels was originally offered to Kyle Gass of Tenacious D.
  • There was little else because it was their crew and they knew who they wanted.

The Joey Pants “That Guy” Award

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 00:54:34Read transcript
  • The fuck-my-life liquor store guy who reappears at the party, Joe Nunez, is loved, with a little Hurley from Lost.
  • Joe Lo Truglio as Francis, from The State and Brooklyn 9-9, is the perfect execution of his itchy, intense, bug-eyed talent, including the nonviolent-warrant line.
  • The Coke guy who cries while Cera sings plays Patrick; it is between him and Joe Nunez, whose IMDb peak is this.
  • Erica Phillips as the clerk taking the veterinary exam, also in The 40-Year-Old Virgin, is liked.
  • Jody Hill and Ben Best, the Eastbound and Down creators, on the couch are a good one, including Ben Best noticing Jonah's pants.
  • The award is a tie between Joe Nunez and Kevin Bresdenhan (transcript spelling).

The Dion Waiters Award for Best Heat Check Performance

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 00:57:48Read transcript
  • Finalists are Carla Gallo as period girl, Joe Lo Truglio, Kevin Corrigan and McLovin's girl Nicola, narrowing to Corrigan and Gallo.
  • Dave Franco gets no love for about 10 seconds of screen time; David Krumholtz pressuring Cera in the scene with Martin Starr is raised.
  • Carla Gallo is the probable pick: she comes in red hot, hits a couple threes and goes off the rails, and the ensuing fight has a bottle hitting Patrick.
  • The homeless guy should probably have been considered for the award.

Recasting Couch

Bigger actress as Michael Cera's mom

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 00:58:33Read transcript
  • On Becca, the preference goes the other way: surprise that Martha MacIsaac did not have a bigger career.
  • Bill is asked whether Jennifer Lawrence would make it more interesting next to Emma Stone; the reply is Becca should be more bookish and on Michael Cera's speed, not a second high school babe.
  • A bigger actress for Michael Cera's mom is suggested with a garbled name ("Carla Gino, Gagino"), and that would be great.
  • The movie is perfectly cast and too precious to revise.

Half-Assed Internet Research

Filming locations; penis drawings; MPA objection; drunk sex scene; F-word count; real Coke party

In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 00:59:47Read transcript
  • The school exterior is El Segundo High School; the mall scenes were at the Fox Hills Mall, later Westfield Culver City, possibly defunct; the opening convenience store is in Culver City.
  • Per Wikipedia, the McLovin liquor store is in Glendale, though it looks like the Hillhurst plaza with the drawing room near Nathan Fielder's Dumb Starbucks.
  • The donuts were at the California State University Northridge campus, and the bar is near L.A.X. though it looks like a Valley bar.
  • The restaurant Fogell names was Rogen and Goldberg's favorite in Vancouver.
  • David Goldberg, Evan's brother, made close to a thousand penis drawings, only a handful used; the MPA objected to one Becca holds.
  • Michael Cera and Martha MacIsaac actually got drunk for their aborted sex scene, per the Ringer piece.
  • Guesses at how many times the word fuck is used include at least 200 and 13, with garbled figures around producer Craig (280, 176) and "over 202".
  • The Coke scene is based on a real party Rogen and Goldberg attended at 14 to say goodbye to a local stand-up; everyone did blow, and per Goldberg the house belonged to a little person and a bodybuilder couple and there was a pig.
  • The Ringer piece is a reservoir of anecdotes, such as Cera falling out of a tree early in the shoot; a 15th-anniversary oral history next year is predicted, maybe by The Ringer.

Apex Mountain

Michael Cera; Martha MacIsaac; comedic cops (possible); McLovin's Hawaiian driver's license

In the discussion (14)
Approx. transcript time · 01:03:45Read transcript
  • Jonah Hill, twice Oscar nominated and now a director, was on a Belushi-like track; 21 Jump Street is offered as his apex, after Moneyball changed opinions, though this may be the movie he is remembered for.
  • Jonah and his peers are thoughtful fans of earlier movies who planned their careers.
  • This is definitely an Apex Mountain for Michael Cera, with Juno the same year and Scott Pilgrim in 2010.
  • His 2010s dip is attributed to not wanting fame and choosing smaller indie parts as an art-house fan; Molly's Game and Twin Peaks show a possible second life in a White Lotus-style series, though at 33 he is too young for the part mentioned there.
  • Research aside: Martha MacIsaac was 23 and Cera 17 during the sex scene.
  • Christopher Mintz-Plasse is raised with an unclear "absolutely, yeah," then credited with more career than expected (Role Models, Neighbors, Promising Young Woman) and a good essay about being trapped as McLovin.
  • Emma Stone no, Martha MacIsaac yes, Bill Hader no.
  • Rogen's 2007 was massive and his mogul career since (shows, weed line, books, pottery, Sony hack, fighting Ted Cruz) is the most impressive of the group; Long Shot shows his ideas, and his apex is probably Neighbors.
  • Pineapple Express got greenlit because of his stardom, from a generation that wanted to make its own Midnight Run or Lethal Weapon; producer Craig is asked about it and it is predicted as a late-300s episode, 383.
  • Comedic cops could be at Apex Mountain since the subgenre faded after this; Observe and Report was darker, and 21 Jump Street is offered by Craig.
  • Apex for flipping a boner into the waistband is asked as a question.
  • A joke Apex for Dartmouth credits the movie for Ringer staffers going there.
  • Goldschlager vodka was not a real vodka; Goldschlager is called an evil liquor, and a modern version would be marketed with an NFT.
  • The Hawaiian driver's license has got to be the peak, a cultural wave with shirts of it; one host's son Ben has a McLovin license flag from Amazon covering a window.

