Superbad

by Alanna Slepitsky April 15, 2008 3:13 PM
Superbad

It is only inevitable that the most quoted movie of summer 2007 gets released on a DVD that is so jam-packed with funny that it will give you even more material to quote for months on end (along with stomach cramps and pee stains from laughing so hard). It's super-funny, it's super-awesome, it's Superbad...

The hit-comedy about three teenage friends, Evan (Michael Cera), Seth (Jonah Hill) and Fogell aka "McLovin" (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), who -- for most of the movie -- are on a prowl to fetch liquor to an end-of-year High School house party in hopes of losing their virginity in result, has been by in large promoted as the movie "from the producers of 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up," but it is rarely pointed out that Superbad is also created and written by Seth Rogen and his best friend, Evan Goldberg (gee, I wonder where they came up with the names for the main characters of the movie...).

Rogen and Goldberg began their Superbad voyage when they were just 15-years-old (basing the main characters on themselves), and featured on the DVD is the original table read of the movie from 2002, where Seth Rogen reads for the character of Seth (naturally) while another Freaks and Geeks alum by the name of Jason Segel (you might have heard of him), reads for the role of Evan. It is an interesting load of footage that I think über film buffs will appreciate, but it gets tedious quite fast. Better to briefly skim through this to see how young and pre-pubescent Rogen and Segel look, but don't spend too much time on it, for there are tons of other material just waiting for you to laugh at (I just hope you're wearing adult diapers for this).

Besides the conventional directorial commentary, gag reel and deleted and extended scenes (which are all hilarious and entertaining), the DVD features an array of other laugh-out-loud and shrewd material that will serve as your companion for a couple of hours (yes, a couple of hours).

The must-see content is the behind-the-scenes footage. The "Dancing Title Sequence" is one of my favorites, because it shows the making of the funky opening credits of the film (originally intended to be used for the DVD menu). It was amusing to see Cera and Hill whip-out casual dance moves that were reminiscent of Napoleon Dynamite (only more sedated), and if you're anything like me (and god bless your soul if you are), you can practice on your own Superbad-esque dance moves with the help of the "The Music of Superbad" portion about the musicians who provided the cool '70s-inspired soundtrack.

The on-set video diaries from the cast and crew may be over 17-minutes long, but if you sit through all of it, you will be treated to a nice look at the filming of Superbad through the eyes of the people in it. Plus, you'll get a chance to see Naathan Phan (the kid who is Evan's home-ec partner) do a random Christopher Walken impression, which made me love him even more (Phan, not Walken, although I love Walken, too).

Speaking of people I love, there are two comical features with Michael Cera on the DVD that cannot go unnoticed: "Everyone Hates Michael Cera," depicting the always peppy, endearing and lovable Cera as a nuisance (it is shot as a mockumentary where cast and crew discuss all that is ghastly about him), and "Michael's Voicemails from Jonah," which is a compilation of the various romantic innuendo voice messages Michael received from Jonah (oh, what I would give to be in between that sandwich of boy and blubber).

With such an incredible line-up of class-A comedians making up the Superbad cast, the DVD is bound to be crammed with practical jokes and impromptu acting galore, and it most certainly is (I told you this will take a couple of hours).

"Snakes on Jonah" is a five-minute clip of snake-phobic Jonah Hill getting tortured by, well, snakes (would have been cooler if it was Samuel L. Jackson though, huh?). Just watching the big guy freak out like a little school girl is worth every penny and minute spent on this DVD (that's the schadenfreude in me).

Then there is "Line-O-Rama," a segment that shows a collection of several alternate lines for some of the more eminent scenes in the movie, all of which were most likely makeshift. Jonah Hill is especially great in this, because he reminds me a lot of a young Vince Vaughn with the fast-paced jabbering and perverse one-liners that are so perfectly timed that you forget that it's all improvised.

But the best impromptu segment, as well as best bonus feature, is "Cop Car Confessions" -- hands down. This is where Seth Rogen and Bill Hader drive around in their police car while random comedians and actors sit in the backseat after their respective arrests. Being that this is over a half an hour long, it is not only the longest bonus feature, but also the funniest. There are 13 victims (the most notable being Chris Kattan, Ian Roberts, Jane Lynch, Kristen Wiig, Justin Long and Judd Apatow), who all have humorous reasons for being hand-cuffed by the two lunatic and arbitrary cops. Plus, Chris Kattan in a squirrel suit while Seth Rogen cracks a bunch of nut jokes = Amazing.

Once you finish with the 10+ bonus features, you can click over to the first look at Pineapple Express (starring Seth Rogen and yet another Freaks and Geeks alum, James Franco), which comes out in theaters this summer. I can only hope its DVD is as awesome as this one.

Superbad, thank you for keeping me company this Friday night... If you weren't an inanimate object, I'd totally marry you.

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