By TeeJay Small
| Published
Every generation of moviegoers has a series of classic comedies in their repertoire that served as major cultural touchstones during their youth. If you grew up during the early 2000s like I did, the hit 2007 film Superbad is almost surely one of your go-to coming-of-age adventures. Luckily, those interested in rewatching the hilarious film can find Superbad streaming on Netflix as of November 1, just in time to throw it on for a nostalgic holiday watch party.
Superbad On Netflix
For those who aren’t already familiar with Superbad, the Netflix deal may be your first chance to experience the raunchy comedy, which centers on a pair of awkward high school seniors named Seth and Evan. The kids, who have had very little luck with girls throughout their youth, have convinced themselves that their only opportunity to get close to their respective crushes is by raising their social profile.
As the dynamic duo stare down the barrel of graduation, college, and a lifetime of adult responsibility, they resolve to make their final days in public school count, by procuring a large quantity of alcohol for a local party.
This mission to illegally purchase party favors turns out to be much more difficult than they ever imagined, however, leading Seth and Evan on the adventure of a lifetime. Along the way, they encounter a pair of clueless cops, a gang of obnoxious adults throwing a party of their own, and a hapless classmate with a brazenly fake ID, which touts the mononym “McLovin.” As the narrative of Superbad on Netflix builds to its hilarious conclusion, the pair learn to reassess their life goals, their college plans, and even their friendship.
From Seth Rogen’s Mind
Superbad was written by long-time friends and frequent collaborators Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, who based the Netflix outing loosely on their own adolescence. Confess, Fletch filmmaker Greg Mottola serves as the director of the movie, while iconic comedy performers such as Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Emma Stone, Joe Lo Truglio, Dave Franco, and Saturday Night Live‘s Bill Hader round out the cast. Having aged out of the chance to play the Seth character in the film, Seth Rogen also appears in the credits as one of the kooky police officers, alongside Bill Hader’s show-stealing Officer Slater.
Superbad’s Legacy
Personally, I’m extremely happy to see that Superbad is streaming on Netflix, since the film was such an integral part of my childhood, and contains numerous jokes and turns of phrase that are part of my regular vernacular to this day. Critics and audiences alike flocked to Superbad upon release, making it the highest-grossing high school comedy in cinema history, with a global box office return of nearly $170 million against an estimated production budget of only $20 million. Today, the film touts a near-perfect critic score of 88 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
Whether you’re a life-long Superbad super-fan or a brand new viewer, you’ll surely enjoy the laugh-out-loud humor of the R-rated film now that it’s streaming on Netflix. Anyone under the age of 16 can probably relate to the struggles of the main characters, while those of us that have crossed the threshold into adulthood can look back and cringe at our own absurd adventures.
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