Picking Nits

Why Jules likes Seth; confusing geography; Jules getting headbutted; no older siblings; burned cop car aftermath; too little alcohol for the party's reaction

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 01:15:03Read transcript
  • Why Jules likes Seth is the most movie-magic part: he gets spit on, fears being Steven Glansberg and melts down in class; only Allie falling for Daniel-san is less plausible, and no other guys pursue her at her own party.
  • The rundown of her boyfriends, including Matt Muir who looks like Zach Morris with a six-pack since eighth grade, is loved.
  • The geography is confusing, suburban yet on an obvious L.A. bus; the Valley is assumed, though per Rogen the party was filmed half a block from where Nicole Brown Simpson was murdered in Brentwood.
  • Emma Stone should not have been hurt; the headbutt and black eye was a weird choice, she forgave too easily, and it may exist to set up the mall apology.
  • No one has an older sibling to buy alcohol and there is only one parent.
  • What happened in the 20 minutes after they burned the cop car goes unexplained.
  • They did not get enough alcohol for everyone to be so stoked when they arrived. — Craig Horlbeck
  • Follow-up on the same nit: he shows up with two gas cans of green beer that nobody would cheer; you would need to pull in a keg to get that reaction.

Probably Unanswerable Questions

Are Michaels and Slater still cops; what Seth and Evan do now; Jules and Becca; Cera and the sensitive male; organ donation

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 01:19:35Read transcript
  • Are Michaels and Slater still cops? They probably moved to private neighborhood security with tasers.
  • It is funny to imagine the cop character becoming Barry.
  • At 32, Evan is probably more successful; Seth might be an assistant GM of the A's or a creative director at a porn site, Evan an accounting consultant; they still hang out and their 15th reunion is next year.
  • Asked whether Jules and Becca ever talk to the guys again, the guess is two dates; Evan and Becca have a better chance to last.
  • Cera did not create the new-age sensitive male but platformed it; kids absorb such movies, unlike those raised on Animal House, as with early Ethan Hawke films like Reality Bites.
  • Did the McLovin ID help or hurt organ donation?

Who Won the Movie?

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 01:26:33Read transcript
  • Before the winner, Greg Mottola gets a shout-out as not the winner but maker of Superbad and Adventureland, which could come in the 200s.
  • Rogen and Goldberg win for the backstory: two buddies writing their big break, which rarely works, leading to their production company and the peak of the Apatow era.
  • Knocked Up (June 1, 2007) and Superbad (August 17, 2007) within 10 weeks were a rocket ship of fame; both were phenomenons, and Goldberg and Rogen is a second vote.
  • Seeing comedies like this in a theater, as with Long Shot or There's Something About Mary, is a rare roof-tearing experience.
  • Asked for Craig's pick, the reply agrees it has to be Rogen and Goldberg, who made every kid think they could write a script about high school.
Podcast choices
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Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg
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Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg
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Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg

More from the conversation

The Rewatchables began in 2015 on The BS Podcast with a Heat episode not tied to an anniversary, relaunched in summer 2017, and this is the 200th episode.
Approx. transcript time · 00:01:26Read transcript
Sean Fennessey was brought back from paternity leave for the 200th episode.
Approx. transcript time · 00:01:59Read transcript
A trailer cold open plays before Chris Ryan and Sean Fennessey are introduced; one host says his son has single-handedly demolished Superbad during a Netflix run this summer.
Approx. transcript time · 00:02:18Read transcript
A generational list of high school comedies runs from American Graffiti and Carrie through Fast Times, Risky Business, The Breakfast Club, Heathers, House Party, Say Anything, Clueless, Scream and American Pie to Superbad, Lady Bird and Booksmart.
Approx. transcript time · 00:03:25Read transcript
Superbad is called a self-aware bridge that absorbed the history of high school comedies: a raunchy teen comedy that is emotionally clear and well made, maybe the perfect and the last high school comedy.
Approx. transcript time · 00:04:24Read transcript
The movie instantly became part of people's lives through its quotes; the makers were 23 and did not screw up any part; it feels made from their lives, like a band's first album.
Approx. transcript time · 00:05:22Read transcript
It came out in 2007 but feels like 90s high school, closer to the American Pie era but smarter and more intellectually mature.
Approx. transcript time · 00:07:00Read transcript
Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg started the idea at 13; after Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared it took a seven-year odyssey, and the R-rated comedy boom (Wedding Crashers, Old School) made a no-PG-13 script marketable.
Approx. transcript time · 00:07:27Read transcript
Superbad is framed as the peak of the R-rated comedy era and Apatow's stretch after The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up.
Approx. transcript time · 00:08:19Read transcript
Asked whether it is the funniest 21st-century movie, one answer ranks it second-favorite Apatow production and second comedy of the 2000s behind Anchorman, seen 35-40 times; another says no part of Superbad gets skipped on rewatch, unlike Anchorman.
Approx. transcript time · 00:08:53Read transcript
Six standout 21st-century comedies are listed: Superbad, The Hangover, Step Brothers, Anchorman, Bridesmaids and Borat, all done by 2011.
Approx. transcript time · 00:10:02Read transcript
Producer Craig, who produced this episode as well, theorizes This Is the End marks the end of comedy before social-media fears changed things; the period-blood scene is cited as something that crosses every line and is still funny.
Approx. transcript time · 00:10:34Read transcript
Current TV comedy such as Dave and Better Things is more reflective and post-Louie, in a different zone than pure absurd comedy.
Approx. transcript time · 00:11:29Read transcript
Most of the movie would get red-lined today, but it is an honest, grounded depiction of how 16- and 17-year-olds talked in the 90s, unlike the elevated premise of Wedding Crashers; in totality it is a sensitive friendship movie.
Approx. transcript time · 00:12:15Read transcript
Unlike clique-focused high school movies, everyone here is enslaved to hormones; the characters have irrational confidence without self-awareness, and McLovin morphs into Dion Waiters with the cops.
Approx. transcript time · 00:13:27Read transcript
The cast's later careers (including Barry) make the film a snapshot of a generation of talent; Michael Cera, Jonah Hill and Christopher Mintz-Plasse breaking out is called a miracle.
Approx. transcript time · 00:15:47Read transcript
Seven years of script refinement produced a breakthrough around 2005-06 on the ending: the knapsack scene where they confront going to college, and the mall scene.
Approx. transcript time · 00:15:47Read transcript
Apatow as producer told them they could not end at the party; Rogen's story about Apatow teaching plot (horny kids trying to have sex) versus story (kids who love and will miss each other).
Approx. transcript time · 00:17:04Read transcript
Stand By Me is compared as another movie about childhood friendships; childhood feels like a daily adventure while adult life becomes routine.
Approx. transcript time · 00:18:21Read transcript
The mall scene negates Superbad's place on a best single-day comedies list (two days); the list includes American Graffiti, Dazed and Confused, Breakfast Club, Groundhog Day, Ferris Bueller, Clerks and Can't Hardly Wait, with Booksmart also going to a second day; Ferris Bueller is called the best single-day movie.
Approx. transcript time · 00:19:25Read transcript
Joking that the show is running out of movies leads to talk of eventually doing 500 movies, Cobra, Jaws 2, re-dos of Proof of Life and The Departed, and Good Will Hunting with Russillo.
Approx. transcript time · 00:20:43Read transcript
Fact run: Emma Stone's first movie, Jonah Hill's first starring role; Greg Mottola's first movie is corrected because he made Daytrippers, which one host watched last year during the pandemic.
Approx. transcript time · 00:21:15Read transcript
Written by Seth and Evan from their experiences at Point Grey Secondary in Vancouver, named after themselves; $20 million budget, $178 million gross, highest-grossing teen comedy until 21 Jump Street.
Approx. transcript time · 00:22:10Read transcript
Adventureland is said to have one of the most underrated soundtracks; an aside asks Sean about Zach Wilson, predicted for a 30-touchdown, 30-interception season.
Approx. transcript time · 01:27:09Read transcript
No true son or daughter of Superbad has been written by two friends yet beyond Booksmart; nobody gives $20 million for a high school comedy anymore.
Approx. transcript time · 01:30:25Read transcript
Asked if this was the most anticipated rewatchable, the answer is that a third Heat episode would compete but this is a favorite comedy ever.
Approx. transcript time · 01:30:57Read transcript
The third Heat episode is planned for episode 250, with 100, 250 and 500 treated as anniversaries; it needs a gimmick such as a watch-along or a joke bank robbery.
Approx. transcript time · 01:31:12Read transcript
A Michael Mann episode is coming in the next couple of weeks, and it is not The Keep.
Approx. transcript time · 01:31:52Read transcript
Closing: thanks to producer Craig Horlebeck, there for about the last 150 episodes, plus Chris and Sean; all 200 episodes are on Spotify, and the Proof of Life episode is joked to be one of the lower rated.
Approx. transcript time · 01:32:17Read transcript